Chusovaya River Cliffs

The Chusovaya is the only river that rises on the Asian side of the Urals and cuts right through the range to the European side, and that made it the route out: from the eighteenth century iron from the Ural works was loaded onto barges at spring flood and run down to the Kama and the Volga, through a gorge lined with limestone cliffs the boatmen called boytsy - fighters - because barges broke on them, with names like Molokov, Razboynik and Oslyanka and recorded death tolls in bad years. Chains were driven into some to warn or fend off. The iron traffic ended with the railways, and the cliffs are now the reason people raft it: several days of easy water between rock walls up to a hundred and fifteen metres, with caves, old villages, and the remains of the loading works. It is the classic Ural river trip and gets busy in July.

What you actually see

• The boytsy - limestone cliffs up to a hundred and fifteen metres that wrecked barges.
• The iron route - the river that carried Ural metal through the range to Europe.
• The old villages - settlements and loading works along the banks.
• The gorge - the only clean cut through the Urals by a river.

When to go

May to September; late May and June have the best water, July and August the most people. Three days to two weeks depending on the section.

Honest expectations

Popular sections are crowded in July with large group trips. Water is cold and the river rises fast after rain. Mosquitoes and ticks with encephalitis risk. Equipment and shuttles need arranging in advance or an operator.

Nearby

Kyn and Ust-Utka are the usual put-ins; Perm is west and Yekaterinburg east.