three peaks yacht race results

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

Three Peaks Yacht Race: In the spirit of Tilman

• Katy Stickland
• October 26, 2022

Sam Griffiths and his team of pupils take part in the gruelling 2022 Three Peaks Yacht Race, sailing to the highest mountains in Wales, England and Scotland

The Shrewsbury School team sailed on the Swan 46, Gertha 5, during the 2022 Three Peaks Yacht Race. Credit: Rob Howard Media Credit: Rob Howard Media

The whole of Barmouth was out, the band was playing, even the sun was making an appearance; the 44th Three Peaks Yacht Race was about to begin, writes Sam Griffiths

And this year it was extra special: two school teams, Shrewsbury and Sedbergh were entering for the first time.

With six pupils each, two adult sailors and an adult runner or two, we would enter the Challenge Class which allows engines.

While this would help them at times of no wind and an adverse tide, the jury was still out as to just how long it would take such youngsters to cover the gruelling land legs.

A fresh westerly breeze had picked up as the yachts vied for position across the start line before the teams were released across Cardigan Bay; the five-day-plus adventure had started in earnest!

The boats crossing the start line of the Three Peaks Yacht Race at Barmouth. Credit: Andy Sanderson

Surrounded by stunning views, we were even able to see the grandeur of Snowdon far to the north, the summit of which was our goal in the morning.

For now, though, we had to inch past the great tidal headland that is the Llŷn Peninsula.

Yachts come in close here, hoping for a back eddy to propel them around the corner before they can be somewhat released north-east towards Anglesey.

The light was now fading but we had a fast point of sail for Simon Ridley’s Swan 46, Gertha 5 , that he had so kindly agreed to skipper for us.

A sailor of vast experience, he’d even completed the race before and was joined by the similarly capable Malcolm Corcoran.

Running down Snowdon, the first land stage of the Three Peaks Yacht Race. Credit: Rob Howard Media

Creeping over Caernarfon Bar at 0430, the engine went on, only for it to feel like an eternity for us to reach the dock.

The runners climbed the pier for the obligatory kit check, before trotting through the sleepy streets; our Snowdon ‘nearly marathon’ of 24 miles had begun.

Oscar Dickins, Ed Scott, Tim Strebel and Hamish Griffiths were with me.

By the time we turned left up the Watkins Path, we were already going slower when in the sanctuary of the shady sections. We summited, and quickly turned downhill and let gravity help us as we tried to stay ahead.

The teams have to sail from Barmouth to Fort William via Caernarfon and Whitehaven. Credit: Rob Howard Media

We stepped up to a furious pace along the busy road back to Caernarfon, just reaching the boat in a run of just under four hours.

This ensured that we could just creep through the Menai Strait with inches to spare.

We were relieved to hoist sail at Puffin Island, knowing that our first country, Wales, was now behind us.

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The earliest we could get into the lock at Whitehaven was 0700 Monday morning and so a leisurely lunch was rustled up. Gertha 5 was soon becalmed though and the engine was resorted to as we made our steady way north through the Irish Sea and the accompanying darkness.

Dodging offshore wind farms became our main excitement as copious amounts of pasta was consumed and an early and calm night’s sleep was had.

Anchoring off Whitehaven for a couple of hours, we were eventually let in, side by side with Sedbergh, but with two very different game plans for the daunting 53-mile bike/run ahead.

The Three Peaks Yacht Race route. Credit: Maxine Heath

We chose to use the full 12-hour cycle and give our entire team a run out, thus Anna Booker and Sophie Whiteman joined us.

Finally, on our mountain bikes, we rode towards the fells and were soon blown away by the beauty of Elterwater.

Locking up the bikes at the Black Sail Youth Hostel and ascending the pass, we were somewhat taken aback by the length of the descent into Wasdale head; by the time we reached this checkpoint we had been going four hours and we had not yet started climbing Scafell Pike.

The almost absurd splendour of the Lakes couldn’t quite disguise the feeling that we would not make it back in time for the 1900 tide.

The rivals – Sedbergh School on their Sun Fast 3600, Panache . Credit: Rob Howard Media

After riding and running for eight hours, we were starving; we made a sheepish stop for a sandwich and a Coke at the Wasdale Head Inn.

This might have tarnished the image of hardened mountaineers and sailors, but it did wonders for morale, and we returned to the boat in triumph exactly 12 hours after we set out.

But the nature of this famous old race is one of highs and lows.

As we chased down Sedbergh’s pacy monohull, all the hours in the sun and the confused sea off the Mull of Galloway saw some succumb to the dreaded mal de mer.

By 1000 Tuesday we had made it past the final headland that was the Mull of Kintyre.

A tired but happy Shrewsbury School team after sailing 389 miles, cycling 40 miles and running 55 miles. Credit: Rob Howard Media

The Mordor-esque views of the Paps of Jura soon mesmerised us as the wind held enough for us to stem the last of the ebb through the potentially boat-stopping tidal gates of Fladda.

Our mood continued to rise as, abreast of Kerrera, we knew the magic carpet that was now the flooding tide would take us all the way up the ever-narrowing Loch Linnhe to our final port of call: Fort William.

Sam Griffiths is Housemaster of Ingram’s Hall, Shrewsbury School. He was brought up in Scotland where summers were spent sailing and climbing, two passions he passes on to future generations. Credit: Sam Griffiths

At first light on Wednesday, it was clear that the hot weather was no longer.

News of freezing conditions on ‘The Ben’, coupled with Sedbergh’s now 27-minute lead was enough to see us belting along Corpach’s tow path.

Spirits eventually rose though, as we through the freezing mist, we caught Sedbergh having their compulsory summit photo taken.

Although we overtook them by Red Burn, when they’d stopped to strip off layers, they passed us again when we had to do the same

Clearly a dramatic climax to five days of non-stop racing was ahead and, with just two of the overall 18 miles to go, we were relieved to haul them in again and finally collapse exhausted across the finish line.

This being the Challenge Class there are rightly no winners as the benefit of occasional engine use is impossible to quantify.

It was therefore the happiest of comradeship that ensued as Sedbergh were applauded home: together our pupils had added another significant chapter to one of Britain’s toughest and most historic adventure races. www.threepeaksyachtrace.co.uk

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The original Three Peaks Yacht Race is one of the oldest and most remarkable multi- sport endurance races in the world.

It draws competitors from all sporting backgrounds & with sailing experience from off- shore cruising to round- the- world races.

Sailing and sports clubs, military and company teams all enter and compete on equal terms in this amazing and spectacular race.

