Tsey Gorge

Tsey Gorge (Tseyskoe Ushchelye) lies in the Alagir district of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, at the foot of Mount Adai-Khokh, in the valley of the Tseydon River. The horseshoe-shaped gorge is bounded by the Tsey and Kalperovsky ridges, and its lowest point, near the village of Buron, sits at about 1,300 meters. Vladikavkaz is roughly 100 kilometers away.

Nature and the glacier

The gorge formed where two lithospheric plates collided around 150 million years ago. Since 1967 it has been part of the North Ossetian State Nature Reserve, which records more than 1,400 plant species and about 200 bird species. The gorge's main natural landmark is the Tsey Glacier, fed by the snows of Mount Adai-Khokh, which rises to 4,408 meters. The glacier covers 9.7 square kilometers, stretches about 9 kilometers together with its firn fields, descends to 2,200 meters above sea level at its lower edge, and reaches a kilometer in width at its upper part. It consists of two large and two smaller branches; the Tseya River (Tseydon), a tributary of the Ardon, rises from its ice arch. About 30 mountain peaks surround the gorge, fifteen of them above 4,000 meters.

The Legend of Monk Mountain

Where the Tseydon and Skazdon rivers meet stands a dark cliff shaped like a hooded, bearded man, known as Monk Mountain. According to one Ossetian legend, golden-horned tur (wild goats) once lived on its slopes. A warrior who had promised to bring Saint George a tur as a gift broke his word and killed the animal instead, for which he was turned to stone.

Mountaineering and tourism

Tourists and mountaineers began exploring Tsey in the 1930s. Today the gorge hosts mountaineering camps, tourist lodges — including the "Osetia" lodge — and scientific research stations. In winter a ski resort operates here: the season runs from December to April, the vertical drop on the slopes reaches 920 meters, and two cable cars serve the runs, one of them covering 1.5 kilometers in 20 minutes.

Getting there

From Vladikavkaz it is about 100 kilometers to Tsey Gorge; buses leave twice a day from Bus Station No. 1. An alternative route runs through the town of Alagir, about 55 kilometers away. From the village of Buron, a winding 12-kilometer road leads into the gorge itself.