Arzhan Suu source on the map. Chuisky tract and its attractions: from Maima to Kamlak. For Altai people, the Arzhan Suu spring is a holy place
The Arzhan-Suu mineral spring (translated from the regional Altai dialect as “holy water”) is a natural monument (since 1978) and one of the most famous and visited springs in the Altai Mountains. The water in it has long been considered healing.
In Altai you can also hear other names for the source - “Driver’s Key” and “Golden Key”.
The source is located on the right bank of the Katun River, at a distance of 5-6 km from the southern outskirts of the village of Manzherok. The area belongs to the Iolgo mid-mountain ridge; there is a deep fault in this area. Water comes to the surface from rock cracks in several places and flows towards the tract, forming a single stream. Below, the source is decorated and equipped for local residents and tourists.
Among residents of coastal villages, Arzhan-Suu is known as a holy spring. Since the place is popular among tourists, cafes and souvenir shops with amulets, beads, hand-made national clothes, shoes, musical instruments and discs with throat singing, herbal preparations, tea, balms and other products have been operating next to it for several years. This place is often visited by newlyweds on their wedding day. The Arzhan-Suu cafe uses water from a source when preparing dishes, and the building looks like a medieval castle. This establishment is famous from Vasily Shukshin’s film “There Lives Such a Guy.”
Water composition
Recently, the ecological condition of water has been deteriorating - vehicles constantly stop very close to the source, polluting the environment with harmful exhausts.
Legend
Altaians believe in the extraordinary power of this place and respect the mineral spring with healing water. According to the legend of the indigenous inhabitants of the Altai Mountains, the spring has life-giving power. A long time ago, a hunter, while tracking his prey, saw a deer. Sneaking up, he wounded the deer, but it managed to escape. The hunter rushed after the bleeding animal and saw that the deer was entering the stream. In the water, the animal’s wounds began to heal, the deer came out of the water completely healthy and ran away in the other direction. The hunter was amazed at the miracle, threw a dried fish into the water - and it swam, tried to throw an otter skin - and it came to life in the unusual water. Then he went to the people and told them that water has the power to give life and health to everything. People called this miracle “holy water.”
Rituals
A ritual performed by the Altai people is dedicated to the healing spring: first of all, it is necessary to free yourself from all negative thoughts. To cleanse not only the soul, but also the body, it is even recommended to fast. Cleanliness should also be observed near the source - behave quietly, speak quietly.
“Shaman trees” grow near the spring, on which, according to the ancient custom of the Altai people, it is customary to tie light ribbons - dyalama. The origins of this ritual go back to ancient times. Tying ribbons meant turning to the spirits of the source with peaceful intentions. Next, food for the spirits was placed on the altar; usually these were figurines made of dried cheese. Only after these procedures could one ask for healing and long life.
It is believed that Arzhan-Suu fulfills good wishes; you just need to think about your cherished desires while standing next to him. Local residents ask tourists to pay attention to the fact that the ritual is of a religious and philosophical nature, so there is no need to thoughtlessly tie anything else to the tree: handkerchiefs, bags, etc. The tape should be light colors (white, blue, yellow), clean, 20 cm long and 5 cm wide.
How to get to the Arzhan-Suu spring
You can get to Arzhan-Suu by car along the Chuysky tract (route R-256), the landmark is the 478th kilometer. Pass the village of Manzherok, go straight when the bridge to the Turquoise Katun tourist complex is on the right, do not turn away. The street market will also begin here, near the last canopy with souvenirs and there will be a source. During the high summer season there will be many tourists around the spring, so it is impossible to pass by it.
There are often excursions to the place - as a rule, these are general bus tours around Altai. The spring is also visited during excursions to the “Turquoise Katun” - a special economic zone where there is an artificial lake, recreation centers, an amusement park, and a ski resort.
Panorama of the source from the Chuysky tract:
Video of the source and souvenir market nearby:
What is so amazing and mystical about this spring? If you translate Arzhan Suu from Altai, you get “silver water”. You can learn about the healing properties of water from the legend.