If you have a spirit of adventure, and want to do something unique, this could be just the challenge you are looking for!

Teams of four or five per yacht sail from Barmouth to Fort William, with two of the crew climbing the highest mountains of Wales, England and Scotland, and running the equivalent of three marathons in 3 or 4 days.

THREE PEAKS YACHT RACE

   EVENT INFORMATION :

  sunday 14 th july 2024.

Roach and Taylor take Three Peaks titles at first attempt

Thomas Roach and Catherine Taylor were the respective male and female winners of the 68th edition of the Three Peaks Race supported by inov-8 – and remarkably both were racing the fabled event for the first time.

Roach, of Lewes AC but now based in Austria, led from start to finish and clocked the fastest splits up Pen-y-ghent and Ingleborough into the bargain to cross the line in 2:53:28, just outside the ‘revised’ course record.

Taylor was fourth behind Scarlet Dale coming off Pen-y-ghent but had moved to the front by the second peak of Whernside and never looked back from that point.

She stopped the clock in 3:34:44, nearly 10 minutes ahead of runner-up Catherine Williamson.

Roach a class apart

First run in 1954, the Three Peaks is one of the oldest and most prestigious events in the UK off-road running calendar.

The route, which was slightly increased in distance this year to nearly 39km, traverses the famous Yorkshire Dales mountains of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough – and it was run in ideal conditions this time, relatively dry underfoot, virtually no wind and comfortable temperatures.

But Roach’s performance was still remarkable – and shattered the previous best for the MV40 category, even with the additional kilometre as a result of the route change.

He’d flown in from what’s now home in Austria and had never seen the course before but belied his inexperience with a dominant display – though he admitted the route up Whernside proved the most challenging from a navigation point of view.

He was a minute and a half ahead at the famous Ribblehead Viaduct but had a five-minute cushion at the summit of the third and final peak of Ingleborough.

And he extended that to nearly seven minutes by the line, with Alexander Chepelin (Carnethy Hill Racing Club) taking the runner-up spot and Daniel Connolly (Mercia Fell Runners) rounding out the podium in third.

🏔️ Your runaway winner of the @3PeaksRaceInov8 – Thomas Roach. 👏 And on his very first attempt! pic.twitter.com/xDV8hi4NV7 — RUN247 (@RUN247com) April 29, 2023

Last year’s winner Brennan Townshend (Keswick AC) was sixth.

Home World Champs for winner

Speaking to RUN247 afterwards, Roach – who came to the fore in impressive company at the Golden Trail Race Series late last year – said: “It was my first time here so the plan was to follow the leader as I didn’t really know the course and I didn’t know how well it was signed.

“But I always like to run my own pace and I felt like I could push a bit more on the first climb so I took off!

“I lost my way on the second climb a bit [Whernside] but I managed to find it again and then was able to finish it off on the last one.”

Asked how much he’d enjoyed his first experience of this iconic race, he added: “I absolutely loved it. This is my passion so I’m always smiling.”

The first two automatically qualified for Team GB at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in June – and it’s at a significant location for Roach.

“The aim today was to qualify for the Worlds, which is in my home town of Innsbruck, so that’s the next big target – and the Golden Trail Race series too.”

Taylor times it perfectly

Catherine – or ‘Cat’ – Taylor, of Black Combe Runners, ended up a clear-cut winner too, but the first third of the women’s race was a closely-fought affair.

Scarlet Dale was first up Pen-y-ghent in 33:24, with Taylor in fourth and she’d remain in that position through Ribblehead. But going up Whernside she made her move and from then on was out on her own – in stark contrast to Dale who would drop out of the race.

👏 And a clear-cut women’s winner at the @3PeaksRaceInov8 – Catherine Taylor. Another newcomer to the event too! pic.twitter.com/P3l4h3EaeV — RUN247 (@RUN247com) April 29, 2023

Catherine Williamson (Loftus & Whitby AC) and Holly Wootten (Keswick AC) were second and third respectively, around 10 minutes back.

And course record-holder and Three Peaks legend Victoria Wilkinson was fifth.

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• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

Three Peaks Race

• March 28, 2002

The 25th Three Peaks Yacht Race, starting on Saturday 15 June, Barmouth in Wales is being sponsored, for the fourth consecutive year by Helly Hansen and over 120 competitors have already signed up.

This annual endurance event takes sailors and runners up the West Coast of Great Britain to face some of the most treacherous waters and highest mountains in Wales, England and Scotland, including cycling part of the way to Scafell.

Julia Wilson, Marketing Manager for Helly Hansen UK said, “We are very much looking forward to supporting the event in 2002. As a leading manufacturer of outdoor performance clothing, the challenging Three Peaks Yacht Race is an ideal event for the Helly Hansen target consumer.”

For further information about the Three Peaks Yacht, contact the Race Secretary Lt Col Colin Walker, Tregarn, Barmouth, Gwynedd LL42 1DJ. Telephone 01341 280298 or Fax 01341 280442 or see the web site at www.threepeaksyachtrace.co.uk

List of entries

1Coal IlaWhite7453TJeanneau Odyssey37T.BassettYes

2Midnight GetawayWhite MG 33533’6D.BirdNo

3-WhiteK3707Farr 3636’A.GreenYes

4Chic NicRedC450Nicholson 3030′

The South West 3 "Peaks" Yacht Race (#sw3pyr) 7th/8th/9th June 2024 

Start time friday 7th june 09:30.

SAIL 125 MILES

CYCLE 140 MILES

RUN 29 MILES

ALL IN A WEEKEND!  ARE YOU UP FOR THE ADVENTURE?

This weekend Adventure Race is for teams of sailors and cyclists/runners, teams usually consist of 6 members, of whom 2 might be just sailors and the other 4 cyclists/runners who split the land challenges between them.  An entry form can be downloaded from the  Entry Page

Sail St Mawes to Newlyn to Fowey to Plymouth

THE COURSE:

2 crew members must run a 5 mile loop from St Mawes to St Just before rowing out to their boats. SAIL -  ST MAWES to NEWLYN. 2 crew members cycle from here to Porthcurno, where they leave their bikes in a "Bike Park" before running along the coastal path to Lands End (the first "Peak"). They then run back to their bikes and then cycle back to their yacht. (18.5 mile cycle, 13 mile run)  Cycle Route SAIL -  NEWLYN  to FOWEY. 2 crew members cycle from here to Bolventor (nr Jamaica Inn), where they leave their bikes in a "Bike Park" and run to the top of Brown Willy (the 2nd Peak and Cornwall's highest point). They then run back to their bikes and then cycle back to their yacht. (47 mile cycle, 7.7 mile run)  Cycle Route SAIL - FOWEY to PLYMOUTH - Queen Annes Battery 2 crew members cycle from here on the coast to coast cycle route to Meldon Reservoir (nr Okehampton) then leave their bikes in a "Bike Park" and run to the top of Yes Tor (the 3rd Peak and Devon's highest point). They then run back to their bikes and cycle back to finish at Queen Anne's Battery. (75 mile cycle and 4 mile run) - Cycle route follows the Sustrans route 27 coast to coast (much of it traffic free) to Tavistock, then continue on the A386 to Meldon reservoir nr Okehampton.  See  Cycle Route SAIL - PLMOUTH to EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE and back to PLYMOUTH (this leg starts as soon as the 2 cyclists have been dropped off).

