KHANTY-MANSIYSK, February 10. /TASS/. Trips to Mount Neroka in the Circumpolar Urals, on the border between the Komi and the Khanty-Mansi Regions, and climbing it will be a national tourist route to attract more travelers to the region. It is a unique route to a remote area in the Urals, where visitors are also invited to see tunnels, mines, a piezo quartz and rock crystal mine, to try extracting loose gold and to see an underground ice cave, Director of the region's Department of Industry Viktor Gamuzov told TASS.
Mount Neroka is 1,645 meters above sea level. This mountain, one of the highest peaks of the Urals Range, is located in the Circumpolar Urals in the upper reaches of the Shchekurya River in the northern part of the Issledovatelsky Ridge that divides the Urals into east and west. The North's indigenous peoples say the mountain is sacred. Visiting the mountain has been very popular among active travelers. The nearest settlement, Saranpaul, is more than 90 km away. In winter, visitors may use winter roads to get there by car, and in summer getting to the mountain is possible also by helicopter.
"The Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region has a new tourist route Neroka - Place of Power." Visitors will visit the landmark destination and will learn the Circumpolar Urals," the official told TASS. "We expect this route will be granted the national status, which will favor attracting more active travelers to our region."
In 2024, more than 200 tourists chose that route, he continued. The trip attracts extreme tourists. A helicopter drops tourists to the Ner-Oika glamping, from where they start expeditions to the Circumpolar Urals.
"The product includes sightseeing and trips (hiking and all-terrain) to various attractions: tunnels of Mount Neroyka and mining of semiprecious minerals, rutile mines, the Zeya Lakes, the waterfall on the Shaitanka River, an underground ice cave, as well as a tour to the Ridge of Idols at the foot of the sacred Shatmagi Mountain, which is sacred for the North's indigenous peoples - the Khanty and Mansi," he added.
Tourists are invited to visit a unique quartz and rock crystal deposit, Dodo, which has been developed since 1937, and to a gold mine in the Zolotoshor area. Visitors will learn about methods to extract the precious metal, about the industry's future, and will have a chance to try extracting loose gold.