Recently one girl asked me: "Sveta, did you see a magic stone in a magic town in Altai, near Belukha?"

In general, I could not restrain myself then ... And so I decided to write openly ...

Valley Yarlu (translated from Altai - "with cliffs", "with a steep bank").

Part 1. Rainbow.
A fabulous valley with fantastic colored rocks and a milky-turquoise river splitting into dozens of streams, like long gray hair, living very close to the snow-white Belukha. A small spur, 2 km long, divides the valley in half. And it is this spur that brings bizarre colors from purple to red to the valley. I tell you exactly, as an artist - the whole palette of the rainbow is present here ... The 600-meter cliffs-conglomerates towering over the valley are of a bluish-blue color, since they are almost entirely composed of blue clay in combination with layers of other rocks, equally bright and saturated in color, such as lilac and purple, like potassium permanganate. Here, on the Yarlu River, a molybdenite deposit was once discovered. The geological reserve of this deposit is estimated at 10 thousand tons of metal! Probably, fragments of this lead-gray mineral with a bold metallic luster I like to collect along the river ... Pyrite, molybdenum pyrite, quartz-carbonate veins in the walls, multi-colored slate, all these rocks of ore-bearing strata paint the rocks of the valley in multi-colored colors. That is why the rivers are unusual here. On one side of the colored spur is a milk river, on the other - blood-red. The eye rejoices, the soul sings ... If you want - go around the spur on the left, if you want - on the right, if you want - climb it, or if you want - rise above the entire valley ... And you will see from above all the colored streaks of the mountains, the fine hair of the Jarlu, the peaks of the Katunsky ridge, dazzling glaciers with splashes of red ice. You can see a shiny fat-faced marmot, leaping into the abyss of an ular, running away tekeshku and, of course, the entire palette of alpine herbs ... Jarlu is one of the brightest valleys in the Belukha Natural Park. I love her with all my heart ...

Part 2. Sad ...
Unfortunately, in Internet resources you will hardly find any intelligible information about the Yarlu gorge, except for the fictional one. You know my position - "Leave nature after your visit exactly the same as it was before you." I have very few principles, and I get rid of them, but this one is unshakable. It sounds like this: came to visit, lived, drank, ate, pooped, clean up after yourself. Point. What am I talking about? Here's what: since 2002, in the Jarlu Valley, the Roerichs and followers of the Rikla teachings have built a whole town of stones around a monolithic gorge located in the center and grown into the ground. block of stone, which they call the "Stone of Wisdom" ("Stone-Master", "Roerich's Stone", "Shaman's Stone", it is for some reason "Genghis Khan's Stone" and even "Macedonian Stone"). The symbol of the Trinity, the so-called Roerich's sign, was drawn on the stone, they surrounded the territory with a fence made of slate, placing hundreds of stone pyramids inside the "town" (I deliberately do not expose these photos, there are enough of them on the Internet), sometimes you can even see a person there with stacks of books on the topic of Living Ethics, sometimes a person who, like a grandmother in a church, broadcasts what can and cannot be done here, and more and more often guides tell newly arrived tourists about the ridge "Mother of the World" with her "Mother's Heart" and literally about entering Shambhala somewhere here…

I, too, RESPECT the Places of Power of Gorny Altai, and I and my friends, mountain rescuers, doctors, climbers, geologists ... But I am opposed to people in any way marking these places, drawing their signs, putting marks, building stone towns, thus most imposing their opinions, beliefs on others, even with the best intentions. Why can't you just respect the place? Just come, pray, recharge, live, be a guest and leave, leaving this place for others the same as it was before you? I repeat: I respect all religions and philosophies in the world. Among my friends there are representatives of all religions and faiths. But I very much ask everyone who goes to the mountains - please try to leave as few traces of your presence there as possible. While respecting the traditions of the region, region, republic, country.

Well, we have Obo in Altai (Mong. Ovoo, bur. Obo, khak. Oba "heap, heap, embankment") - heaps of stones, decorated with ribbons and flags, as is customary among the Turkic-Mongol peoples of Central Asia, well, put on it a stone out of respect (as on the same pass Kara-Turek) and enough ... Believe me, IN THE MOUNTAINS AND WITHOUT YOU EVERYTHING IS HARMONIOUS. And tours are not built to communicate with space! And so that the traveler in the mountains does not get lost and does not lose the path! Don't mislead people with your buildings !!!

Thanks for reading to the end. I will be glad if there are those among you who think like me, those who will support me.