The basic rules are that each boat shall have 4, 5 or 6 crew members (we recommend 6) who should be on the boat at all times while sailing (Except in final Leg from Plymouth to Eddystone and back) Each of the 3 "Peaks" must be reached by any 2 of the crew members, who must stay together at all times. Bikes can either be carried by the yachts or moved by support crew. Yachts must be between 26 and 50 foot in length. It is expected that given reasonable wind conditions the teams will finish on Saturday evening. Time Limit 12:00 on Sunday.

Entry will cost £250 per yacht for entries received before 31st March (£300 subsequently).  Entry form and Rules are downloadable from the bottom of this page. Yacht types and sizes:  Monohulls 25' to 50' and multihulls  25' to 40' are accepted. If you are a cyclist/runner but with no boat, or a sailor who has no cyclists/runners then get in touch and I will try and put interested parties together. For more information email [email protected]

A report of the 2019 race

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• Jul 5, 2022

9th July - Three Peaks Yacht Race and 10K Race

Updated: Sep 14, 2022

On Saturday 9th July 2022 the harbour will be very busy!

At 11am there will be over 1,000 runners departing the Harbour for the Barmouth 10K. A run with a view as the competitors run across Barmouth Bridge and down part of the Mawddach Trail before returning to the Harbour. Throughout the day there will be stalls on the harbour front with many stalls, face painting and activities for the children.

The day culminates in the start of this years Three Peaks Yacht Race. You will be able to see the boats in the Harbour during the day, they will leave the Harbour at around 4pm with the official race start at about 5pm. Batalan Bermo will be helping us to wave the boats out. Wishing everyone a successful race!

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The classic adventure race for teams of runners and sailors since 1977

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For Sailors

2024 notice of race 1.0.

Everything you need to know about entering the event.

2024 Sailing Instructions 1.0

Everything you need to know about sailing the course.

ISAF Monohull Category 3 with Liferaft Inspection Card

Everything you need to know about preparing your monohull boat.

ISAF Multihull Category 3 with Liferaft Inspection Card

Everything you need to know about preparing your multihull boat.

For Runners

2024 running instructions 1.0.

What your runners need to know about completing the mountain legs.

Snowden Route

GPX file showing the Snowden run.

Scafell Pike – Cycle Route

GPX file showing the Scafell Pike cycling section.

Scafell Pike – Run Route

GPX file showing the Scafell Pike running section.

Ben Nevis Route

GPX file showing the Ben Nevis run.

Australian Three Peaks Race™

Home    Race Course    Results    Race Trivia   

The Australian Three Peaks Race™ was a non-stop offshore short-handed sailing and endurance mountain running event, commencing at Beauty Point just north of Launceston in Tasmania situated on the Tamar River and finishing in Hobart on the River Derwent. En-route, the running members of each team had to scale Mt Strzelecki, Mt Freycinet and Mt Wellington. The concept came from the British race, the Three Peaks Yacht Race that takes teams from Barmouth in Wales to Fort William in Scotland, climbing the highest mountains in Wales, England and Scotland. For competitors it offered an interesting alternative for the yachting fraternity and a challenging new activity for runners, climbers and bush-walkers. It was this unique combination of the two disparate disciplines which provided for such a challenging event. The course covered 334 nautical miles of short-handed sailing and 133 kilometres of endurance running over three mountains. The east-coast course around Tasmania afforded the best combinations of suitable mountains, coastal centres, accessibility for followers, media crews and the public. It brought significant publicity and exposure to two of the more beautiful National Parks but remote areas of the State, Flinders Island and the Freycinet Peninsula, and took competitors, supporting groups and the media the length of the beautiful east coast. The race was conducted for 25 years starting on Good Friday each Easter from 1989 until the last race in 2013. It attracted competitors from many countries, particularly Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States but other countries were represented too. There was also a core of dedicated local competitors who turned out each year, often just to "have a go" knowing that they possibly had little chance to win but wanted to experience the many challenges to successfully reach the finish line. Likewise there was a dedicated group of volunteers who each year manned various race controls for long hours maintaining a safety net over the competitors for the three to four day event. Results for the 25 years can be viewed here and Race Records here. There are many notable statistics from the 25 annual races, the quickest, slowest, oldest and so on. We thank all who had connections with the Australian Three Peaks Race, competitors, volunteers, the interested general public, municipal councils, corporate supporters and everyone who have helped make the race such a success for its 25 years. Organising authority for the race is the registered association, Australian Three Peaks Race Inc. Further information can be obtained be emailing '); document.write(name + '@' + domain + ' '); // --> .  

The Three Peaks       Yacht Race

Sail up the wild West Coast and run to the summits of Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis, the highest peaks of Wales, England & Scotland.    A classic adventure race for teams of runners and sailors, since 1977. 

About the three peaks yacht race.

Teams of four or five per yacht sail from Barmouth to Fort William , with two of the crew climbing the highest mountains of Wales, England and Scotland en route.  The land stages to Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis involve running 54.8 miles, cycling 40 miles, and climbing 16,500 feet in 3 or 4 action packed days. 

Team members must be over 18 years old (those over 16 will be considered with parental & Skipper's consent.)

There is also a trophy for all-round team performance called the Tilman Cup . For this 4 of team must reach a summit.

Use of engines is not allowed, except for safety reasons in specific areas in ports. However, a unique feature of the race is that rowing is allowed!

Fro 2018 a non-competitive Challenge Class was introduced. It covers the same course as the race but teams can use engines if necessary and are not restricted to 5.

From 2019 multi-hulls were once again allowed to enter, and the main race categories are decided under handicap.

Support crews can meet the teams on land but are restricted in what support they can give. Many teams participate without any form of back up at all.

