Kariukhokh

Take bus 270 from Vladikavkaz towards Kharisdzhin and get off at Verkhny Fiagdon in the Kurtatin gorge. Walk up past the medieval towers of Tsmiti and the abandoned hamlet of Kadat; a spring at about 42.8406, 44.2608 is the last reliable water and the usual first-night camp (there is a poor, silty swamp a little lower). Above it three grassy couloirs lead north to the high valley between Dash-Sar and Kariukhokh; most parties use the left one. The couloir starts at 20–25° and steepens to 30–35°; one variant (the middle couloir) has a short 3 m rock crack and a path across 35–40° grass, which a 2025 party rated the most dangerous part of the route. There is no water above the spring. The high valley lies at about 2,600 m. Cross it towards the big vertical chimney in Kariukhokh's south wall, then go right under the cliffs to a narrow grass-and-rock gully cutting the rock band (cairns mark the entrance; it is not visible from below). Climb it on its right side for about 30 minutes to the south-east ridge, where a large square cairn on a rock is a useful marker in mist. Follow the broad scree ridge up; the rocks in its upper part are bypassed on the right on steep scree (a 2025 report mentions two fixed cables here). The summit is covered in small scree, carries a triangulation point and drops away in sheer walls to the north. The Levkovsky guidebook describes the same upper line approached from the Kora-Arkhon pass road via the east ridge of Dash-Sar, 6–7 hours from the pass. From Verkhny Fiagdon a fast solo walker took 8 hours up and about 3 hours down a steep scree slope directly to Tsmiti; a 2025 party camped twice and needed about 5 hours from a camp in the couloir. Descend the same way, taking care to find the gully entrance in poor visibility. Several parties have reached the slightly lower east top by mistake; the main summit cannot easily be reached from there.