PySy: and finally about "thank you" and about pseudo-spirituality:

Once again, I came to the Jarlu valley, walked past a stone, a woman was sitting on it in a meditation position, a book on her lap. I always say hello in the mountains, say "Hello!" "Hello" - answers. And in the voice of the mistress of the place of power, he offers:

- Have you come to recharge? Come on over. No, not like that, here. No, not here. And not there. Not on this side. Not in shoes. Not backwards. Yes, not there! Like this.

And in response I hear the teacher's displeased tone:

- Maybe it's enough to say "thank you" already ?? Maybe it's time to start "thanking" ?!

- Excuse me, - I say, - what did you say?

- Have put in all "God save", yes "God save"! And who will give the blessing?! ?? It's time to start and give the blessing !!!

I shrugged.

- Well, I don’t mind, give it.

- Well, good. Give. I agree. Let's.

- What-oh-oh-oh?!?

- From what you said I give the blessing - you did not give the blessing. You broke off with words.

... And for another 10 minutes I heard afterwards "Look how smart you are!" ... Until the noise of the river overlapped these sounds ...

We have to plunge into the space of this world, to meet its magical heroes (positive and negative), knowledge that leads to understanding and awareness, freeing the soul from the captivity of illusions. We pay attention to the signs that the wise Universe gives us, solving them, we make decisions to change our lives for the better.

We are just approaching one of these places.

Valley of Jarlu - Ray of eternal Divine femininity. The Spirit of Co-Creation and Creation gathers in the earth and on its surface, here the Pearl of the Soul, the Great Mother of the World, rules. The Jarlu Valley is located in the heart of the mysterious and enigmatic mountains. This sacred place is a place of special power, the air is saturated with the spirit of greatness and holiness. According to legend, there is one of the entrances to the mysterious land of Shambhala. It is a source of spiritual and physical healing, into which the Strength and Energy of the compassionate love of the Mother of the World flows and remains.

The path to this extraordinary place of power follows along the Akkem and Tekelu rivers with their picturesque waterfalls and natural phenomena.

The first waterfall is the gateway to the Jarlu valley, which is guarded by the spirits of these sacred places.

Water is associated with emotions, feelings, intuition and subconsciousness, as well as with feminine energy and strength - a symbol of motherhood. In the sounds of the waterfall, one can hear the name and voice of the Mother, without whose blessing no action can be successful.

We ask permission to bathe and purify ourselves before setting foot on this land, as well as to receive signs of fate that will lead you onto the right path and show the way to the lost.

It is pleasant to stand in the crystal coolness emanating from the waterfall, dissolving in space and in eternity. But not everyone manages to gather their strength and enter the very center of a raging waterfall with transparent-clear ice water.

Connected with the streams of the waterfall, we continue our journey and ascend the ridge called the Mother of the World, which separates the valleys of the Jarlu and Tekelu rivers. The closer we get to the place, the more clearly the silhouette of a lying woman with a pronounced head profile is visible. The middle part of the mountain has a bright purple-red hue, as if blood was oozing from there.

The main silhouette consists of sharp edges that coiled into spirals and rush upward, as if they were about to take off. The spiral principle is common in nature. All development takes place according to the spiral principle. The spiral is a manifestation of the rhythm of life. Remarkable is the fact that the flat spiral is like a labyrinth, which is characterized by two components - development and regression.

In the Valley of the Mother of the World, other surprises await us, one of them - the Stone of Wisdom - a special Place of Power, endowing with the highest, holistic, spiritual-practical knowledge, which is achieved through the spiritual-life search for truth and the objective state of things - this is the Wisdom of God. Spiritual purity, perfection, beauty, creativity and harmony reign here.

The Stone of Wisdom is the Great Alatyr - a source of healing and nourishing rivers, a powerful force that has no limit is hidden in it. If you touch it with your hands, you can feel extraordinary vibrations, increasing energy. It is necessary to allow these vibrations to enter into your space. The power of the stone, being an accumulator of energy, affects the person as a whole and can help him tune in the right way, attract into his life what a person needs.

This place is also called the Valley of Edelweiss; there are a huge number of these mysterious flowers. The Russian generic name for edelweiss comes from the words - "noble", "white". Edelweiss is a symbol of mountains and appears in legends as an image of inaccessibility, love and good luck, helps to gain wisdom, open the heart, and has tremendous vitality. In no case should you pick a flower, you can incur anger and fury of the spirits of the area. Ancient legends say that only courageous and loving hearts can reach this flower.

There is an opinion that the spirits of the area do not let people with negative energy, bad thoughts and bad intentions here.

And we continue our journey ...