Barmouth to Caernarfon and Snowdon

The first leg starts from Barmouth, yachts sail approximately 62 sea miles, past Bardsey Island and the Llyn Peninsula, over Caernarfon Bar and arrive at Caernarfon Pier. A compulsory five-minute kit check by marshals is carried out before the runners set off to the summit of Snowdon via the Ranger Path and return via Llanberis, a distance of 24.5 miles.

Caernarfon to Whitehaven and Scafell Pike

Here crews can opt to sail around the Isle of Anglesey or continue, under sail only, through the difficult waters of the Menai Straits.

After a further sail of approximately 100 sea miles yachts arrive at the marina in Whitehaven. This is the longest land leg of the race, the distance to Scafell Pike and back via Ennerdale being some 53 miles, so bicycles are allowed for the 40 mile return trip to Black Sail Youth Hostel.

The ride is via a cycle path, country road and forestry track and racers leave their bikes at Black Sail Youth Hostel before setting off on foot to cross Black Sail Pass to Wasdale Head. Here they will be met by friendly marshals at Wasdale Head Hotel, this time with food and drink! Runners then proceed to the summit of Scafell Pike and return to their yacht via the same route.

Whitehaven to Fort William and Ben Nevis

This sailing leg is a distance of approximately 227 sea miles rounding the Mull of Kintyre and into the Sound of Jura, through beautiful scenery but with many tidal gates to negotiate. The race finishes just north of Fort William at Corpach, at the entrance to the Caledonian Canal where the sailing is over and skippers can lock in to Corpach Basin and lie alongside.

The runners, after checking in with the marshals, set off to the summit of Ben Nevis, which is a 17.8 mile return trip. The race is finished when the runners return and cross the finish line.

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• Places - European, Western and Northern Russia

YEKATERINBURG: FACTORIES, URAL SIGHTS, YELTSIN AND THE WHERE NICHOLAS II WAS KILLED

Sverdlovsk oblast.

Sverdlovsk Oblast is the largest region in the Urals; it lies in the foothills of mountains and contains a monument indicating the border between Europe and Asia. The region covers 194,800 square kilometers (75,200 square miles), is home to about 4.3 million people and has a population density of 22 people per square kilometer. About 83 percent of the population live in urban areas. Yekaterinburg is the capital and largest city, with 1.5 million people. For Russians, the Ural Mountains are closely associated with Pavel Bazhov's tales and known for folk crafts such as Kasli iron sculpture, Tagil painting, and copper embossing. Yekaterinburg is the birthplace of Russia’s iron and steel industry, taking advantage of the large iron deposits in the Ural mountains. The popular Silver Ring of the Urals tourist route starts here.

In the summer you can follow in the tracks of Yermak, climb relatively low Ural mountain peaks and look for boulders seemingly with human faces on them. You can head to the Gemstone Belt of the Ural mountains, which used to house emerald, amethyst and topaz mines. In the winter you can go ice fishing, ski and cross-country ski.

Sverdlovsk Oblast and Yekaterinburg are located near the center of Russia, at the crossroads between Europe and Asia and also the southern and northern parts of Russia. Winters are longer and colder than in western section of European Russia. Snowfalls can be heavy. Winter temperatures occasionally drop as low as - 40 degrees C (-40 degrees F) and the first snow usually falls in October. A heavy winter coat, long underwear and good boots are essential. Snow and ice make the sidewalks very slippery, so footwear with a good grip is important. Since the climate is very dry during the winter months, skin moisturizer plus lip balm are recommended. Be alert for mud on street surfaces when snow cover is melting (April-May). Patches of mud create slippery road conditions.

Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg (kilometer 1818 on the Trans-Siberian Railway) is the fourth largest city in Russia, with of 1.5 million and growth rate of about 12 percent, high for Russia. Located in the southern Ural mountains, it was founded by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine, it was used by the tsars as a summer retreat and is where tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed and President Boris Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career. The city is near the border between Europe and Asia.

Yekaterinburg (also spelled Ekaterinburg) is located on the eastern slope of the Ural Mountains in the headwaters of the Iset and Pyshma Rivers. The Iset runs through the city center. Three ponds — Verkh-Isetsky, Gorodskoy and Nizhne-Isetsky — were created on it. Yekaterinburg has traditionally been a city of mining and was once the center of the mining industry of the Urals and Siberia. Yekaterinburg remains a major center of the Russian armaments industry and is sometimes called the "Pittsburgh of Russia.". A few ornate, pastel mansions and wide boulevards are reminders of the tsarist era. The city is large enough that it has its own Metro system but is characterized mostly by blocky Soviet-era apartment buildings. The city has advanced under President Vladimir Putin and is now one of the fastest growing places in Russia, a country otherwise characterized by population declines

Yekaterinburg is technically an Asian city as it lies 32 kilometers east of the continental divide between Europe and Asia. The unofficial capital of the Urals, a key region in the Russian heartland, it is second only to Moscow in terms of industrial production and capital of Sverdlovsk oblast. Among the important industries are ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and metalworking, chemical and petrochemicals, construction materials and medical, light and food industries. On top of being home of numerous heavy industries and mining concerns, Yekaterinburg is also a major center for industrial research and development and power engineering as well as home to numerous institutes of higher education, technical training, and scientific research. In addition, Yekaterinburg is the largest railway junction in Russia: the Trans-Siberian Railway passes through it, the southern, northern, western and eastern routes merge in the city.

Accommodation: There are two good and affordable hotels — the 3-star Emerald and Parus hotels — located close to the city's most popular landmarks and main transport interchanges in the center of Yekaterinburg. Room prices start at RUB 1,800 per night.

History of Yekaterinburg

Yekaterinburg was founded in 1723 by Peter the Great and named after his wife Catherine I. It was used by the tsars as a summer retreat but was mainly developed as metalworking and manufacturing center to take advantage of the large deposits of iron and other minerals in the Ural mountains. It is best known to Americans as the place where the last Tsar and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918 and near where American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Gary Powers, was shot down in 1960.

Peter the Great recognized the importance of the iron and copper-rich Urals region for Imperial Russia's industrial and military development. In November 1723, he ordered the construction of a fortress factory and an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. In its early years Yekaterinburg grew rich from gold and other minerals and later coal. The Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745 created such a huge amount of wealth that one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. By the mid-18th century, metallurgical plants had sprung up across the Urals to cast cannons, swords, guns and other weapons to arm Russia’s expansionist ambitions. The Yekaterinburg mint produced most of Russia's coins. Explorations of the Trans-Baikal and Altai regions began here in the 18th century.

