From time immemorial the area of the mountain Tel’pos-Iz – the highest peak of the Northern Urals (1,617 meters) - has had a special importance in the culture of the peoples living around the Pechora river and the Urals. It is located in the Vuktyl area of the Komi Republic, within the “Yugyd Va” nature reserve. Multiple stories and legends are connected with it.

The mountain is mostly made of quartzite. Up to the height of 500 m the slopes are covered with coniferous forests, followed by mountain tundra and stone fields. The mountain name is translated from the Komi language as “the nest of winds”. The Tel’pos-Iz area is famous for its nasty weather: Winds driving clouds, rain or snow often blow from the mountain top. According to the locals’ belief, Voipel’, the god of a snowstorm and northern wind, who does not like noise and does not allow people to burst into his dwelling, lives on the mountain top.

In the ancient times the Zyryan trade route lay past this mountain, by which the Zyryans travelled to the Ostyak-Mansi behind the Ural mountain ridge – “the Great Stone Zone” or “Stone”. Passing or sailing by Tel’pos-Iz, the Komi tried to keep silent.

The Nenets call this mountain Ne-KheKhe, the Mansi – Ne-Pupyg-Nyor – “the Idol Woman”. The Mansi legend reads that the god turned the woman who contradicted her husband in everything into a stone idol and forbade the Mansi to climb this rock: “If anybody dares to do that, a heavy storm will begin and the daredevil will fall into the abyss.”