Expeditions to explore Pamirs.

“Walter and I had a great honor. Nikolai Vasilyevich named 2 glaciers descending from Stalin Peak after our names! The northwestern one, between Stalin and Moskvin Peak, is mine, the “Traube Glacier”. And the north-eastern one, between Stalin Peak and Vorobyov Peak, is the “Walter Glacier”. For me this is a great joy and quite undeserved. Still, although the glaciers are small, they descend from the greatest peak of the USSR at 7495 meters! Last year we were the first to attend them, each in his own way. Yes, I never dreamed of getting into geography. These glaciers flow into the A.V. glacier. Moskvina. Very steep and almost impassable due to the seracs and icefalls.”

From the diaries of Peter Traube. 1933.

Researchers of Pamir glaciers.

Traube Glacier merges with Walter Glacier, which, in turn, is a tributary of Moskvin Glacier. In same mountain-glacier junction there is also Peak Four, named in honor of Yu.V. Walter, A.V. Moskvin, B.I. Fried and P.A. Traube.

P.A. was born. Traube in 1901 in Pyatigorsk. A young high school student, Petya, gets involved in sports, organizes a football team, and plays gorodki. In October 1918, he fell ill with typhus. Next, Petya was sent to pre-conscription training courses in Novocherkassk, with subsequent service in the “military physical education” specialty he received.
P. Traube was demobilized in February 1923 and given “official” passage to Petrograd. He worked at the Physico-Technical Institute of Radiology as a trainee in the production of vacuum generator and amplification tubes for radio stations, and then got a job at the Krasnaya Bavaria brewery.
In 1930 and 1931, while working at the Red Bavaria plant and still not knowing it, Pyotr Aleksandrovich was preparing, morally, physically and technically, for the Pamir expeditions of 1932 and 1933.

Information about the Pamir expeditions of 1932 - 1933, in which P. A. Traube took part, is gleaned mainly from his diary entries.

1932.