Iron, cast iron and copper were the main products. Even though Iron from the region went into the Eiffel Tower, the main plant in Yekaterinburg itself was shut down in 1808. The city still kept going through a mountain factory control system of the Urals. The first railway in the Urals was built here: in 1878, the Yekaterinburg-Perm railway branch connected the province's capital with the factories of the Middle Urals.

In the Soviet era the city was called Sverdlovsk (named after Yakov Sverdlov, the man who organized Nicholas II's execution). During the first five-year plans the city became industrial — old plants were reconstructed, new ones were built. The center of Yekaterinburg was formed to conform to the historical general plan of 1829 but was the layout was adjusted around plants and factories. In the Stalin era the city was a major gulag transhipment center. In World War II, many defense-related industries were moved here. It and the surrounding area were a center of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. Soviet tanks, missiles and aircraft engines were made in the Urals. During the Cold War era, Yekaterinburg was a center of weapons-grade uranium enrichment and processing, warhead assembly and dismantlement. In 1979, 64 people died when anthrax leaked from a biological weapons facility. Yekaterinburg was a “Closed City” for 40 years during the Cold Soviet era and was not open to foreigners until 1991

In the early post-Soviet era, much like Pittsburgh in the 1970s, Yekaterinburg had a hard struggle d to cope with dramatic economic changes that have made its heavy industries uncompetitive on the world market. Huge defense plants struggled to survive and the city was notorious as an organized crime center in the 1990s, when its hometown boy Boris Yeltsin was President of Russia. By the 2000s, Yekaterinburg’s retail and service was taking off, the defense industry was reviving and it was attracting tech industries and investments related to the Urals’ natural resources. By the 2010s it was vying to host a world exhibition in 2020 (it lost, Dubai won) and it had McDonald’s, Subway, sushi restaurants, and Gucci, Chanel and Armani. There were Bentley and Ferrari dealerships but they closed down

Transportation in Yekaterinburg

Getting There: By Plane: Yekaterinburg is a three-hour flight from Moscow with prices starting at RUB 8,000, or a 3-hour flight from Saint Petersburg starting from RUB 9,422 (direct round-trip flight tickets for one adult passenger). There are also flights from Frankfurt, Istanbul, China and major cities in the former Soviet Union.

By Train: Yekaterinburg is a major stop on the Trans-Siberian Railway. Daily train service is available to Moscow and many other Russian cities.Yekaterinburg is a 32-hour train ride from Moscow (tickets RUB 8,380 and above) or a 36-hour train ride from Saint Petersburg (RUB 10,300 and above). The ticket prices are round trip for a berth in a sleeper compartment for one adult passenger). By Car: a car trip from Moscow to Yekateringburg is 1,787 kilometers long and takes about 18 hours. The road from Saint Petersburg is 2,294 kilometers and takes about 28 hours.

Regional Transport: The region's public transport includes buses and suburban electric trains. Regional trains provide transport to larger cities in the Ural region. Buses depart from Yekaterinburg’s two bus stations: the Southern Bus Station and the Northern Bus Station.

Regional Transport: According the to Association for Safe International Road Travel (ASIRT): “Public transportation is well developed. Overcrowding is common. Fares are low. Service is efficient. Buses are the main form of public transport. Tram network is extensive. Fares are reasonable; service is regular. Trams are heavily used by residents, overcrowding is common. Purchase ticket after boarding. Metro runs from city center to Uralmash, an industrial area south of the city. Metro ends near the main railway station. Fares are inexpensive.

“Traffic is congested in city center. Getting around by car can be difficult. Route taxis (minivans) provide the fastest transport. They generally run on specific routes, but do not have specific stops. Drivers stop where passengers request. Route taxis can be hailed. Travel by bus or trolleybuses may be slow in rush hour. Trams are less affected by traffic jams. Trolley buses (electric buses) cannot run when temperatures drop below freezing.”

Entertainment, Sports and Recreation in Yekaterinburg

The performing arts in Yekaterinburg are first rate. The city has an excellent symphony orchestra, opera and ballet theater, and many other performing arts venues. Tickets are inexpensive. The Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater is lavishly designed and richly decorated building in the city center of Yekaterinburg. The theater was established in 1912 and building was designed by architect Vladimir Semyonov and inspired by the Vienna Opera House and the Theater of Opera and Ballet in Odessa.

Vaynera Street is a pedestrian only shopping street in city center with restaurants, cafes and some bars. But otherwise Yekaterinburg's nightlife options are limited. There are a handful of expensive Western-style restaurants and bars, none of them that great. Nightclubs serve the city's nouveau riche clientele. Its casinos have closed down. Some of them had links with organized crime. New dance clubs have sprung up that are popular with Yekaterinburg's more affluent youth.

Yekaterinburg's most popular spectator sports are hockey, basketball, and soccer. There are stadiums and arenas that host all three that have fairly cheap tickets. There is an indoor water park and lots of parks and green spaces. The Urals have many lakes, forests and mountains are great for hiking, boating, berry and mushroom hunting, swimming and fishing. Winter sports include cross-country skiing and ice skating. Winter lasts about six months and there’s usually plenty of snow. The nearby Ural Mountains however are not very high and the downhill skiing opportunities are limited..

Sights in Yekaterinburg

Sights in Yekaterinburg include the Museum of City Architecture and Ural Industry, with an old water tower and mineral collection with emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and other precious stone; Geological Alley, a small park with labeled samples of minerals found in the Urals region; the Ural Geology Museum, which houses an extensive collection of stones, gold and gems from the Urals; a monument marking the border between Europe and Asia; a memorial for gulag victims; and a graveyard with outlandish memorials for slain mafia members.

The Military History Museum houses the remains of the U-2 spy plane shot down in 1960 and locally made tanks and rocket launchers. The fine arts museum contains paintings by some of Russia's 19th-century masters. Also worth a look are the History an Local Studies Museum; the Political History and Youth Museum; and the University and Arboretum. Old wooden houses can be seen around Zatoutstovsya ulitsa and ulitsa Belinskogo. Around the city are wooded parks, lakes and quarries used to harvest a variety of minerals. Weiner Street is the main street of Yekaterinburg. Along it are lovely sculptures and 19th century architecture. Take a walk around the unique Literary Quarter

Plotinka is a local meeting spot, where you will often find street musicians performing. Plotinka can be described as the center of the city's center. This is where Yekaterinburg holds its biggest events: festivals, seasonal fairs, regional holiday celebrations, carnivals and musical fountain shows. There are many museums and open-air exhibitions on Plotinka. Plotinka is named after an actual dam of the city pond located nearby (“plotinka” means “a small dam” in Russian).In November 1723, Peter the Great ordered the construction of an ironworks in the Iset River Valley, which required a dam for its operation. “Iset” can be translated from Finnish as “abundant with fish”. This name was given to the river by the Mansi — the Finno-Ugric people dwelling on the eastern slope of the Northern Urals.

