Hiking Small Chimgan in Late March

Reporting on hiking Small Chimgan at the end of March — I couldn’t find detailed info about it anywhere, so let it be here)

We went today, March 24.

Weather +11°C, sunny, but with a cold wind. Clothing-wise — we mostly walked in a T-shirt/long sleeve, occasionally putting on a jacket/warm shirt. It’s more convenient to take something with a zipper, not a hoodie. Even for the base layer, long sleeves are better because there are thorny bushes along the trail. Shoes — hiking sneakers are fine (I felt a bit hot in high boots), my friend walked in lightweight mesh hiking sneakers from Ozon and everything was OK, didn’t get wet.

Trail conditions
This info specifically for the end of March — I couldn’t find it anywhere. I asked here in chats, AI, guides, and at the hotel — answers varied from “there’s still snow and ice everywhere” to “everything will melt, no problem walking in sneakers.” I think everyone is right in their own way, since March weather is unpredictable.

In reality, the snow on the trail has mostly melted, there are small patches left, shallow — you can walk around them or pass without sinking. In some places there are muddy, slightly slippery sections.
We started around 1 PM, and it seems better in March to hike before noon, because on the way back the snow softened, small streams appeared in places, and there were more muddy spots. Overall, there were no problems passing the trail. On the ascent from the pass to the ridge, small gravel slides down, so regular city shoes are strongly not recommended. Also, right before the ridge, you’ll need to scramble a bit over rocks, but nothing too scary.

Route
We entered through the territory of the under-construction Rake Nur Hotel — there was no security at the time, but at our hotel they said security usually lets people through. They also mentioned there’s another entrance further past the hotel via a small bridge, but we didn’t check.

Our route and similar ones can be found on Wikiloc (ours includes the date March 24, 2026 in the name).

I read several times that there’s only one trail and it’s hard to get lost — that’s half true: you definitely won’t get lost, but there are forks, more than one, both before and after the pass. For example, we first took a less-trodden path and wondered why it was so overgrown with thorny bushes. You won’t miss the endpoint — there’s a sign “Small Chimgan 2099 m.”

The views along the route are very beautiful, photos don’t even capture half of the scale and beauty. You can see snow-covered peaks on both sides and the turquoise Charvak Reservoir.
On the ridge between the pass and the summit, there’s a snow cap dividing it in half: to the right (toward the summit) it’s already dry, to the left there’s snow. You should absolutely not walk on the snow cap — it’s actively melting and forms a dangerous overhang above the slope.

Time
The route took us 4.5 hours (3 up, 1.5 down), but we walked very slowly, stopping often and resting. I’ve read that people hike Small Chimgan with children — I’m not sure this would be an easy and safe hike for an average child or an elderly person with knee issues who might misstep, but for an average, not particularly athletic office worker, with proper attention — there should be no problems at all.