From the diary of P.A. Traube. “The expedition began on July 15 (departing from Moscow), then Tashkent, Andijan, Osh, Mady, Gulcha, Olgin Lug tract, Taldyk pass, Daraut-Kurgan, river. Sagran, Sagran Glacier, Shinni-Binni. opposite the Pedestrian Pass, astro-point near the village. Kandau, b. Irgay, b. and Khadyrsha glacier, lane. Kurai-Shapak, r. Fortambek, Fortambek glacier and a group of new glaciers north of Stalin Peak, then - “Garmo Peak”, lane. Lyam-Kur, Mushketov glacier, river. Djili-Su, Lu-Djili, crossing over Muk-Su to Altyn-Mazar, r. Tengiz, Uch-Kurgan, Fergana, Osh, Leningrad.”
In the entry dated October 8, there is a brief statistical summary: the field work itself “began on August 13 in Davsiar and lasted 56 days. More than 400 kilometers were covered with surveying and geological processing, and about 300 kilometers along glaciers. 14 glaciers have been studied, 8 of them completely unexplored before.”
In 1933, the area of ​​work was basically the same, topographical and geological detailing, refinement and clarification of what was done in 1932. Therefore, the calendar and geography are shorter. “July 8 – from Leningrad, – Osha, Sagran, Irgai, gates of the Fortambek glacier, Moskvina glacier, glacier.
Soldatova, in the area of ​​the “Peak of the Four”, Khadyrsha, Davsiar, Kichik - Karamuk, Daraut, Lyangar, Andijan, Osh.” To anyone who has been to the Pamirs, these names themselves will tell you a lot. For those who haven't been, follow it on the map. And imagine that much of what has been covered has been passed for the first time and put on the map for the first time.
Pyotr Aleksandrovich worked in the group of Alexander Venyaminovich Moskvin, the composition of which changed. Both years it included Yuri Vladimirovich Walter (topographer from Leningrad, “Yursa”) and Alexander Aleksandrovich Soldatov (geology student from Tashkent).
They were accompanied on some of the routes by climber Vasily Nedokladov; in 1932, the group included climber Boris Frid, and in 1933, geology student David Tseretelli. Of the local workers, both years Djurabai (“Yura”) and Ismail worked closely and diligently with Moskvin’s group.
The main task of the group was geological survey and search for ore deposits in the mountain cluster between the Peter the Great Ridge and the Muksu River. Since the area, especially in the south, was completely unexplored and did not have a reliable topographical basis, route geological surveys were carried out simultaneously with theodolite traverses, notching of peaks and photographing glaciers.
Theodolite moves were tied to existing ones astro points along the Muksu River. Therefore, the binding of a significant part of geological samples and samples was instrumental. This both clarified and slowed down the work. In addition, Moskvin, indefatigable and passionate about his work, constantly made radial routes as the caravans moved.
Demanding of himself, he was the same in relation to his subordinates, without condescension towards human weaknesses. This often led to conflicts in the group, but his outbursts of anger, directed at his subordinates for their sins, were quickly replaced by periods of a complacent attitude towards them.
During the expeditions of 1932 and 1933, Moskvin worked himself with no less, if not more, intensity than his employees. I washed samples for gold everywhere myself. He also had his fair share of illnesses and other “bodily” troubles; Apparently, he was better prepared to work in the mountains than some climbers. 08.28.33:
“Alexander Venyaminovich with climbers walks along the southern branch of the river. Fortambek in order to find and climb the passes. We are filming along the northern glacier. It is much more difficult for them to walk along the moraines of a steep glacier. Beauty for us.
In the future they want to climb the shoulder of Zinaida Krylenko Peak. Hell of an enterprise! 6600 meters. And avalanche after avalanche." And shortly before this, in the diary of P. Traube there was an entry (08/22): “Alexander Venyaminovich became completely ill. Fever, cough, headache.
I didn't eat anything in the evening. What to do next? Here's the question! I also coughed all night long. Having had a hearty snack, we set out on the road to Fortambek. We walk quickly along the river bed. It is not possible to cross to the other side. A.V. invigorated.
We arrive at the Fortambek glacier in 3 hours. We leave all our things on the moraine. We ourselves go lightly down to the “tugai” (fishing line) to stock up on food for further routes. In addition, A.V. must be left at the base on Fortambek, where there is a first aid kit and care.
A.V. He’s completely given up and doesn’t want to go any further. Walter and I go to the place “at the five birches”, where 50 cans of canned food are hidden, but we find nothing. We move reluctantly. A.V. finds a warehouse and tells Walter and me.”
Well, when A.V. healthy and fit, then:
“The porters are heavily loaded and delay us greatly. A.V. flies as usual at a run" (September 12, 1933).
I am giving a description of only a small piece of the road that N.V. had to travel. Krylenko to end up on Fortambek.
“August 17. In the morning we filmed the terraces of Muk-Su and Fortambek. We were transported until 3 o'clock. day. At this time, Vorobyov and Sergei (Khodakevich) with Sadyr were dragging the cargo brought by the caravan drivers from the donkeys. We had a great meal and drank tea 3 times.
Finally, we set off across the “Azamov Bridge” to work in the first sai of Fortambek, leading to Khadyrsha and the Kurai Shapak pass. It's hellishly difficult to walk. We are without porters. Food taken for 4 days. Lots of equipment for glacier work. Warm clothes.
Theodolite and all sorts of instruments. In addition, I was kept awake at night by coughing. We finally crawled to the “Azamov Bridge”. The mudflow washed away last year's descent completely. We walked and wandered for a long time in search of a possible descent.
Finally, Sasha [Soldatov] heroically slides down the crack of the falling wall. We watch him with bated breath. He hangs over the boiling Fortambek like a fly. Last year the road was dangerous and difficult, but it was still there. This needs to be invented.
Finally, Sasha is on the court. We lower backpacks and rifles to him on a lousy rope. Then, securing ourselves with a rope, we slide down ourselves. It’s okay, you get used to everything. This year we are doing better than last year. It takes about two hours to carve a path in a steep conglomerate.
The descent to the stone through Fortambek is completely blurred. We descend again on the rope and on the “transom”. The stone also cracked. Already in the dark we climb to the other bank. But joyful and happy. We passed through a very difficult and dangerous place.
Climbers need not gloat. They walked here with all the equipment and real “alpine” rope. They thought we couldn't get through." “On August 23, Seryozha comes from Azamov Bridge and says that N.V. Krylenko is already there! He left P. Zherdenko with Stakh (Ganetsky) and a Red Army soldier at the wooden bridge, and he himself came to investigate.
He swears brutally that they didn’t leave a note at the previous base. In Sagran he found only Mamajan. We send porters to help N.V.. In the evening he appears with Stakh. They come exhausted from the difficult and puzzling journey from Khadyrsha.
They especially got Azamov's bridge. Nick. You. said that “this is a whole chapter.” We feed and water them. Nick. You. manages to notice that we “eat a lot.” Traube repeatedly notes that Krylenko himself walks and leads people in a hungry state.
August 26: “Nikolai Vasilyevich, he reduced the norms by almost half.” In the same August 1933, when Abalakov and Gorbunov were going to Stalin Peak, Krylenko was planning to climb Krylenko from Fortambek’s side. On August 26, all the climbers, led by Krylenko and Moskvin, descended on the camp on the Moskvin glacier. Arik Polyakov also joined this group.