Legend tells of a time when there were many deer (mountain deer) in these places. One day, one of the hunters, seeing a deer with horns of extraordinary beauty, began to chase. During the chase, he wounded a deer. But then something amazing happened! With the last of his strength, the deer reached the source and threw himself into it. Having reached the spring, the hunter saw that the wounds on the deer’s body had healed, and in a few jumps he disappeared into the thickets. The hunter's surprise knew no bounds. Going down to the source, he dipped dried grayling into the water. A moment later the fish swam away. Throwing the tanned otter skin into the water, the hunter saw that it came to life and swam away...
There is another legend about the miraculous properties of the spring
One girl, having lost her beloved, wandered the earth for a long time, trying to find him. Over many years of searching, she repeatedly washed herself in a mountain spring. And when she found her sweetheart, he did not recognize his beloved. It turns out that with every wash, the girl became younger. And by the time they met, he had aged, and she looked like just a child...
And it’s true that the Arzhan Suu spring got its name for a reason. This is a mineral spring with a high content of silver ions, copper and other mineral impurities. As a result, it is stored for a long time without losing its qualities. And in terms of iron content, the water from the source surpasses the famous Borjomi and Essentuki.
For Altai people, the Arzhan Suu spring is a holy place!
Shaman trees with multi-colored ribbons grow near the source. The width of the ribbons is 5 cm, and the length is 20 cm. Thus, the Altai people honor the gods. At the same time, the color of the ribbons is only light: white and yellow, blue and green.
The miraculous source gives strength and health to people, animals and birds. And if you make a good, bright wish near a spring, it will definitely come true.
The natural monument of the Altai Republic - the Arzhan-Suu spring is located near the Chuysky tract, 8 kilometers from the village of Manzherok. The source is located to the left of the tract. Next to it, along the road, there are a large number of trays with Altai souvenirs, where you can buy products made of ceramics, wood, birch bark and stone, national clothes and musical instruments, maps, postcards, videotapes and CDs about Altai. The Arzhan-Suu cafe, known from Vasily Shukshin’s film “There Lives Such a Guy,” also operates here.
The Arzhan-Suu spring is also called “Silver Spring”, “Holy Spring”, “Driver’s Key”. It emerges from rock cracks in several places and after a couple of tens of meters forms a single stream. In addition to the high content of silver, the spring water is saturated with copper and other mineral impurities; it is stored for a long time and has a beneficial effect on the metabolism in the body. And the content of ferrous iron in the water of Arzhan-Suu is noticeably higher than in the well-known sources of Essentuki and Borjomi. Unfortunately, according to research, recently the content of substances of anthropogenic origin in the mineral water of the source has been increasing, which indicates a deterioration in its ecological condition. Vehicles constantly stop near the source, contributing to environmental pollution with lead and petroleum products. During the peak summer tourist season, the number of visitors to the source sometimes reaches 1000 people per day.
Near the Arzhan-Suu spring there is a new road bridge to the left bank of the Katun, leading to the Turquoise Katun tourist complex. Further along the road is the Globus Plus tourist center.
