Kolka-Karmadon rock ice slide

The Karmadon Gorge (Russian Кармадонское ущелье ) is located in the Russian North Ossetia in the Caucasus at an altitude 750-1200 m. It is a recreational area of ​​the North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz. On September 20, 2002, it was the scene of an avalanche disaster in which 125 people died.

The name means Karmadon warm water and refers to the hot springs in the canyon. It is a popular weekend destination for residents of the North Ossetian capital and especially trippers, hikers and campers popular. Through the gorge leads the Gisel - Karmadon Highway.

Avalanche

In the avalanche accident in September 2002, among others, the Russian director Sergei Sergeyevich Bodrov and his film crew were killed. Under the summit of Dschimarai - Choch in the Kazbek massif is an ice and debris avalanche (glacier avalanche ) had come loose and was racing at 100 km / h, Kolka Glacier (42 ° 44 ' 23 " N, 44 ° 28' 24 " O42. 7397244.473333000 ) and the Genaldon valley down. Along the way she tore glacier ice, trees and mud with it, came only after 32 kilometers at the entrance to Karmadon Gorge with approximately 80 million cubic meters of ice, snow and debris lie. Here, she buried the mountain village of Nizhny Karmadon among themselves.

The upper part of the gorge has since been transformed into a glacier level. For a motorway ring road had to be built. In September 2003, a six-meter- tall monument commemorating was erected to the victims of avalanche accident in the lower valley. It shows a young man trying to escape the shackles of the ice.