Vysotsky and Iset are skyscrapers that are 188.3 meters and 209 meters high, respectively. Fifty-story-high Iset has been described by locals as the world’s northernmost skyscraper. Before the construction of Iset, Vysotsky was the tallest building of Yekaterinburg and Russia (excluding Moscow). A popular vote has decided to name the skyscraper after the famous Soviet songwriter, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky. and the building was opened on November 25, 2011. There is a lookout at the top of the building, and the Vysotsky museum on its second floor. The annual “Vysotsky climb” (1137 steps) is held there, with a prize of RUB 100,000. While Vysotsky serves as an office building, Iset, owned by the Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company, houses 225 premium residential apartments ranging from 80 to 490 square meters in size.

Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center

The Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center (in the city center: ul. Yeltsina, 3) is a non-governmental organization named after the first president of the Russian Federation. The Museum of the First President of Russia as well as his archives are located in the Center. There is also a library, educational and children's centers, and exposition halls. Yeltsin lived most of his life and began his political career in Yekaterinburg. He was born in Butka about 200 kilometers east of Yekaterinburg.

The core of the Center is the Museum. Modern multimedia technologies help animate the documents, photos from the archives, and artifacts. The Yeltsin Museum holds collections of: propaganda posters, leaflets, and photos of the first years of the Soviet regime; portraits and portrait sculptures of members of Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of various years; U.S.S.R. government bonds and other items of the Soviet era; a copy of “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, published in the “Novy Mir” magazine (#11, 1962); perestroika-era editions of books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vasily Grossman, and other authors; theater, concert, and cinema posters, programs, and tickets — in short, all of the artifacts of the perestroika era.

The Yeltsin Center opened in 2012. Inside you will also find an art gallery, a bookstore, a gift shop, a food court, concert stages and a theater. There are regular screenings of unique films that you will not find anywhere else. Also operating inside the center, is a scientific exploritorium for children. The center was designed by Boris Bernaskoni. Almost from the its very opening, the Yeltsin Center has been accused by members of different political entities of various ideological crimes. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10:00am to 9:00pm.

Where Nicholas II was Executed

On July, 17, 1918, during this reign of terror of the Russian Civil War, former-tsar Nicholas II, his wife, five children (the 13-year-old Alexis, 22-year-old Olga, 19-year-old Maria and 17-year-old Anastasia)the family physician, the cook, maid, and valet were shot to death by a Red Army firing squad in the cellar of the house they were staying at in Yekaterinburg.

Ipatiev House (near Church on the Blood, Ulitsa Libknekhta) was a merchant's house where Nicholas II and his family were executed. The house was demolished in 1977, on the orders of an up and coming communist politician named Boris Yeltsin. Yeltsin later said that the destruction of the house was an "act of barbarism" and he had no choice because he had been ordered to do it by the Politburo,

The site is marked with s cross with the photos of the family members and cross bearing their names. A small wooden church was built at the site. It contains paintings of the family. For a while there were seven traditional wooden churches. Mass is given ay noon everyday in an open-air museum. The Church on the Blood — constructed to honor Nicholas II and his family — was built on the part of the site in 1991 and is now a major place of pilgrimage.

Nicholas and his family where killed during the Russian civil war. It is thought the Bolsheviks figured that Nicholas and his family gave the Whites figureheads to rally around and they were better of dead. Even though the death orders were signed Yakov Sverdlov, the assassination was personally ordered by Lenin, who wanted to get them out of sight and out of mind. Trotsky suggested a trial. Lenin nixed the idea, deciding something had to be done about the Romanovs before White troops approached Yekaterinburg. Trotsky later wrote: "The decision was not only expedient but necessary. The severity of he punishment showed everyone that we would continue to fight on mercilessly, stopping at nothing."

Ian Frazier wrote in The New Yorker: “Having read a lot about the end of Tsar Nicholas II and his family and servants, I wanted to see the place in Yekaterinburg where that event occurred. The gloomy quality of this quest depressed Sergei’s spirits, but he drove all over Yekaterinburg searching for the site nonetheless. Whenever he stopped and asked a pedestrian how to get to the house where Nicholas II was murdered, the reaction was a wince. Several people simply walked away. But eventually, after a lot of asking, Sergei found the location. It was on a low ridge near the edge of town, above railroad tracks and the Iset River. The house, known as the Ipatiev House, was no longer standing, and the basement where the actual killings happened had been filled in. I found the blankness of the place sinister and dizzying. It reminded me of an erasure done so determinedly that it had worn a hole through the page. [Source: Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, August 3, 2009, Frazier is author of “Travels in Siberia” (2010)]

“The street next to the site is called Karl Liebknecht Street. A building near where the house used to be had a large green advertisement that said, in English, “LG—Digitally Yours.” On an adjoining lot, a small chapel kept the memory of the Tsar and his family; beneath a pedestal holding an Orthodox cross, peonies and pansies grew. The inscription on the pedestal read, “We go down on our knees, Russia, at the foot of the tsarist cross.”

Books: The Romanovs: The Final Chapter by Robert K. Massie (Random House, 1995); The Fall of the Romanovs by Mark D. Steinberg and Vladimir Khrustalëv (Yale, 1995);

See Separate Article END OF NICHOLAS II factsanddetails.com

Execution of Nicholas II

According to Robert Massie K. Massie, author of Nicholas and Alexandra, Nicholas II and his family were awakened from their bedrooms around midnight and taken to the basement. They were told they were to going to take some photographs of them and were told to stand behind a row of chairs.

Suddenly, a group of 11 Russians and Latvians, each with a revolver, burst into the room with orders to kill a specific person. Yakob Yurovsky, a member of the Soviet executive committee, reportedly shouted "your relatives are continuing to attack the Soviet Union.” After firing, bullets bouncing off gemstones hidden in the corsets of Alexandra and her daughters ricocheted around the room like "a shower of hail," the soldiers said. Those that were still breathing were killed with point black shots to the head.

The three sisters and the maid survived the first round thanks to their gems. They were pressed up against a wall and killed with a second round of bullets. The maid was the only one that survived. She was pursued by the executioners who stabbed her more than 30 times with their bayonets. The still writhing body of Alexis was made still by a kick to the head and two bullets in the ear delivered by Yurovsky himself.

