Sinyukha Mountain

Sinyukha is the highest mountain of the Kolyvan Range in the north-west of the Altai mountains: 1,210 metres above sea level. Its slopes carry dense fir and pine forests, but on the very summit trees cannot take hold: granite outcrops form whimsical compositions, and on the thin stony soil young trees struggle. From the top open views of two worlds at once: on one side the foothill steppes with their meadows, on the other the taiga and the ranges. For Orthodox believers the mountain is a place of pilgrimage: people climb to the summit cross, and services are sometimes held here. The climb needs no gear — the trail runs up through the forest and out onto the summit's granite fields; any healthy person can manage it. Morning is the best time, while the steppe is in haze and the granites still cool to the touch.