Khakassia from a height: Ergaki Nature Park, Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP and Abakan

Novosibirsk blogger Slava Stepanov, aka Gelio, says: "Khakassia is a region in the south of Eastern Siberia, bordering the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Kemerovo Region, the Republic of Tyva and the Republic of Altai.

The business card of Khakassia is the Sayans, one of the most beautiful mountains in Russia. The Yenisei River flows through Khakassia, on which the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP stands — the largest HPP in Russia and one of the largest in the world. The capital of Khakassia is the city of Abakan with a population of about 170 thousand people."

Ergaki (Irgaki) is a natural park, a tourist center of the Ergak-Targak-Taiga ridge in Western Sayan. The name "Ergaki" in a similar spelling is young. Back in the early twentieth century, on geographical maps and in printed publications, this name looked like "Irgaki".

Zvezdny Peak is the highest point of the district, 2265 m above sea level.

According to a common version, "Ergaki" is associated with the Tuvan word "ergek" ("ulug-ergek") — thumb. With this word, the most expressive peak of the mountains is compared — the Starry One, vaguely resembling a thumb.

The crest of the peak is Stellar.

Molodezhny Peak is part of the Sleeping Sayan Ridge.

The peak of the Bird is 2221 meters.

You can see the profile of the bird only when you are almost at the very top, at the base of this rock.

From left to right: Dragon's Tooth, Gamma Peak, Piquant Pass and Star Peak.

The ridge at Rhinoceros Peak near Lake Ice.

Dragon's Tooth Peak. One side of this pointed peak is a "negative" wall with a height of about 1000 meters.

Aradan ridge.

Buybinsky pass. Gallery of the M54 highway on the Abakan — Kyzyl section.

At the highest point of the Buybinsky pass, at the intersection of the power line with the highway in 2002, General Lebed crashed in a helicopter. At the site of the fall, a cross was first located, and later a chapel was built.

Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is the largest power plant in Russia by installed capacity, the seventh among the currently operating hydroelectric power plants on the planet.

The installed capacity of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP is 6400 MW, average annual output — 24 billion kilowatt-hour.

The construction of the dam began in 1968 and lasted seven years. During this time, more than 9 million cubic meters of concrete were laid.

The height of the dam is 245 meters, which is commensurate with the height of an 80-storey building. It is the highest dam in Russia and one of the highest dams in the world.

The length of the dam crest is 1 kilometer. The dam is embedded in the rocky shores to a depth of 15 meters.

Stability and strength are provided by the action of the dam's own weight (by 60 percent) and partially by the emphasis of the upper arched part on the banks (by 40 percent).

On the right bank there is a coastal spillway, which is designed to pass floods of rare occurrence.

The five-stage drop consists of five quenching wells separated by spillway dams. The function of the drop is to dampen the flow energy — the maximum flow rates at the entrance to the upper well reach 30 meters per second, at the interface with the riverbed they decrease to 4-5 meters per second.

The generated current from the station is transmitted to an open switchgear, which provides the output of HPP power to the power systems of Kuzbass and Khakassia. The main consumers of SH HPP are Sayanogorsk Aluminum Plant, Khakass Aluminum Plant, Krasnoyarsk Aluminum Plant, Novokuznetsk Aluminum Plant, Kuznetsk Ferroalloy Plant.

Cheryomushki is a village of hydraulic builders and operators of the Sayano—Shushenskaya HPP.

Marble quarry of the Sayanmramor combine.

Yenisei.

Shushenskoye airfield.

Sayanogorsk.

Sayanogorsk was founded in 1975 in connection with the construction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP and the Sayansk Aluminum Plant.

Sayanogorsk Aluminum Plant.

The plant consumes about 30 percent of the energy produced by the SH HPP.

In terms of output, it is the third aluminum producer in the composition of UC RUSAL. The plant employs about 2,400 people.

Abakan is the capital of the Republic of Khakassia.

The city center.

Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral.

Preobrazhensky Park.

The railway station of the Abakan station.

Abakan International Airport.

500-meter pontoon ferry across the Yenisei. It is built every few years to conduct planned exercises of the armed forces.

The island is Smooth.

Mount Podsukhanikha.