!!!Ai-Petri in Crimea

by members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

29 August 2011

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Ai-Petri is a mountain pick and a huge mountain mass with a square of
300 square kilometers spreads 25 kilometers from the East to the West.
Its name consists of the distorted words of Greek origin like "agios"
(saint) and "Peter" (the name of St. Peter) and in his honor the temple
was built there.

The highest plateau's peak - Quail Mountain (Bedene-Kyr) - is 1334
meters high. To get Ai-Petri's jags from Miskhor anyone can use a
3-kilometer aerial cableway. The way up will take about 20 minutes. FYI,
this cableway has the longest supportless part in Europe (2 kilometers
long from its middle point till the top).

It's hard to imagine now but before Ai-Petri's peak was hidden under
water. The case is that 200 million years ago the territory of Crimea
was hidden under the waters of the Ancient Ocean. And Ai-Petri itself is
not a mountain indeed but a fossil coral reef. Even nowadays its surface
is covered with the different intricate fossils look like tubes or
branches.

The winds and other geological processes followed the "coral period"
and, finally, formed Ai-Petri's actual appearance. Moreover, so named
Crimean Grand Canyon also appeared in this mountain mass and goes down
320 meters depth. There is a river in its bottom which flows and makes
hollows look like pots or baths. One of these hollows is named Youth
Bath. The temperature is almost always stable +11° +14° C (50° 57,2° F)
in it. According to the legend, anyone who will bath there can become
younger and even get over an illness.

Ai-Petri is not only the mistiest place in Crimea but also all round
Ukraine. In average, more than 200 days a year these mountains are
covered with mist.  Besides, Ai-Petri is the windiest place in that
country. Before, there was a wind power plant.  Also, on Quail Mountain
the complex of radar stations devoted to air and space control was
constructed there in the Soviet period. The career pattern of its
employees was counted as 1 working year for 2 due to the constant
wind...

In spite of the surrounding landscapes are amazing as they are the human
beings decided to decorate these places with the handmade places of
interest. So, the red flag seen in the panorama marks the entrance into
one of the caves which is opened for tourists. It groups three vertical
wells and, therefore, named Three-Eyed. This cave causes interest
because of its temperature which is like in a fridge not more than +10 ?
during the whole year. And on its bottom there is a big cone-shaped
snowdrift formed of frozen icy snow. They say that the count Vorontsov
used ice from the cave to cool his wines, drinks and products.  The
sawed parts of ice were wrapped up in order to keep them cold, put in
the huge tubs and delivered down carried by bullocks.

The total quantity of natural mines, caves, chasms and craters is about
300 on the territory of this unique natural complex. Twelve of them are
local monuments of nature.

The next significant place of interest is a wooden cross. It is located
on one of the jags. It appeared there especially for the shooting of the
film In Search of Capitan Grant (1985).  Ai-Petri "played the role" of
Patagonia in this film.

And, finally, Ai-Petri is the best place in Crimea to enjoy sunrise...

Our pilot-radio controller and photographer Stas Sedov wants to say a
few words about Ai-Petri.

I've always dreamt of aerial shooting in the mountains. Last year I
could practice gliding in the unique place near Koktebel
(http://rccam.livejournal.com/28021.html). Having realized the flight, I
had an idea to shoot the Crimean Mountains with a helicopter model when
next time I'm in Crimea.

Well, one June night I was driving along the serpentine from Alushta to
Yalta with the purpose of climbing up another, more crazy serpentine to
get Ai-Petri. I was in hurry to arrive before the sunrise.  I just
completely forgot that Ai-Petri is a nature reserve and it's almost
impossible to arrive there by car. I had to leave the car near the
elevator.

As a result, having taken all my flight equipment on the back, I began
to climb the slope almost running to the most visited observation area.
It took me about half an hour to get there but I was in time, right
before the sunrise.

Then I began to prepare the equipment for the start and understood that
I left the sunglasses in the car. And the sun was rising right in the
vector of the future flights.  What should I do? First, I thought to
hide the equipment in the rocks and return back to the car but then
changed my mind due to another one morning mountain cross hadn't been in
my plans. Finally, I decided to realize the flight without the glasses
shading the eyes with a hand.

And imagine: on the edge of the rock there is a man trembling with fear
who is afraid of heights. In his shaking hands there is some metallic
thing, he almost sees nothing with his closed eyes because of the bright
sunlight. There is so much adrenaline in his body that "steam goes from
his ears". The first flight is always the most fearful. I had to
overcome and force myself to let the machine go up in the air. I could
do it.

Later I realized another flight and then another one; I fought against
turbulence, understood the best way of flying in that place and on my
way back to the hotel I was madly happy with success. But this is
another story...

\\ \\
[3 Panoramas of Ai-Petri in Crimea|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Ai-Petri_in_Crimea]

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