Today I will tell you about the 2017 ascents to the peaks of Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola (4082 m) and Russian Shater (4117 m), which are located in the Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola massif, in the south of Ukok in Altai. I have been going to these peaks almost every year since 2009. Our plans usually include the peak Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola (the name of which we sometimes shorten to Tabyn for simplicity) with a height of 4082 m, but under good weather conditions and time to spare, we usually have time to climb the second peak Russian Shater with a height of 4117 m , which is located a kilometer from the first. This year, a group of nine people initially gathered for this ascent, but at the last moment four of the nine refused, and in the end a group of only five remained. All five are from different cities, did not know each other before, all have different physical training and experience, and different motivation. Nevertheless, we all climbed both peaks, which I consider a completely successful result. The ascent begins from the camp at an altitude of 3000 m, where we arrive on foot from Dzhazator, accompanied by a horse caravan that carries our things. This journey takes five days, and it is very important, since during this time everyone “gets” in physical shape, gets acclimatized and turns into a team. The ascent usually begins at 6 am. For the first 30-40 minutes we walk along the stone moraine, then we put on our crampons, form a group and go out onto the glacier. When we walked along the flat part of the glacier, the wind brought cloud caps onto the Russian Shater and Tabyn. As we ascended to the crack zone, the caps became denser and the wind at the top intensified, occasionally blowing up the gaps. At some point we discussed whether we should abort the climb and try again the next day in the hope of better weather. In general, the scenario of 2016 was repeated, when we climbed the Russian Tent, stood there for several minutes under a hurricane wind in dense clouds and went down. A small difference was that the wind still sometimes blew the clouds over the Russian Tent and the top opened for 30-40 seconds. I proposed to postpone this decision until an altitude of 3600 m, until a stop on the rocks, after which the most difficult section begins - a long climb up the slope with a fairly large slope, where it is impossible to fully rest. We passed the glacier and the crack zone relatively quickly, and this gave us hope that we would also overcome the last section. While we were sitting on the rocks and drinking tea, it became completely clear that it was worth going only to the Russian Tent, since there were gaps in the clouds above it, and the top of Tabyn was tightly covered in clouds all the time. Here at a rest stop, one of the participants in the ascent, Olga, offered to stay and wait for our return from the ascent, but I found some necessary words for her, and she went with us. Usually on the last long climb we walk at a pace of 50 steps, rest for a minute and restore our breathing. And with increasing altitude, these rests become longer. This year there was almost no snow and the trail in this section was easy for me, and everyone, including Olga, walked quite well. The last section before reaching the rocks is relatively steep, but from them to the top there are already several tens of meters left. When we reached these stones, I was surprised to see human figures on the top; I thought that these were most likely Mongolian climbers, since there were no climbers on our side. This turned out to be partly true. Yes, they came from the Mongolian side, but they were our compatriots from Novosibirsk. They made a traverse from the Potanin glacier. Today they started from the top of the Cities of Heroes 3911 m, after the Russian Tent they planned to go to Tabyn and go down to their camp on the Potanin glacier. They were also surprised to see us, and also to the fact that we were traveling light and came out today from the green. We spent some time at the top together. A strong wind was blowing, there were almost no gaps in the clouds, and plans to climb Tabyn also seemed very illusory. The Novosibirsk residents went down to the col between the Russian Tent and Tabyn, and we stayed on the top for some more time, wanting to wait for a clearing and look down from the top. And we waited for this breakthrough. Moreover, this was not a short-term clearing, but a global one - the clouds rose, first the whole of Ukok became visible, then Malchin Peak, and then Tabyn. Novosibirsk residents went for it, as it became clear that the weather was changing for the better. All these changes happened in just 10-15 minutes. The wind had died down significantly, the sun was shining and I didn’t want to leave the summit, I waited for the shots of the ascending sequence on Tabyn and waited. There was still plenty of time, and we also decided to go to Tabyn. Passing the saddle, Olga once again timidly tried to stay there and wait for us, but I again found something to tell her, and she continued climbing. Now I don’t even remember what I used to lure her in :). From the saddle to the top it is only 80 m in height. It was simply a pleasure to walk them along the steps, which were filled with Novosibirsk residents. When we arrived at the top of Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola, the clouds had risen even higher and Kiytyn (4374 m) was already completely open - the highest point of Mongolia and the entire Tabyn-Bogdo-Ola massif. After enjoying these views and taking pictures of the summit, we went down; the weather began to deteriorate again. The most dangerous section of the entire descent was the section descending to the rocks at 3600 m, since there was almost no snow here, and the slope was quite good. We passed it quite quickly and without incident, and the further descent also passed without incident. We were already at the camp at about six in the evening, so the entire ascent took about twelve hours. I would like to say a big thank you for everything to all the participants in this ascent, as well as to the Spirits of the mountains, who gave us the opportunity to stand on these two peaks and let us go in peace.
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