What is the unique highest point on the map of the peninsula

Have you ever been to the highest point of the peninsula? The height of the peak of Roman Kosh above sea level is 1545 meters. And at least once in your life to visit here, if not necessarily, it is desirable. At least the Crimean. Tourists come here more often than locals.

Top of the top

For those of you who have forgotten, remember. The peak of Roman-Kosh is located in the southwestern part of the mountain plateau Babugan-Yayla, the highest in the Crimea. If you go from Alushta to Yalta and pass the Small Lighthouse, Cypress, Partenit, then to your left is the sea and Ayu-Dag, and to your right is the Babugan plateau. However, the summit - the highest point of Babugan and the whole Crimea - is not easy to see, because it is also the most modest.

You can't see from Alushta, neither from Gurzuf. If you climb Demerji, you won't see either. It has no sharp peaks and cliffs, like Ai-Petri, no visible from all sides of the cape, like Chatyr-Dag, no cliffs and bizarre figures, like Demerdzhi. Roman Kosh is a small hill, you can say a hill, among others similar to a vast plateau, just a little higher than the rest. Speaking of the rest: they are really not much lower and deserve respect in their own way.

These are neighboring, in several hundred meters, heights: Tas Tepe and Uchurum Kaya - both 1538 meters above sea level. Two kilometers to the northeast is the top of Boynus Tepe, it does not reach the height of Roman Kosh only three meters. A little further - another popular peak - Zeytin Kosh with an absolute height of 1537 meters and around several not so well-known hills without a name with a height of just over 1.5 thousand meters.

Those who stood at the top of Roman Kosh, know: neither to the south nor to the east to see anything - the horizon is covered by the edges of the plateau. You can only see the Main ridge going to the south-west, the Chuchel mountains - small and large, the Black, the upper plateau of Chatyr-Dag to the north-east, the endless expanses of the Crimean Reserve and everything beyond it, to the westernmost outskirts of the peninsula. Oh, and if the weather permits and there is no haze, you can see Simferopol, which is 35 km in a straight line.

Thus, Roman-Kosh can be seen from the Main ridge (but only from the eastern edge of its western part), from Chatyr-Dag and everything in between. True, and here you sometimes have to look - which of the two bumps is the highest peak of the peninsula?

In the world of plants and animals

Yes, we have to admit that this peak loses to many others in its landscapes, but it is still the highest. That is why our tourists overwhelmingly do not know this name - Roman-Kosh - and learn about it only during the tour. For those who prefer to travel in the mountains to rest on the beach, and the most-presumable mountain in the Crimea is Ai-Petri. You should see how surprised they are when they learn that it is not even in the top ten.

What does Roman-Kosh mean? On the military topographic map of 1817 there is no "Roman", but there is "Oraman" - "Oraman-Kosh". So it's not Roman, but Orman is a forest. The word qoş is already known to us - a camp or a pen for sheep. Putting both words together, we get “the pen in the middle of the forest.” Forests here abound, however, it grows mainly on the slopes: on the north side beech, on the south - pine-oak. On the plateau itself there is no forest, and in some places there are completely bare rocks covered with lichen. But the remains of cats - pens, with walls folded from stones up to a meter high, have been preserved.

Nevertheless, botanists counted about 1,200 species of plants on Babugan-Yale, which is a good half of the entire flora of the Crimea. Many of them are listed in the Red Book, some are listed in the Berne Convention for the Conservation of Wild Fauna and Flora, more than 40 species are endemic.

Whenever I climb Roman Kosh, I always see deer, deer, sometimes quite large herds, dozens of heads along the way. Here they are not frightened and peacefully graze on the glades and slopes of yaila. I've seen mouflons too. Everyone behaves differently. The deer, as befits the largest beast of the Crimea, is stately, important, proud: slowly pinches the grass or lies on it, basking in the sun and looking at its harem.

The roe deer, seeing a person, sometimes stands still for a long time and looks at: what kind of beast is this - a bipedal, or even begins to approach at all to better consider the uninvited guest, and looking at it, suddenly from all legs it rushes away, barely touching the ground. The mouflon, unlike the previous two, climbs to the very edge of the cliff and freezes there, peering into the horizon.

Roman-Cosh records

At the top of Roman Kosh are several trails from the southern and southeastern sides of the South Bank. However, we must not forget that Babugan is the territory of the reserve and the only legal option to get to the top is with a fee and a pass.

The easiest and most affordable way - with an organized group or individually, but with a guide guide, from the Verkhovin cordon - the highest in the Crimea (1200 meters above sea level). It is located near the Romanovskaya road, so to the cordon - by car or bus, and then on foot to the top along a primer length of about 3 kilometers. The route is not difficult at all, we can say, it is an ordinary walk, a little complicated by the constant ascent. Slowly you can walk in one and a half to two hours or a little more, depending on the preparation.

What's at the very top? First, a huge tour of stones brought here by tourists. He unwittingly adds a mountain of one and a half to two meters in height. Secondly, a bowing cross, and thirdly, a concrete cabinet, installed here in the 60s of the last century. At that time she had the proud profile of the leader of the world proletariat. We managed to get him in there! However, there was a bigger event in these places.

In May 1966, 1200 Artek pioneers climbed Roman Kosh on foot! What an event, what a scale! The campaign was dedicated to the opening of the XV Congress of the All-Union Lenin Communist Youth Union, and in short - the Komsomol. That’s when a bust of Lenin appeared.

I wonder where they all fit there. If we assume that 4 pioneers were placed on one square meter, all together it took 300 square meters - this is an area of 15 x 20 meters - almost the entire top of the Roman-Kosh! I will note that such mass conquest never happened again. Nevertheless, for a long time climbing Roman Kosh became a popular Artek tradition for all detachments.

In 1984 Artek was visited by writer and poet Yuri Entin. On his poems written songs for such wonderful films and cartoons as “Bremen musicians”, “Adventures of Electronics”, “Guest from the future”, “Adventures of Buratino”. At the same time, together with Artek, Yuri Sergeyevich climbed Roman-Kosh, where he was inspired by the opened beauty of the Crimean expanses.

Returning to the camp, he sketched out several lines dedicated to the climb, and even voiced them at a creative evening.

We walk, but not in step,

There are no songs to hear...

Stone road

It's hard to overcome.

Let's face it, we're tired,

The sun bakes hot...

But we'll hardly back down,

Who's behind?!

A year later, a song was written on these poems, which was brought to Artek by a friend and co-author of Entina composer Evgeny Krylatov. The chorus mentions the highest Crimean peak:

Maybe Roman-Kosh

It doesn't look like Everest,

But this is our first peak.

Without Himalayan glaciers

You can see what you're like.

The beginning is half the business.

The song immediately became popular, it was sung in all the squads of Artek. It also sounded on the radio performed by the Great Children's Choir of the State Teleradio of the USSR and the crystal voice of soloist Oli Korolkova. Today it is sung only in Artek, but you can find a song on the Internet, and at the same time set yourself a task: be sure to visit the top of Roman-Kosh.