The Doctor`s Pass is located in front of the entrance to the village of Upper Baksan. Before the bridge over the Adyr-Su River, turn left and in a narrow gorge you will see an iron construction of a lift for cars. This is the Doctor`s Pass.
Excursions to the Baksan Gorge from the balneological resorts of the Mineral Waters region are very popular. Tourists come here to climb the cable cars to Mount Elbrus and Mount Cheget. On the way back, buses often stop by the Doctor`s Pass so that tourists can see the "engineering miracle": a lift with a 45-degree slope, on which cars rise to a height of 90 meters.
The Adyr-Su River flows from the glaciers of Mount Ullu Tau and Sarykolbashi through a fairly wide gorge, but at the very exit to the Baksan Gorge, a mountain 200 m high blocks its way. The river has made a very narrow Canyon of the Adyr-Su River in this mountain, absolutely inaccessible to people. It can be observed from the left side, being at the lower station of the lift.
Previously, climbers with all their equipment climbed this mountain on foot with a fairly steep slope to get to the mountaineering camps. Such a climb was the first test, like passing a medical examination, so the pass was called a Doctor`s pass.
Since 1936, two mountaineering camps have been built in the Gorge of the Adyr-Su River: Jailyk and Ullu-Tau. The Dzhaylyk mountaineering camp had comfortable winter buildings, a stadium and even a tennis court. Its director Valery Markov convinced the leaders from Moscow of the need to build a lift on which not only people, but also cars could climb in the Adyr-Su gorge.
There are no similar lifts performing tourist tasks in Russia anymore. The lift was built in 1968 and today it works without failures. Only the driver is allowed to stay in the car during the ascent or descent. Passengers must ascend (or descend) on foot by an iron staircase of 360 steps.
