Magnificent nature, majestic mountains, turquoise rivers, clean air and hospitable people - all this is the North Caucasus. Thousands of tourists from all over the world come to these places to admire the wondrous nature. Once one of the most picturesque places was the Karmadon Gorge (Republic of North Ossetia). It is often called Genaldonsky. It received its second name in honor of the Genaldon River, which flows here. Everything changed after the terrible tragedy that occurred in 2002.
Gorge
Karmadon Gorge, whose photo appeared on the covers of many world publications thirteen years ago, became known to many after the glacier melted. It is part of the Greater Caucasus. These are two rows of majestic brown sheer cliffs. Previously, there were nice houses between them, camp sites were located, people rested. Now there is a black, like a mine dump, spongy mass. This is a descending glacier that buried one hundred and thirty-four people overnight.
The extraordinary beauty of the gorge was destroyed by a natural disaster on a September day in 2002.
Colca Glacier
Karovo is a valley glacier located in the upper reaches of the Genaldon River (Terek River basin). It is included in the mountain system of the Caucasus on the northern side of the Kazbek-Jimaray massif, is called Kolka.
The size of the glacier is quite impressive: its length is 8.4 kilometers, the area is 7.2 square kilometers. It originates on a mountain peak (height 4780 m), the tongue of the glacier is located at an altitude of 1980 meters. The height of the snow border (firn line) is 3000 meters.
The Kolka glacier belongs to the so-called pulsating type. They are characterized by active and sometimes unexpected movement of the body during certain periods. Such movements of the glacier (sergi), as a rule, are accompanied by ice collapses, the formation of mudflows. Often sergis have disastrous consequences.
The glacier before the tragedy
It is known that the Kolka glacier advanced three times in the twentieth century - in 1902, 1969 and 2002. Although glaciologists believe that it was distinguished by ice movements in previous centuries. For example, Kolka's "classic" or "slowed down" serge was celebrated in 1834. But then he did not bring big troubles.
In the 20th century, the most destructive advance of a glacier was recorded in July 1902. During this gathering, thirty-six people died, more than one and a half thousand heads of cattle. The famous resort of Karmadon was buried under a layer of ice, many buildings were destroyed.
Destructive movement was accompanied by ice-stone village. At great speed, he walked nine kilometers along the Genaldon Valley. That year, about seventy-five million cubic meters of ice and stones were carried out, which can be compared to a cube with a side of four hundred and fifteen meters. The ice that was carried out melted for twelve years, and in 1914 the valley below the Miley Glacier was freed from it. Comparing how the Kolka glacier behaved in 1902, when the speed of the ice-mudflow mass reached 150 km/h, it can be argued that the movement of 1902 was very reminiscent of the catastrophe of 2002.
In 1969, the Kolka glacier behaved much more restrained - the movement was smoothed out and did not lead to catastrophic consequences. The movement of ice began on September 28, 1969, and a week later the Kolka Glacier covered only one thousand three hundred meters, reaching the end of the tongue of the Miley Glacier. Thus, its average speed was 10 m/h. Then it slowed down further - up to 1 m/hour, and on January 10 (1970) the glacier stopped. Over the entire period, the glacier advanced four kilometers. He descended seven hundred and eighty meters down the valley.
In 1970, glaciologists were sure that the melting of the advancing glacier would take about two and a half decades.
Nothing foretold trouble
Locals have always considered the Kolka glacier extremely dangerous. This colossal mass of ice that hung over the gorge instilled in people the fear of an impending disaster, but glaciologists (specialists who monitor glaciers) were quite optimistic. In addition, the local residents of the village of Upper Karmadon for the entire long history could not remember anyalarming manifestations from his formidable neighbor. Nothing foreshadowed the coming disaster.
The tragedy in Karmadon was a complete surprise for all its participants - for the group of Sergei Bodrov, local residents, rescue services. People quite calmly went about their daily business, and the film crew of S. Bodrov finished filming. They were planned to start in the morning, but for a number of reasons they were postponed to the afternoon. Around 19.00, since it gets dark very early in the mountains, people began to gather. Meanwhile, changes began to occur in the upper reaches of the gorge, which led to events that no one could dream of even in a nightmare.
2002 disaster
People often forget the past. The last catastrophic descent of the Kolka glacier occurred a hundred years ago. Naturally, there were no more eyewitnesses of those events, and the Republic of North Ossetia kept in memory only the stories of its old people passed from father to son. True, there were few descriptions of the consequences of the 1902 disaster. They were made by Russian scientists who visited the Karmadon Gorge immediately after the collapse of the glacier.
Over time, the horror of that tragedy began to fade from memory, and people began to build new ones on the sites of the villages destroyed by the glacier.
At twenty o'clock (September 20), a glacier descended along the bed of the Genaldon in the Karmadon Gorge. Its length was five kilometers, thickness - from 10 to 100 meters and a width of more than 200 meters. The volume of ice mass is 21 million cubic meters.
During the movement of ice, mudflow formedeleven kilometers long, while its width was about 50 meters, and the thickness was more than 10 meters, the volume was twelve million cubic meters. He completed his movement seven kilometers south of the village of Gizel.