Describing this area with admiration in connection with the story of attempts to climb the Pamir firn plateau, Traube reliably notes:
“These places were first examined in 1932 by a group of geologist Moskvin.”
And this is how this plateau is written about in Traube’s diary for 1932:
“I’m climbing a mountainous cape. But alas, behind Garmo a chain of three huge peaks is visible. The view further is blocked by an absurdly protruding hill. Between it and the main ridge a glacier stretches into the unknown. The hill divides it into two branches. There is a huge firn field in front of Garmo.”
On August 28, Stakh fell ill. An attack of malaria. Traube was sent to accompany him to the 3rd base. Things came to an extreme: having given Ismail his backpack, Traube was forced to carry Stakh on his shoulders for part of the journey. In addition to the “physical” burden, there was also a moral one:
Krylenko is Stakh’s coach. Therefore, when Nikolai Vasilyevich, Sergei Khodakevich and V. Vorobyov came down from the mountains, Traube was relieved to hand over Stakh to them, still sick, but alive and fed.
"N.V. very cheerful, kind. They made a long route along the Moskvin glacier. We climbed a peak 5300 meters above sea level. They called it Vorobyov Peak. We passed the southern branch of the Moskvin glacier near Stalin Peak, where Walter and I got stuck.
I had to walk on crampons with a rope. Before we had time to snack on fried kiichina (which N.V. was extremely pleased with), P. Zherdenko appeared on the glacier with a porter. Soon we greeted him over tea. He reached the 2nd base in 1 day. We go for 2 days. Petya led 3 more porters with the suitcases of Barkhash, Tsereteli and Arik and... a baby goat! But they came only in the evening.”
On September 2, a day of rest, Krylenko made a report on the work done and upcoming tasks. In general, the area of ​​Fortambek - Stalin Peak has become geographically clear. It was only necessary to consolidate the results with
topography and clarify (for the climbers) the orientation to the neighboring groups of glaciers.
N.V. himself intended to go with Barkhash and Tsereteli to Turamuss, to Sedov Peak. In addition, it was planned for two groups to climb Peak Chetyrekh (6300 m), named after Moskvin, Walter, Fried and Traube. We were the first to identify it and work under it last year. This is a beautiful snow cone. isolated from the ridge. From it we need to navigate in all directions, i.e. to M. Tanymas, Ayu-Dzhilga and Mushketov.”
In order to dispel the legend that seems to have already developed, it will be necessary to emphasize that these four did not reach the pinnacle of their name. They were faced with other tasks at that time, and there was no appropriate equipment.
In addition, Fried was not in the group in 1933. Here is the entry from September 3rd: “Frozen as a dog, because... feet are wet. At night under the moon it is a real extravaganza. Stalin Peak appears blue. I admire it involuntarily, because... Crazy stomach upset started and I ran out 5 times.
The three of us in the tent are warm and cozy. The ascent to Peak 4 has been canceled for us, because... Walter is weak, I am without warmth, Sashka is in torn shoes. Let the climbers climb, and they will have the “crampons” in their hands! They are equipped perfectly.”
Peak of the Four was taken, this is recorded in the entry dated September 4th, but the composition of the group cannot be completely restored from the diary. It seems that the group included Krylenko and Vorobyov. Shortly before this, on September 2, the “baptism” of the Walter and Traube glaciers took place.
The main toponymist of the Pamirs was then N.V. Krylenko. It was at his suggestion that Kaufman Peak was renamed Lenin Peak.
Well, for now:
“Walter and I had a great honor. Nikolai Vasilyevich named 2 glaciers descending from Stalin Peak after our names! The northwestern one, between Stalin and Moskvin Peak, is mine, the “Traube Glacier”. And the north-eastern one, between Stalin Peak and Vorobyov Peak, is the “Walter Glacier”.
For me this is a great joy and quite undeserved. Still, although the glaciers are small, they descend from the greatest peak of the USSR at 7495 meters! Last year we were the first to attend them, each in his own way. Yes, I never dreamed of getting into geography. These glaciers flow into the A.V. glacier. Moskvina. Very steep and almost impassable due to the seracs and icefalls.”
And here’s how Traube “tumbled” in 1932 on the same glacier, then still unnamed.
This all happened on September 25, 1932. “Around the bend my moraine ended. There was a 150-meter rockfall to climb. From there, small pebbles kept rolling down the icy conglomerate. I crawled sideways through the snow, leaning on protruding stones.
This painful climb lasted about an hour. It was too late to go back. There is nothing to think about going to this place. I got up all wet and covered in mud. In my heart I cursed Walter and all the glaciers in the world. Around the bend, the 2nd glacier merged into one and my path took me further further and further from Yursa.
Besides, I was rising higher and higher. I began to feel nauseous and felt weak throughout my body. The altitude was already about 5000 m. Only by force of will did I force myself to move forward. As a result, the shooting took place not along, but across the glacier.
My glacier rose sharply uphill and ended at the edge of the Garmo wall. Yursin was still turning past the “coffin” to the left (away from us). We were leaving. I tried three times to cross his moraine. Hopelessly. Entire rivers ran through the corridors.
I got more and more wet and as the sun set I risked freezing my feet. At this time, Yursa was screaming obscenely at me so that I would go over to him. I answered him with no less good wishes. But the scream took my breath away. I had to stop. The last attempt almost ended tragically.
I, climbing the slope, fell and flew into a closed basin. Having skinned my hands, I quite successfully found myself at a depth of 5–6 meters in an ice trap. Attempts to climb out along the ice walls at an angle of 55 were unsuccessful. I accelerated at 7 - 8 meters (the hole didn’t allow me anymore) and quickly tried to run out to a ledge from which I could climb higher.
In vain... I just exhausted my last strength. The heart refused to serve. The sun had already set behind the mountains, the water in the shadows was freezing. I admit, I sat down and tears came to my eyes. But it was necessary to get out and fight (at this time Yursa was screaming without a break).
I rested for about 10 minutes, and a plan matured in my head to use a geological hammer instead of an ice ax, and a lath as a pole. Having chosen a crack, I made a depression in the bottom and placed a rail there, spreading it all three meters apart.
On the side, to the height of a man, I hollowed out 4 steps with a hammer. Leaning on the rail, step by step, I climbed onto the ledge. Having hollowed out a hole in it, I pulled in the lath, folded it in half and, having made 4 steps, was able to grab the sharp edge of the ice floe with my hands and throw myself onto the wall.
But the rail remained down. It took me a lot of effort to go downstairs to pick her up. After a happy escape, I climbed onto a high block of ice and saw Yursa 800 meters away from me. He stood hopelessly at the end of the moraine. There was no further move for him either. Having made the last notch, he shouted for me to come home. Yes, it was time. My legs are already numb.”
In 1935 – 1939, P. A. Traube worked at a chemical plant. During the Finnish campaign of 1939 - 1940 he was drafted into the navy for 13 months. He served as a radio operator at a naval airfield. After demobilization - again at the factory, and there soon - a new mobilization, the last one.

