Old postcards Dombay

Dombay, also called the Dombay Glade, is a mountain area in the Teberda basin, bounded to the south by the Main Caucasus Range; its highest point is Dombay-Ulgen at 4,046 metres. Above the glade stands Belalakaya, 3,861 metres, named after the veins of white quartz that cut across its rock walls; it was first climbed in 1904.

The cards form a 1983 set that mixes mountain scenery with the resort facilities of the day. The scenery includes Belalakaya peak, an alpine meadow, the Amanauz river, the Alibek gorge, the path to the Alibek mountaineering camp and a card titled “On Mountain Roads”. The facilities are the Gornye Vershiny hotel, the tourist hotel and the Solnechnaya Dolina (“Sunny Valley”) turbaza, a Soviet tourist base with simple lodging and organised hikes.

Two cards in the set look further east towards Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus: “Elbrus Foothills” and a view of Elbrus with the monument to the defenders of the Caucasus passes.

Anyone who stayed at a Dombay tourist base or walked up to the Alibek camp in the 1980s will recognise these vintage postcards.