Yurovsky wrote: "When the party entered I told the Romanovs that in view of the fact their relatives continued their offensive against Soviet Russia, the Executive Committee of the Urals Soviet had decided to shoot them. Nicholas turned his back to the detachment and faced his family. Then, as if collecting himself, he turned around, asking, 'What? What?'"

"[I] ordered the detachment to prepare. Its members had been previously instructed whom to shoot and to am directly at the heart to avoid much blood and to end more quickly. Nicholas said no more. he turned again to his family. The others shouted some incoherent exclamations. All this lasted a few seconds. Then commenced the shooting, which went on for two or three minutes. [I] killed Nicholas on the spot."

Nicholas II’s Initial Burial Site in Yekaterinburg

Ganina Yama Monastery (near the village of Koptyaki, 15 kilometers northwest of Yekaterinburg) stands near the three-meter-deep pit where some the remains of Nicholas II and his family were initially buried. The second burial site — where most of the remains were — is in a field known as Porosyonkov (56.9113628°N 60.4954326°E), seven kilometers from Ganina Yama.

On visiting Ganina Yama Monastery, one person posted in Trip Advisor: “We visited this set of churches in a pretty park with Konstantin from Ekaterinburg Guide Centre. He really brought it to life with his extensive knowledge of the history of the events surrounding their terrible end. The story is so moving so unless you speak Russian, it is best to come here with a guide or else you will have no idea of what is what.”

In 1991, the acid-burned remains of Nicholas II and his family were exhumed from a shallow roadside mass grave in a swampy area 12 miles northwest of Yekaterinburg. The remains had been found in 1979 by geologist and amateur archeologist Alexander Avdonin, who kept the location secret out of fear that they would be destroyed by Soviet authorities. The location was disclosed to a magazine by one his fellow discovers.

The original plan was to throw the Romanovs down a mine shaft and disposes of their remains with acid. They were thrown in a mine with some grenades but the mine didn't collapse. They were then carried by horse cart. The vats of acid fell off and broke. When the carriage carrying the bodies broke down it was decided the bury the bodies then and there. The remaining acid was poured on the bones, but most of it was soaked up the ground and the bones largely survived.

After this their pulses were then checked, their faces were crushed to make them unrecognizable and the bodies were wrapped in bed sheets loaded onto a truck. The "whole procedure," Yurovsky said took 20 minutes. One soldiers later bragged than he could "die in peace because he had squeezed the Empress's -------."

The bodies were taken to a forest and stripped, burned with acid and gasoline, and thrown into abandoned mine shafts and buried under railroad ties near a country road near the village of Koptyaki. "The bodies were put in the hole," Yurovsky wrote, "and the faces and all the bodies, generally doused with sulfuric acid, both so they couldn't be recognized and prevent a stink from them rotting...We scattered it with branches and lime, put boards on top and drove over it several times—no traces of the hole remained.

Shortly afterwards, the government in Moscow announced that Nicholas II had been shot because of "a counterrevolutionary conspiracy." There was no immediate word on the other members of the family which gave rise to rumors that other members of the family had escaped. Yekaterinburg was renamed Sverdlov in honor of the man who signed the death orders.

For seven years the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra, three of their daughters and four servants were stored in polyethylene bags on shelves in the old criminal morgue in Yekaterunburg. On July 17, 1998, Nicholas II and his family and servants who were murdered with him were buried Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg along with the other Romanov tsars, who have been buried there starting with Peter the Great. Nicholas II had a side chapel built for himself at the fortress in 1913 but was buried in a new crypt.

Near Yekaterinburg

Factory-Museum of Iron and Steel Metallurgy (in Niznhy Tagil 80 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg) a museum with old mining equipment made at the site of huge abandoned iron and steel factory. Officially known as the Factory-Museum of the History of the Development of Iron and Steel Metallurgy, it covers an area of 30 hectares and contains a factory founded by the Demidov family in 1725 that specialized mainly in the production of high-quality cast iron and steel. Later, the foundry was renamed after Valerian Kuybyshev, a prominent figure of the Communist Party.

The first Russian factory museum, the unusual museum demonstrates all stages of metallurgy and metal working. There is even a blast furnace and an open-hearth furnace. The display of factory equipment includes bridge crane from 1892) and rolling stock equipment from the 19th-20th centuries. In Niznhy Tagil contains some huge blocks of malachite and

Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha (180 kilometers east-northeast of Yekaterinburg) has an open air architecture museum with log buildings, a stone church and other pre-revolutionary architecture. The village is the creation of Ivan Samoilov, a local activist who loved his village so much he dedicated 40 years of his life to recreating it as the open-air museum of wooden architecture.

The stone Savior Church, a good example of Siberian baroque architecture. The interior and exterior of the church are exhibition spaces of design. The houses are very colorful. In tsarist times, rich villagers hired serfs to paint the walls of their wooden izbas (houses) bright colors. Old neglected buildings from the 17th to 19th centuries have been brought to Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha from all over the Urals. You will see the interior design of the houses and hear stories about traditions and customs of the Ural farmers.

Verkhoturye (330 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg) is the home a 400-year-old monastery that served as 16th century capital of the Urals. Verkhoturye is a small town on the Tura River knows as the Jerusalem of the Urals for its many holy places, churches and monasteries. The town's main landmark is its Kremlin — the smallest in Russia. Pilgrims visit the St. Nicholas Monastery to see the remains of St. Simeon of Verkhoturye, the patron saint of fishermen.

Ural Mountains

Ural Mountains are the traditional dividing line between Europe and Asia and have been a crossroads of Russian history. Stretching from Kazakhstan to the fringes of the Arctic Kara Sea, the Urals lie almost exactly along the 60 degree meridian of longitude and extend for about 2,000 kilometers (1,300 miles) from north to south and varies in width from about 50 kilometers (30 miles) in the north and 160 kilometers (100 miles) the south. At kilometers 1777 on the Trans-Siberian Railway there is white obelisk with "Europe" carved in Russian on one side and "Asia" carved on the other.

The eastern side of the Urals contains a lot of granite and igneous rock. The western side is primarily sandstone and limestones. A number of precious stones can be found in the southern part of the Urals, including emeralds. malachite, tourmaline, jasper and aquamarines. The highest peaks are in the north. Mount Narodnaya is the highest of all but is only 1884 meters (6,184 feet) high. The northern Urals are covered in thick forests and home to relatively few people.

