Valley of the Dead

The Valley of the Dead, or Yumyekorr Pass, is an uncategorized mountain pass in the Khibiny Mountains, in the Apatity municipal district of Murmansk Region. It lies between the upper reaches of the Yumyekorruay stream and the middle part of the Meridionalny stream valley, away from any large settlements. The gorge's high, sheer walls let in almost no sunlight, which gives the place a lifeless feel — hence its grim name.

Origin of the name

The name Yumyekorr comes from the Sami word "Yammeikorr", which translates as "valley of the dead". The Russian translation of the name has stuck, and today the pass is known more by its translated name than by the original Sami one.

Legends and accounts

Several legends are tied to the gorge. According to one version, at the end of the 16th century the local Sami people were attacked by foreign warriors — Swedes or Germans — seeking to seize their pastures. Many people died in the final battle in the gorge, and legend says their blood spilled onto the rocks and froze there forever as scarlet drops.

Another tale describes how the Sami outwitted the invaders: an old woman threw grass down the slope to lure the enemy onto a dangerous section, and the resulting avalanche buried the attackers. It is said that a German button was later found at the site of this tragedy.

What is often taken for frozen blood is in fact eudialyte, a red mineral that does occur frequently in the rocks of Yumyekorr. The legend also appears in the pre-revolutionary Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia, which tells of a mountain that split open, let the "Chud" people pass into its depths, and then closed again.

Getting there

The pass sits in hard-to-reach mountain terrain in the Khibiny range and is usually visited as part of a hiking trip. One route runs from a campsite on Lake Izumrudnoye, through the Aku-Aku gorge and the Khibinpakhkchorr pass.

Good to know

The climb up to the pass is considered easy, while the descent can prove harder, especially for unprepared hikers. A stream flows down from the pass into the Meridionalny stream. Despite its grim name and legends, Yumyekorr today is a popular stop on hiking routes through the Khibiny Mountains, visited both for the landscape itself and for its mysterious atmosphere.