P.S.

Traube Pyotr Aleksandrovich (1901 - 1942) - military rank - sergeant, last place of service - 402nd division of the 101st Naval Brigade of the Red Ban Baltic Fleet railway artillery. Born in Pyatigorsk in the family of an official on special assignments at the Administration of the Caucasian Mineral Waters, Alexander Vasilyevich Traube (Lyudvigovich, 1871 - 1939) and his wife, hereditary noblewoman Yulia Petrovna, née Maslakovets (1869 - 1946).
He was the youngest, fourth child in the family.
He studied at the Chernigov gymnasium, which he did not graduate due to the outbreak of the Civil War. In 1920-1923 - in the Red Army, mostly as an instructor in pre-conscription training, in Rostov-on-Don and then in Pyatigorsk. In 1923 - 1941 he lived in Leningrad; worked at the Physico-Technical Institute named after.
Ioffe, at the Krasnaya Bavaria brewery, at the Politkatorzhanin chemical plant. Yachtsman, participant in two Osoaviakhim boat cruises in 1930 and 31. In 1932 and 1933 he took part in expeditions to the then unexplored Pamirs. The expeditions were led by N.V. Krylenko (People's Commissar of Justice) and N.I. Gorbunov (manager of affairs of the Council of People's Commissars).
As part of a group led by prof. A.V. Moskvin, Traube walked, with geological and theodolite survey, a number of little-studied and generally unknown glaciers in the area of ​​​​the northeastern slopes of the Peter the Great Ridge. Participated in the discovery of a number of ore occurrences.
One of the peaks in this mountain cluster (6300 m) is named “Peak of the Four”, after the names of the group members - A.V. Moskvina, Yu.V. Walter, B.I. Frida and P.A. Traube. A glacier in this area is also named after Traube. From September 1939 to October 1940, during the armed conflict with Finland, Traube served as a radio operator in the Red Banner Baltic Fleet air force with the rank of sergeant major of the 2nd article; was shell-shocked during the bombing of the airfield by Finnish planes.
From July 17, 1941, he was again in the army, as part of a railway naval brigade, operating against Nazi troops on the near approaches to blockaded Leningrad (Taytsy, Gorelovo, Baltic Station). On trumped-up charges of counter-revolutionary agitation, slanderous fabrications regarding reports of the Sovinformburo (Article 58-10 4.11 of the Criminal Code, RSFSR) in June 1942 he was arrested and sentenced to death by the Military Tribunal of the Leningrad Naval Garrison. Rehabilitated in 1997. His daughter Inga Petrovna Traube, a civil engineer, lives in St. Petersburg.

Authority and photos by:
Traube Petr Alexandrovich (1901 – 1942). Yuri Alexandrovich Traube, edited by G. Andreev, Y. Stroganov, V. Yamaev.
http://www.alpklubspb.ru/persona/traube.htm