Netempe
1,338 m
Russia
Also known as Ngetenape, Нэтемпэ, +1Also known as
Ngetenape · Нэтемпэ · Нгэтэнапэ
- Elevation
- 1,338 m
- Prominence
- 1,173 m
- Difficulty
- 4/10
- Alpine hike
- Best Season
- Aug
- Routes
- 1
Routes
1Approximate line — not for navigation
An automated check found that parts of this line could not be matched to mapped trails, so it may stray far from the real route. Use it for planning only, with a map and a guidebook.
Why? 8 check notes
- danger scan: Хальмер-Ю → Гнетьюиз: straight line 34477 m (limit 200 m)
- danger scan: Хальмер-Ю → Гнетьюиз: straight line dips 122 m below both ends
- danger scan: Гнетьюиз → Нэтемпэ: straight line 7145 m (limit 200 m)
- danger scan: Гнетьюиз → Нэтемпэ: sustained 51° > 40° on a straight line
- danger scan: Гнетьюиз → Нэтемпэ: straight line dips 477 m below both ends
- last routed vertex 41584 m from the summit (closed by straight)
- 100% straight-line fallback
- ascent 2164 m is 1.9× the net gain 1112 m: the line probably detours down and back up (not a traverse)
Sources differ: 1B (Russian tourist grade) (tssr.ru (A. Korolev 2002 route line); skitalets.ru 5th-category report)
A remote Arctic objective: several days on foot across tundra from the abandoned mining town of Khalmer-Yu (or by tracked vehicle) to the Oche-Nyrd ridge, then a steep scree-and-rock ascent from the north-west, the only line within Russian grade 1B. Small glaciers lie in the cirques around the summit.
Elevation Profile
approximate line- Distance
- ≈ 41.6 km
- one way
- Ascent
- ≈ +2,164 m
- −1,051 m lost on the way up
- High Point
- 1,339 m
- Time Up
- ≈ 15h 04m
- DIN 33466
- Time Down
- ≈ 14h 19m
- DIN 33466 · same way back
Netempe (Ngetenape) is the northernmost high summit of the Oche-Nyrd ridge, on the right bank of the upper Kara river. There is no trail and no infrastructure. Trekking groups reach the ridge either from Vorkuta via the ghost town of Khalmer-Yu, from which an old tundra road still runs towards the range (about 40 km in a straight line to the summit), or from Polyarny (station 110 km on the Seyda–Labytnangi railway), usually hiring a tracked vehicle for part of the way. Allow several days for the approach; the Kara and its tributaries must be forded. Trekking reports grade the summit 1B and indicate that the north-west side is the only practicable line at that grade: steep scree and broken rock, with small glaciers (MGG, Terentyev) in the cirques below. A Perm group in 2002 climbed it (1B) on a route line running from the Gnetyu river over the ridge to Lake Ochety on the north-east side and on to the summit; another group in 2003 found the pass west of the summit to be a steep scree cirque probably harder than its listed 1B and did not attempt the ascent. Descend the same way. Weather is the main hazard: snow cover usually lasts until late June and new snow can fall from early September. Fog makes route-finding on the scree difficult.
Start
Хальмер-Ю226 m
- Train to Vorkuta; no public transport beyond. Off-road or tracked-vehicle transfers must be arranged privately.
Waypoints
- Trailhead: Хальмер-Ю226 m
Abandoned mining town north-east of Vorkuta; old tundra road towards the Kara
- Feature: Гнетьюиз1,047 m
South-western summit of the ridge; the approach passes below it
- Summit: Нэтемпэ1,338 m
Key Passages
- Fords of the Kara and its tributaries
- Steep scree on the north-west side
Equipment
0/7 packedDownloads
Route confidence 20%Overview
Netempe (Ngetenape, 1,338 m) crowns the Oche-Nyrd ridge in the far north of the Polar Urals, the northernmost glaciated range of the Urals. Reached only by long tundra treks from Vorkuta or Polyarny, it is a scree-and-rock ascent of Russian tourist grade 1B.
Oche-Nyrd is a 20 km ridge on the western slope of the Polar Urals, on the right bank of the upper Kara river in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, close to the boundary with the Komi Republic. Below about 350–450 m the slopes are tundra; above, they are broken rock with small cirque glaciers (MGG, Terentyev, Dolgushin, MIIGAiK and others), the most northerly in the Urals. Netempe rises at the north-east end of the ridge, above Lake Netemto and not far from Lake Ochety.
There are no roads, huts or settlements near the ridge. Groups come on foot from Vorkuta via the abandoned mining town of Khalmer-Yu, from which an old tundra road still leads towards the range, or from Polyarny on the Labytnangi railway, often using a tracked vehicle for part of the approach. Netempe is usually climbed as one summit on a multi-week trek that also takes in Lyadgey, Khuuta-Saurey and Konstantinov Kamen.
Trekkers grade the ascent 1B (a scree-and-rock climb rather than a technical one), with the north-west side the only practicable line at that grade. Weather is the main difficulty: snow usually lingers until late June, and new snow can fall in early September.
Climbing Notes
This is an expedition, not a day climb. Plan two to three weeks for a trek from Vorkuta or Polyarny, or arrange a tracked-vehicle transfer to shorten the approach. You need to be fully self-sufficient, competent at fording rivers and navigating in fog, and carry a satellite messenger. On the mountain, take a helmet for loose scree and, before July or after early September, an ice axe and light crampons. Russian sport-tourism reports (tssr.ru, skitalets.ru) are the best sources for route lines; read the latest one before going.
History
The range appears on 19th-century maps as Gnetyu-Pae or Netyu-Pae (Ernst Hofmann) and as Gnettju (Antal Reguly); the name Oche-Nyrd appears to have been introduced after the Second World War.
Season
Best Aug- January: Not advisable
- February: Not advisable
- March: Possible
- April: Possible
- May: Not advisable
- June: Not advisable
- July: Good
- August: Best (best window)
- September: Possible
- October: Not advisable
- November: Not advisable
- December: Not advisable
- Jan
- Polar night
- Mar
- Ski expeditions only; very cold, strong winds
- Apr
- Ski expeditions only
- May
- Thaw
- Jun
- Snow usually lingers until late June; rivers high
- Jul
- Summer trekking season; mosquitoes
- Aug
- Best month
- Sep
- New snow possible from early September
Access & Permits
- Hut Booking
- No huts; camping only.
- Getting There
Vorkuta
Vorkuta (VKT)
- Train to Vorkuta, then off-road or on foot via the abandoned town of Khalmer-Yu and the old tundra road towards the Kara
- Alternatively train to Polyarny (station 110 km on the Seyda–Labytnangi line) and a hired tracked vehicle towards the Khadata river or Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye
Hazards
- Remoteness
- Weather
- River crossing
- Rockfall