Inaccessible cliffs of Mount Kalak-Tash
In 1958, Soviet mountaineers visited Mount Kalak-Tash in the Pamirs. An ancient legend told of fierce battles in this area. The Chinese camp, pitched in the valley of Lake Rangkul, unexpectedly began to be covered with deep snow. Day after day, losing men and horses, the Chinese decided to save at least part of the state treasury and chose for this a deep crevice in the cliff high above their heads. They built a ladder from frozen pieces of horse meat that quickly stuck to the mountainside, and gradually moved the remains of their belongings there.
Attempts to reach the Chinese treasure were made repeatedly, but people would hear terrible voices of the dead, or see glowing skulls and giant black beasts. In 1951, a group of mountaineers from Turkmenistan attempted to reach the cave via ropes dropped from above, but the ropes got stuck in the rocks. The ascent from below was somewhat more successful: they managed to get into a gorge disfigured by landslides. It only preceded the entrance to the 'sanctuary'. Overcoming dangerous stone pockets, rubble and abysses, the scientists reached the entrance to the main cave, but even here they could not get inside – the entrance was blocked by a sheer cliff.
The Moscow expedition of the branch of the Geographical Society, undertaken in 1957 by Academician Tamm, also failed. The discouragingly smooth surface of the cliff made the treasure seekers consider using a helicopter or explosives for their purposes.
And a year later, the coveted cave was finally discovered. The mountaineers ascended the slope of Kalak-Tash using steel cables, ropes and pitons. The first step into the unknown was taken by Valentin Yakushkin. The gorge was no more than two meters deep, and its only treasure turned out to be an eagle's egg! Soil sampling in the cave showed that excavation inside the gorge was pointless, and the search and reconnaissance expedition was decided to be terminated.
The treasure search operations that had dragged on for a century and a half finally ceased, and the ancient gorge lost its mystical charm. It is symbolically beautiful that the egg found in the rock contained something greater than gold or diamonds – new life.
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