“I hate football”, “Euthanasia” and “Kosher Sex”

Despite the fact that Transcarpathia is the most mountainous region in Ukraine, there are not so many places for local climbers here. There are only three natural rocks for training – in the village of Onokovtsy near Uzhgorod, as well as in Perechyn and Irshava districts. Therefore, our extreme athletes are usually forced to go beyond the region in order to improve their skills. One of the climbing "paradises" of Western Ukraine, which is most often visited by supporters of this kind of recreation, is located at the junction of two neighboring regions of Transcarpathia – Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv. The romantic bandit name of the natural attraction Dovbush’s Rocks attracts many tourists. Therefore, this amazing natural complex is one of the favorite places of "pilgrimage" for our climbers.

Although it is a long way to the rocks, it is not that difficult to get there: one may take the Lviv train to Stryi, and within half an hour – by bus to the village of Truhanov in Lviv region. From Ivano-Frankivsk region side one can travel up to the rock by bus from Bolekhiv, that is what most of tourists prefer.
 
 Almost every day big excursion groups (from children to pensioners) walk between huge boulders, which are more than 70 million years old. They were formed back in the days when the ancient sea was rumbling in the place of the Carpathians. Dovbush’s Rocks (or Bubniskie Rocks – after the village of Bubnishche located nearby), or as people call them Dovbushes, is a geological monument of nature, sandstone rock overhangs reaching a height of 80 meters.
 
 Before the astonished eyes of travelers, these rocks rise in very bizarre shapes. Some of them are swift and smooth, like taut sails, others are low and rounded, and the rest are cut by furrows and ravines. Some huge boulders just hang over your head, somehow standing on a shaky basis. It seems that a fragment of the monolith has just frozen for a second in a certain point in space and time, but if a strong wind blows, the stone will roll down the slope. Millennia pass, but a boulder does not move from its magical balance point…

A longer walk opens up an entirely different facet of local petrified beauty: rocks astound by their elegant combination of crevices and ledges, cracks and convexities. Along with the play of light, seeping through the cracks, they create the illusion of air "lace", a perfect artistic creation of nature.

Each rock or rock massif here has its name: Witch, Cross, Doll, Austrian, Horse, Odinets, Shurshun, Golets, Kolobok, Sail and many others. In total Dovbush 200 metres width stone labyrinth stretches from east to west between the beech and spruce forests for nearly a kilometre at an altitude of 668 m above sea level.
 
 This unique rock complex in the Carpathians is a favorite holiday destination not only for the Transcarpathians, but also for most of Western Ukraine climbers. They come here regularly. Some of them even spend weeks among the sand monoliths. Also, competitions of various level and sport climbing championships are often held here.

Dovbush Rocks are "soft". They gradually get polished, destroyed by water, wind and mechanical impact. They rather get "licked", acquiring rounded, streamlined shapes, than scale off. The technique of climbing on Dovbush is also specific: it requires climber to take into account this "softness" of relief. This is where climbers have to trust their feet rather than hands. After all, on some routes hands rather "pat" the rock than cling to it. By the way, there are more than a hundred of routs on Dovbush. And they all are very different. Each climber, both a beginner and a high-level professional, will be able to choose what he likes more. Power or technical climbing, long or short (or even a bouldering) routes, climbing in the cracks and the overhang – the choice is wide.

Маршрут "Тарас бульба"

Маршрут "Птенчик"

Маршрут "Библиотечная полиция"

Маршрут "Заначка"

In order to somehow orient in this variety a special guidebook has been made: there is a consolidated list of routes with their technical description and an indicated schematic complexity. The very names of routes also surprise with their ingenuity and wit: "Love affairs", "I hate football", "On wet", "The Library Police", "Forget me", "Euthanasia", "Peace of Vacationers", "Skolopendra", "Kultik ","All fools", " The way to Ixtlan", "Tavern on the road", "Wiy "," Chugayster ","Case of Salvador Dali","Kosher Sex"," Scarab’s Dream", "Ji would have been", "Legends of the Fall", "Easter helmet", "Night Shift", "Ultrahappy" and others.

However, even if you come to Dovbush’s Rocks solely for tourism purposes there are a lot of things of interest for you: the facts and legends about these places impress as much as their natural beauty. Here you will be told that in the X-XVII centuries BC in these rocks, there was a pagan sanctuary. After the spread of Christianity in the Carpathian Mountains, on the place of pagan shrines there appeared an old, small Russian cave monastery hermitage, and later – a watch-fortress, which survived after the Mongol-Tatar invasion and existed until the XVI century. And in the XVII – XVIII centuries, according to the legend, the famous Carpathian Oprishki camped here, in particular – Oleksa Dovbush’s units in 1743. They allegedly used the caves as a treasury for the goods they took away from the rich.

Whether you want to believe the legends and try to find a hidden Opryshky’s treasure or just to see the results of hard work and perseverance of our ancestors – it is up to you. In any case, interesting and unforgettable experience of visiting these places are guaranteed.