# Khamar-Daban

Khamar-Daban (Russian: Хама́р-Даба́н; Buryat: Һамар дабаан, from хамар – "nut", and дабаан – "pass" or "ridge"), is a mountain range in Southern Siberia, Russia.

## Geography

The range is located in Buryatia, with a small section in Irkutsk Oblast. It rises near the Baikal Mountains not far from Lake Baikal. It forms a geographic prolongation of the Sayan Mountains. The highest peak is Utulinskaya Podkova at 2,396 m (7,861 ft); 2,090 m (6,860 ft) high Chersky Peak is another important summit. The southern end of the range is part of the Selenga Highlands. The climate of the northern part of the range is affected by Lake Baikal, being temperate and humid, with precipitation up to 1,300 mm (51 in) per year. The average January temperature is −16 to −18 °C (3 to 0 °F).

### Climate

Climate data for Khamar-Daban :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 8.7 (47.7) | 8.9 (48.0) | 14.0 (57.2) | 20.4 (68.7) | 27.7 (81.9) | 32.0 (89.6) | 31.5 (88.7) | 30.8 (87.4) | 25.7 (78.3) | 24.2 (75.6) | 13.2 (55.8) | 7.8 (46.0) | 32.0 (89.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −11.0 (12.2) | −9.3 (15.3) | −4.1 (24.6) | 2.8 (37.0) | 9.8 (49.6) | 16.0 (60.8) | 17.8 (64.0) | 15.9 (60.6) | 10.1 (50.2) | 3.8 (38.8) | −4.6 (23.7) | −9.3 (15.3) | 3.2 (37.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −16.6 (2.1) | −15.2 (4.6) | −10.2 (13.6) | −3.1 (26.4) | 3.9 (39.0) | 10.7 (51.3) | 13.2 (55.8) | 11.3 (52.3) | 4.7 (40.5) | −2.1 (28.2) | −10.4 (13.3) | −14.9 (5.2) | −2.4 (27.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −21.2 (−6.2) | −20.1 (−4.2) | −15.3 (4.5) | −8.3 (17.1) | −1.3 (29.7) | 5.4 (41.7) | 8.7 (47.7) | 6.8 (44.2) | 0.6 (33.1) | −6.7 (19.9) | −15.3 (4.5) | −19.6 (−3.3) | −7.2 (19.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −38.6 (−37.5) | −39.6 (−39.3) | −33.4 (−28.1) | −28.5 (−19.3) | −16.4 (2.5) | −8.3 (17.1) | −2.0 (28.4) | −6.2 (20.8) | −13.0 (8.6) | −27.2 (−17.0) | −34.8 (−30.6) | −37.0 (−34.6) | −39.6 (−39.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 29.3 (1.15) | 27.5 (1.08) | 56.6 (2.23) | 93.7 (3.69) | 124.0 (4.88) | 195.0 (7.68) | 275.4 (10.84) | 229.0 (9.02) | 149.4 (5.88) | 81.3 (3.20) | 56.0 (2.20) | 39.7 (1.56) | 1,356.9 (53.41) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 13.3 | 11.7 | 13.8 | 15.8 | 15.8 | 17.5 | 19.6 | 19.2 | 15.1 | 13.2 | 14.2 | 14.4 | 183.6 |
| Source: climatebase.ru ||||||||||||||

## In popular culture

The song of the same name by Yuri Vizbor, written in 1962, is dedicated to the range.

## 1993 incident

Six members of a seven-person hiking group led by Lyudmila Korovina died in mysterious circumstances in 1993. Valentina Utochenko was the only survivor. Despite the police receiving a report, no formal search was carried out until August 24. It took two days for the helicopters to locate the remains because Valentina had not yet been able to recount her version of what had happened. According to an autopsy report, all of them, except Lyudmila, who had a heart attack, were found to have died of hypothermia.
They were all found to have bruised lungs. But a protein shortage brought on by starvation and extreme hypothermia was identified as their cause of death. In the end, it was decided that the deaths were unintentional.