Mount Yamantau

Mount Yamantau is the highest peak of the Southern Urals (1,640.4 m above sea level), in the Beloretsky District of Bashkortostan, Russia, within the South Ural Nature Reserve. Its name comes from the Bashkir "Yaman tau" — "bad (evil) mountain." Yamantau is wrapped in legends, from a portal to the world of the dead to a secret underground bunker for the Russian president. Access to the reserve is restricted — visiting requires a permit. Summit coordinates: 54.260° N, 58.101° E.

Why the "evil mountain"

The Bashkirs gave the mountain its name for practical reasons: its slopes are swampy and covered in kurumnik (stone screes), unfit for grazing cattle, and encounters with bears are common there. Climbing to the summit is still considered one of the hardest routes in the Southern Urals.

Height and geography

At 1,640.4 m, Yamantau is the highest point of the Southern Urals. Maly (Lesser) Yamantau (1,519 m) lies 2 km to the southeast. The summit is a stony plateau covered in kurumnik, with a belt of subalpine meadows below it and dark coniferous taiga further down. The mountain lies within the South Ural Nature Reserve (252,800 hectares, established in 1978).

The secret bunker

Yamantau is one of the most conspiracy-shrouded mountains in the world. Geologists, planners and builders began arriving in the area in the early 1960s, and two military garrisons, Beloretsk-15 and Beloretsk-16, grew up nearby; in 1995 they were merged into the closed town (ZATO) of Mezhgorye. According to one theory, a huge underground complex lies inside the mountain — a bunker built for the country's top leadership in case of nuclear war. Other theories describe it as a strategic storage facility, a research centre or a backup command post.

None of these theories has ever been officially confirmed. In 1996 Russia's Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the facility, saying it does not inform foreign media about facilities under construction, whatever they are. The strict access regime of Mezhgorye — one of Russia's most closed towns — together with satellite images of tunnel portals and accounts from construction workers keep the mystery alive.

On 16 April 1996 The New York Times published an article about the mysterious underground construction inside the mountain, after which the story spread through the world's media; a year later the US Congress, in a defense authorization act, described Russia's policy around the site as one of "deception and denial."

Yamantau in popular culture

Mount Yamantau appears in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops as a secret Soviet military complex, in the book series Black Day, and in the science-fiction series The Salvation War as an underground bunker built to survive a nuclear war.

Legends

According to Bashkir legend, Yamantau was the route to the world of the dead — the evil spirit Shulgan led people through the mountain into the underground kingdom. Local residents avoided climbing the peak, considering it cursed.

Getting there

Yamantau lies inside a protected nature reserve, and free access is forbidden. The nearest settlements are the closed town of Mezhgorye (entry by permit only) and the village of Inzer. Inzer is about 180 km from Ufa, and Beloretsk is about 100 km from the mountain. Climbing legally requires permission from the South Ural Nature Reserve administration.