There are places in Altai that are not enough just to see, they must be felt and heard. The Yarlu valley is one of such corners. In addition to the striking beauty of mountains, forests and hollows, the gorge strikes with its sacred power. Here the power of nature is felt physically. You can describe a lot of the feelings of travelers to the valley, but to realize the power of this land is possible only after personal presence. The valley stretches to the left of Lake Akkem. Its height is 2000 m. The name of the valley means “a place with cliffs”. A stream runs along the bottom of the gorge, which is also called Yarlu and flows into the Akkem River.

People are attracted to the valley by magical power and curiosity. It was Jarlu who was noted by Roerich. His followers often visit the sites of the scientist's research. Here he stayed during his expedition in search of the fabulous Belovodye.

The most curious is the Roerich stone, marked with its sign. It is a large smooth boulder that has grown into the ground. It does not look like the surrounding rocks. According to some statements, the stone "grows" 5 cm per year. The lump is called the Master Stone or the Stone of Wisdom. A small town is built around it from the rubble of rocks. This place is the center for the release of the most powerful energy, mediums and esotericists come here to restore the biofield, meditate and comprehend the meaning of life.

The upper part of the valley is surrounded by a ridge. This is the watershed of two rivers - Tekelu and Yarlu. The ridge resembles a lying woman, her profile is especially clearly visible. It is more convenient to admire the ridge from the Kara-Turek pass. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe stone woman's chest, the mountains have a red tint. It seems as if blood is running from the heart. The rock is called Mother's Heart.

Colorful rocks are another feature of the gorge. Multi-colored rocks, clay deposits and minerals are tightly compressed by time among sedimentary deposits, this makes Jarlu look unusual. The bright colors of the mountains come to life even more after the rain. The valley changes its appearance depending on the season. The time of day and the intensity of the sun's rays also affect the color of the stones, so movement is always felt in Jarlu - thoughts, color, matter and energy. There are many legends about the valley. It is called a place of special power. There is a statement that the valley does not admit people with defective, distorted morality. Such people cannot enter the gorge, they begin to feel pain, find panic or important things to do.

It is not surprising that it is in such a magical place that a wonderful flower - edelweiss - grows. This plant symbolizes wisdom and mystery. Due to the color composition of the mountains, streams flowing along their slopes are also multi-colored. They take on a shade of blue clay or milky limestone. Sometimes the waters are light blue, sometimes slightly emerald.

The place is quite famous and popular. Every year hundreds of tourists flock to this valley like bees to honey. I would even say not tourists, but followers of various teachings and beliefs. And they are attracted there by a large stone and a stone "city" erected around it.


As I already wrote, the center of everyone's attention in the Jarlu Valley is a large monolithic stone. According to various sources, it is called, and the Roerich stone, and the stone master, and many other options. To be honest, during all my visits and communication with the "old-timers" of the stone city, I have never heard the same story. Each person who came across to me there gave his description of this stone, its origin and purpose. It is for this reason that I will not write and insist on any particular truth. I would just like to describe my personal impressions of staying in this place.

I'll start with the road. It is not difficult to get to the valley, it is located next to the famous Akkem Lake. In fact, all visitors to Yarlu are people who went on a journey to Belukha. From Lake Akkem to the stone city in Yarlu, it takes about 2 hours on foot, not long. But, it is necessary to cross to the other side of the Akkem river. In this case, there are two ways: the first - the entire path runs along the Yarlu valley, from the very mouth. Where the Jarlu flows into Akkem there is a small bridge over which you can get to the other side. The second is a boat crossing on Lake Akkem itself, while your path to the stone city will be reduced by about a third.
For ease of understanding, I presented the map below:

For me personally, this place makes a strong impression. Around the city there is usually a deathly silence, rarely when it is hectic there. Sometimes time next to a stone flies unnoticed, there you can sit for hours and think about different things while all thoughts are not "everyday", so to speak. Usually you sit and think about the global or completely forget where you are and just enjoy the silence. The stone itself is a large, monolithic piece of rock, smoothed out. Interestingly, it is always the same temperature.

It feels warm on cold days, cold on hot days. The stone depicts the so-called Roerich's sign - "past, present and future in the circle of eternity". They say this symbol manifested itself there by itself, from that and such attention is probably to this stone.
I remember in my first visits, I was not even good at this place, sometimes I was sick and dizzy. The place definitely has its power, and how exactly it manifests itself, everyone who comes here will probably feel.

In any case, if you are traveling to Belukha, be sure to look into this valley. Jarlu itself is a very beautiful and mesmerizing piece of Altai without a stone or a city ..