Mount Beshtau

Mount Beshtau is the tallest of the laccolith mountains of the Caucasian Mineral Waters region, in Stavropol Krai, between the cities of Pyatigorsk and Lermontov. It rises to 1,400 meters and its base spans roughly 8 kilometers in diameter. The mountain stands alone amid the steppe and is clearly visible from afar, including from Pyatigorsk, which is why it is also known by its second name, Bolshoy Tau.

Five peaks

Beshtau means "five mountains" in Turkic, and it indeed consists of a main summit and several lesser peaks. The best known are Maly Tau, the Kozyi Skaly (Goat Cliffs) at 1,167 meters, the twin-peaked Dva Brata (Two Brothers) ridge, also called Lisy Nos (Fox's Nose), at 1,124 meters, and Lokhmataya Gora. The summits can only be reached on foot: there are no roads onto the mountain itself, though a ring road has circled its base since 1927.

History and uranium mines

The mountain was already mentioned in the 14th century by the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta, under the name Bishdag. It was once home to the Pyatigorsk Circassians, ancestors of today's Kabardians. The first tourist trail to the summit was laid out in 1902. In the mid-20th century Beshtau became one of the largest uranium mining centers in the USSR: from 1950 to 1975 the Lermontov Mine No. 1 operated here, and the total length of the galleries cut into the mountain reached 203 kilometers. The ore contained a rare mineral, lermontovite, a unique hydrous phosphate of uranium, cerium and calcium. Cold sulfate-bicarbonate calcium radon waters are extracted from the upper part of the mountain.

Legends

Many tales surround the mountain. According to one legend, the Narts — heroes of the Caucasian epic — gathered on a clearing near the main summit to compete in strength and skill, and the Nart Sosruko stood out among them. On the Dva Brata ridge a stone labyrinth survives, said to grant a wish if walked through with closed eyes. Ruins on the summit known as the "Temple of the Sun" are linked by some to an ancient observatory, and UFO enthusiasts tell of glowing orbs that hikers claim to have seen over the mountain.

What to see

On the mountain's slope stands the Second Athos Dormition Monastery, restored in 2001 after being destroyed in the 1920s. The mountain itself has been declared a regional landscape nature monument.

Getting there

Beshtau lies between Pyatigorsk and Lermontov, in the central part of the Caucasian Mineral Waters region. The summits are reachable only on foot, via trails that circle the mountain from its base.