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Dombay (Karach-Balk. Dommay) is a resort village in the
Karachay-Cherkess Republic. It is located at an altitude of about
1600 meters, in the intermontane basin (Dombayskaya glade) at the
northern foot of the Main Caucasian ridge. It is located at the
confluence of the Alibek and Dombay-Ulgen rivers into Amanauz - one
of the sources of the Teberda river.
The village is connected
by a motor road with Teberda, Karachaevsk and Cherkessk (a branch
from the Military-Sukhum road). The distance to the administrative
center of the republic is about 120 km (by road). The distance to
the nearest railway station in the city of Ust-Dzheguta is about 100
km.
The word "dombay" (Karach-balk. Dommay) in translation
from Karachai means "bison". Once upon a time, whole herds of
Caucasian bison roamed in the Dombai forests. The emergence of the
settlement is associated with the development of tourism in the
region, the beginning of which dates back to the 1920s (although
there is evidence that individual tourist groups have been to these
places since 1911). In 1921, the first organized tourist base
appeared here. The popularization of the resort has been gaining
momentum since 1925. In August of this year, one of the founders of
mountaineering in the USSR, Boris Delone, ascended the Sofrudzhi
peak (south of the present village), after which a systematic survey
and description of the surrounding peaks and passes began. In 1926,
a tourist route was established along the Military-Sukhum road
(later - the All-Union tourist route No. 43). According to some
reports, since 1940, mountaineers' descents and ascents have been
carried out in Dombai.
In 1937, a recreation center for
scientists of the Commission for Assistance to Scientists of the
USSR Academy of Sciences was built here. The wooden building,
reminiscent of a tower, was built using larch wood and has become
one of the recognizable landmarks of Dombai. Later it housed the
alpine camps "Lightning", "Medic" (since 1952), then, in 1958-1959 -
"Belalakaya" (named after the mountain peak to the southwest of the
village). In 1960, the camp was transferred to the jurisdiction of
the Karachay-Cherkess regional committee of the CPSU as a recreation
center. Now it is the Solnechnaya Dolina Hotel.
Large-scale
construction of a sports complex on Dombayskaya Polyana began after
the issuance of the decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR
No. 10001 dated January 2, 1960 "On the development of a recreation
center, tourism, alpine skiing in the high mountainous regions of
KCAO" and decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR No. 1137-r
dated June 4, 1971 on the withdrawal of land plots with a total area
of 112.05 hectares from the lands of the Teberda State Reserve and
their allotment to the Stavropol Regional Council for Tourism and
Excursions for the construction of the Dombai recreation center,
tourism, mountaineering, ski and speed skating, as well as the
additional use of 102.3 hectares of the reserve for ski slopes and
cable cars. In 1972, the Dombay hotel was commissioned (architects
V.K. Zhilkin, G.N. Kostomarov, E.V. Perchenkov, G.S.Suvorova; State
Prize of the RSFSR in the field of architecture, 1975), in 1976 -
hotel "Crocus". By 1977, according to the project of V.K. Zhilkin,
the Mountain Peaks International Youth Center was built, which was
part of the Sputnik Bureau of International Youth Tourism under the
Komsomol Central Committee (the architect received a Certificate of
Honor for the project of the center and was nominated for the
Komsomol Central Committee Prize). By 1984 the Solnechnaya Dolina
hotel was reconstructed.
In the upper reaches of the Alibek
river, the Alibek climbing camp is located - one of the oldest in
the Caucasus. The Dombai Waltz by Yuri Vizbor, written on April 19,
1961 in Alibek, brought wide popularity to Dombai. The status of an
urban-type settlement was given to Dombai in 1965.
In 1976,
construction began on the most famous "long-term construction" in
Dombai - the 18-storey hotel "Amanauz" (designed by V.K. Zhilkin).
Further development of the village was carried out in accordance
with the decree of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR and the
All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions of November 6, 1981 No.
600 "On measures for the further development in 1982-1990 of the
city of Teberda and the resort village of Dombai in the
Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region of the Stavropol Territory as a
tourism zone and resort" , in accordance with which initially 1985
was designated as the date of putting into operation the tourist
hotel "Amanauz" for 630 places with a community center. Then, by the
RF Government, the hotel was included in the list of priority
objects for construction and reconstruction in 1993-1994. However,
the project was never fully implemented, the construction of the
Amanauz hotel remained unfinished.
Simultaneously with the
construction of hotels and tourist centers, cable cars were built -
pendulum (commissioned in 1986), 5 stages of construction of
single-seat and double-seat roads to Mount Mussa-Achitara
(Musat-Cheri, completed by 1970, 1971, 1976, 1983 and 1987,
respectively ). Already in the post-Soviet period, in 2004-2007,
three stages of the new cable car were built - one section of the
gondola and two sections of the multi-seat, which bring skiers to
the very top of Mount Mussa-Achitara (about 3200 m).
Sights
The village is located on the territory of the Teberda
nature reserve. The main attractions of the region are natural.
These are Alibeksky, Sofrudzhinsky, Chuchkhursky waterfalls, Baduk,
Murudzhinsky lakes and others.