Like the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States, the Urals are very old mountains — with rocks and sediments that are hundreds of millions years old — that were one much taller than they are now and have been steadily eroded down over millions of years by weather and other natural processes to their current size. According to Encyclopedia Britannica: “The rock composition helps shape the topography: the high ranges and low, broad-topped ridges consist of quartzites, schists, and gabbro, all weather-resistant. Buttes are frequent, and there are north–south troughs of limestone, nearly all containing river valleys. Karst topography is highly developed on the western slopes of the Urals, with many caves, basins, and underground streams. The eastern slopes, on the other hand, have fewer karst formations; instead, rocky outliers rise above the flattened surfaces. Broad foothills, reduced to peneplain, adjoin the Central and Southern Urals on the east.

“The Urals date from the structural upheavals of the Hercynian orogeny (about 250 million years ago). About 280 million years ago there arose a high mountainous region, which was eroded to a peneplain. Alpine folding resulted in new mountains, the most marked upheaval being that of the Nether-Polar Urals...The western slope of the Urals is composed of middle Paleozoic sedimentary rocks (sandstones and limestones) that are about 350 million years old. In many places it descends in terraces to the Cis-Ural depression (west of the Urals), to which much of the eroded matter was carried during the late Paleozoic (about 300 million years ago). Found there are widespread karst (a starkly eroded limestone region) and gypsum, with large caverns and subterranean streams. On the eastern slope, volcanic layers alternate with sedimentary strata, all dating from middle Paleozoic times.”

Southern Urals

The southern Urals are characterized by grassy slopes and fertile valleys. The middle Urals are a rolling platform that barely rises above 300 meters (1,000 feet). This region is rich in minerals and has been heavily industrialized. This is where you can find Yekaterinburg (formally Sverdlovsk), the largest city in the Urals.

Most of the Southern Urals are is covered with forests, with 50 percent of that pine-woods, 44 percent birch woods, and the rest are deciduous aspen and alder forests. In the north, typical taiga forests are the norm. There are patches of herbal-poaceous steppes, northem sphagnous marshes and bushy steppes, light birch forests and shady riparian forests, tall-grass mountainous meadows, lowland ling marshes and stony placers with lichen stains. In some places there are no large areas of homogeneous forests, rather they are forests with numerous glades and meadows of different size.

In the Ilmensky Mountains Reserve in the Southern Urals, scientists counted 927 vascular plants (50 relicts, 23 endemic species), about 140 moss species, 483 algae species and 566 mushroom species. Among the species included into the Red Book of Russia are feather grass, downy-leaved feather grass, Zalessky feather grass, moccasin flower, ladies'-slipper, neottianthe cucullata, Baltic orchis, fen orchis, helmeted orchis, dark-winged orchis, Gelma sandwart, Krasheninnikov sandwart, Clare astragalus.

The fauna of the vertebrate animals in the Reserve includes 19 fish, 5 amphibian and 5 reptile. Among the 48 mammal species are elks, roe deer, boars, foxes, wolves, lynxes, badgers, common weasels, least weasels, forest ferrets, Siberian striped weasel, common marten, American mink. Squirrels, beavers, muskrats, hares, dibblers, moles, hedgehogs, voles are quite common, as well as chiropterans: pond bat, water bat, Brandt's bat, whiskered bat, northern bat, long-eared bat, parti-coloured bat, Nathusius' pipistrelle. The 174 bird bird species include white-tailed eagles, honey hawks, boreal owls, gnome owls, hawk owls, tawny owls, common scoters, cuckoos, wookcocks, common grouses, wood grouses, hazel grouses, common partridges, shrikes, goldenmountain thrushes, black- throated loons and others.

Activities and Places in the Ural Mountains

The Urals possess beautiful natural scenery that can be accessed from Yekaterinburg with a rent-a-car, hired taxi and tour. Travel agencies arrange rafting, kayaking and hiking trips. Hikes are available in the taiga forest and the Urals. Trips often include walks through the taiga to small lakes and hikes into the mountains and excursions to collect mushrooms and berries and climb in underground caves. Mellow rafting is offered in a relatively calm six kilometer section of the River Serga. In the winter visitor can enjoy cross-mountains skiing, downhill skiing, ice fishing, dog sledding, snow-shoeing and winter hiking through the forest to a cave covered with ice crystals.

Lake Shartash (10 kilometers from Yekaterinburg) is where the first Ural gold was found, setting in motion the Yekaterinburg gold rush of 1745, which created so much wealth one rich baron of that time hosted a wedding party that lasted a year. The area around Shartash Lake is a favorite picnic and barbecue spot of the locals. Getting There: by bus route No. 50, 054 or 54, with a transfer to suburban commuter bus route No. 112, 120 or 121 (the whole trip takes about an hour), or by car (10 kilometers drive from the city center, 40 minutes).

Revun Rapids (90 kilometers road from Yekaterinburg near Beklenishcheva village) is a popular white water rafting places On the nearby cliffs you can see the remains of a mysterious petroglyph from the Paleolithic period. Along the steep banks, you may notice the dark entrance of Smolinskaya Cave. There are legends of a sorceress who lived in there. The rocks at the riverside are suited for competitive rock climbers and beginners. Climbing hooks and rings are hammered into rocks. The most fun rafting is generally in May and June.

Olenii Ruchii National Park (100 kilometers west of Yekaterinburg) is the most popular nature park in Sverdlovsk Oblast and popular weekend getaway for Yekaterinburg residents. Visitors are attracted by the beautiful forests, the crystal clear Serga River and picturesque rocks caves. There are some easy hiking routes: the six-kilometer Lesser Ring and the 15-kilometer Greater Ring. Another route extends for 18 km and passes by the Mitkinsky Mine, which operated in the 18th-19th centuries. It's a kind of an open-air museum — you can still view mining an enrichment equipment here. There is also a genuine beaver dam nearby.

Among the other attractions at Olenii Ruchii are Druzhba (Friendship) Cave, with passages that extend for about 500 meters; Dyrovaty Kamen (Holed Stone), created over time by water of Serga River eroding rock; and Utoplennik (Drowned Man), where you can see “The Angel of Sole Hope”., created by the Swedish artist Lehna Edwall, who has placed seven angels figures in different parts of the world to “embrace the planet, protecting it from fear, despair, and disasters.”

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: Federal Agency for Tourism of the Russian Federation (official Russia tourism website russiatourism.ru ), Russian government websites, UNESCO, Wikipedia, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Yomiuri Shimbun and various books and other publications.

Updated in September 2020

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