The consequences of the disaster
The descent of the Kolka glacier destroyed the village of Upper Karmadon and everyone who was in the gorge at that time. The non-residential three-story building of the Karmadon sanatorium, wonderful recreation centers of the Ministry of Justice and the Ossetian University, more than one and a half kilometers of power lines, water intake wells and treatment facilities were completely destroyed.
In the village of Karmadon, fifteen houses were covered with ice. The descent of the Kolka glacier provoked the strongest flood on the Gizeldon River.
Human casu alties
The most terrible consequence of a glacial descent is the death of people. At the time of the disaster, a group of S. Bodrov was working in the gorge, filming the film "The Messenger" in these beautiful places. The interdepartmental commission came to the conclusion that after such a gathering no one could survive here. Nevertheless, for a long time there was a glimmer of hope that someone could be saved. The relatives, distraught with grief, took an active part in the rescue work, although the specialists were sure that there was no one to save here.
Rescue operations
For a long and painful year and a half, search and rescue operations were carried out in the gorge. Unfortunately, the efforts of rescuers, scientists, volunteers turned out to befruitless. Under the mass of ice, only seventeen bodies of the dead were found. Under a hundred-meter mass of ice, it was impossible to find either the dead, let alone the living. For a year, along with professional rescuers and their voluntary assistants, the relatives of the victims also lived. For them, the ice-filled tunnel remained their last hope, in which, according to some versions, people could hide.
Tunnel
Specialists assured that the idea of a tunnel is unpromising, no one could survive there. Nevertheless, no one could refuse the relatives of the victims, who insisted that wells be drilled into the tunnel. For a long time, under a huge layer of ice, rescuers could not find the former tunnel. Nineteen wells were drilled. The twentieth attempt was successful. Divers descended into the tunnel through a 69-meter well. As expected, it was empty. After that, many relatives, who until the last believed in a miracle, admitted the death of their loved ones.
Seventeen bodies were found during the search operation. One hundred and seventeen people are considered missing. The search was terminated on May 7, 2004.
Causes of the glacier retreat
What caused the glacier to collapse in 2002? There are several versions of the tragedy. But most scientists are inclined to believe that the main reason was the gas release from the volcano Kazbek (sleeping).
This was confirmed in 2007 at an international conference that was held in North Ossetia. On theher geologists summed up the results of studies that lasted five. The causes of the disaster in the Karmadon Gorge were named.
Scientists have recognized that this is the world's largest glacial catastrophe in terms of material displaced to date. The mass of ice, stones, and water that came down passed seventeen kilometers along the valley and formed a huge blockage, the length of which exceeds four kilometers.
According to another popular version, this natural disaster could be caused by numerous collapses of rocks and ice in the rear part of the glacier.
Gorge Today
The Karmadon Gorge presents a terrible picture today: long, flayed black tunnels, cut like a razor, the banks of the river, and mountains of soil.
In Vladikavkaz and, of course, at the site of the tragedy, monuments were erected with the names of all those who died and went missing on that fateful September day in 2002.
At the end of October 2002, in front of the entrance to the Karmadon Gorge, a memorial plate was erected in memory of all the dead.
A year later (2003) a commemorative memorial was opened. It represents the figure of a young man frozen in a block of ice. The monument is set on a plain, near the village of Gizel. This is where the glacier reached.
In 2004, at the place where the camp of volunteer searchers was located, in Karmadon, the memory of the "Grieving Mother", created by voluntary donations, was installed. This is a twenty-five-ton stone brought by a glacier, and next to it is a figure of a grieving woman waiting for her son.
Relatives do not know how long the Kolka glacier will melt, but everyone is waiting for this to happen, and they will be able to find the remains of their relatives. The problem is that every year the melting slows down - the mud crust on its surface increases, which slows down the process.
Colca Glacier before and after the tragedy
Once the Karmadon Gorge, the photo of which you can see in this article, was a picturesque resort area. Its upper reaches were especially beautiful. Very close to the glacier one could see "Shelestenko's Glade" with a shelter house. And a little below the Miley glacier were the Upper Karmadon thermal springs. The grotto in the Mayli language, the icefall, the Kazbek plateau fascinated with its appearance.
The Kolka glacier before and after the tragedy poses a serious danger. In recent years, it again increases the mass of ice. According to scientists, the next gathering can be expected in fifteen years. Therefore, the attention of researchers is now riveted to it.
In recent years, it has been noted that the Kolka glacier is intensively melting. Now experts have recorded flooding in the Koban gorge - it is against it that the Karmadon gorge buried in 2002 “rests”. A lake has formed on the body of the glacier, the waters from which are dangerous for the village of Saniba. Water poses a threat to several large lowland villages that are located in the bed of the Gizeldon River.
According to experts, the melting of the Kolka glacier may drag on for more than a dozen years. It is terrible that for all these years it will be extremely dangerous for the people living here.
Many scientists believethat the Karmadon mountain basin and gorge should have been declared a dangerous territory at the end of the sixties of the last century, after the movements of the Kolka glacier. But, unfortunately, people began to forget about them too quickly.
Research continues
Scientists are still studying the Kolka Glacier. Most recently, the leading glaciologist of our country, Nikolai Osokin, arrived from the Karmadon Gorge. He carried out serious research work at the site of the glacier's descent. And next summer, a representative expedition of scientists will go to these places. I really want to believe that their work will help prevent the terrible consequences of the next glacier descent. And there is no doubt that it will ever happen.
