Elbrus

Mt. Elbrus is located in the Russian Caucus region near the Black and Caspian Seas. At 18,150 feet it is the highest mountain in Europe. Elbrus is special to me - in 2014 it was my first successful climb of one of the seven summits. There are two main routes to the top of Elbrus. The vast majority of climbers ascend via the south side route. The south side route is based out of a ski resort and climbers ascend chair lifts a good portion of the way up. I chose to climb via the less popular north side which is remote and more like a traditional mountain climb.

Getting There - August 2, 2014

After almost 24 hours of travel, I arrived in Russia after a flight from Chicago to Moscow with a brief stopover in Helsinki, Finland. The flights were uneventful, but my flight to Finland arrived late and although I made my connecting flight to Moscow, my bags did not.

At the Moscow airport I had to fill out several forms to document my lost luggage. This was easier said than done. No one at the airport counter spoke even a little bit of English and since I don't speak any Russian, it took a while to figure out what I needed to do. Nothing in Russia is straightforward, so I had to fill out the same form 3 times, then take it over to someone else who indicated I filled it out wrong and I had to go back and do it all over again. Eventually I figured out what was needed and an hour later I was finally cleared thru customs and on my way.

I was told to meet Trevor (my soon to be roommate coming from Canada) at the airport exit. I quickly realized however that there were several terminals and we were not in the same one. Fortunately I was able to figure out where he was and I met up with him and our driver. As it turns out Trevor's luggage did not arrive either so we didn't have much to transport back to the hotel other than our carry on bags.

Moscow traffic was bad and it took us about an hour to get from the airport to our hotel -- the Park Inn Sadu. It was 4 pm local time when we finally arrived. We took brief naps before meeting in the hotel lobby for dinner with the rest of our climbing team.

There were 8 climbers and 2 guides. We were a very interesting team in that almost everyone on the team has done a significant amount of climbing before. Several of them had climbed Denali and several had climbed Aconcagua. We were all pretty excited about climbing Mt. Elbrus.

We had dinner at a nice little pub just down the street from our hotel and after dinner we went to be early as most of us we were feeling jet lagged. My luggage had still not arrived, but I was hopeful it would be there in the morning.

Touring Moscow - August 3, 2014

We woke early as we had a full day of sightseeing planned. After a quick breakfast in the hotel lobby, we walked about 15 minutes to the Kremlin and Red Square. It was interesting to see a place that is so famous and I had heard and read so much about. We met our English speaking tour guide at the entrance to the square.

The first thing we did was tour Lenin's tomb. I found this absolutely fascinating. This is an individual who has been dead for almost 100 years and yet you can still go see him lying in state as if he just passed away yesterday. There was a long line to see him, but it moved quickly. Inside the tomb, you have to remain quiet and walk quickly past his body which is lying behind a glass shield. In addition to Lenin, several other famous Russian's are buried here and have tombs nearby.

We spent time taking pictures and walking around Red Square. This is a large area where the Russian frequently hosts parades and large displays of their military arsenal. It is a beautiful place with a large cathedral at the far end. It is an archetypal Russian orthodox church with several colorful cupolas and was incredibly beautiful.  We spent an hour touring the church and walking around the square.

On the far side of the square is a famous shopping center called the G.U.M. During the cold war, this was a Russian governmental department store where you could get all manner of soviet goods. Now it has been converted to a (very) high end mall. We walked through it but everything was far too expensive for me!

In the latter part of the afternoon, we toured the Kremlin. It is interesting in that is has a mix of old and new buildings and has 6 complete churches within it.

• 1 for weddings

• 1 for funerals

• 1 for masses (and I don't know what the other 3 are for!)

We ate dinner at a nearby Ukrainian restaurant. It was a great meal with a lot of meat and vegetables and potatoes. During dinner we discussed the plans for the next couple of days , when our climb begins in earnest.

After dinner we returned to the hotel and much to my horror, my bags had still not arrived. This was particularly problematic as we were scheduled to fly to Mineralyne Vody very early the next morning and without my bags I have nothing to climb the mountain with (and I was also getting tired of being in the same clothes for over 72 hours!). I spent an hour on the phone with American Airlines and Finnair trying to find out where my bags were. It was 11:30 at night and I was seriously panicking when a driver finally came into the hotel lobby with my bags. PHEW!!!!

With bags in hand I went to bed much more relaxed and ready for the rest of the trip.

Kislovosk - August 4, 2014

Today we began our journey to southern Russia. We got up early and met in the hotel lobby at 5 am. It was too early for the hotel breakfast to be open, but they were kind enough to make us some breakfast sandwiches and fruit. We loaded up the shuttle with all our gear (a lot!) and headed to the airport. Since it was so early, there was not much traffic, and we got to the airport quickly. We didn't have any problems checking in and before we knew it we were at the gate awaiting our flight to Mineralyne Vody.

We were flying Aeroflot and although they have a reputation for operating some really old airplanes, we were on a new Airbus and the 2 hour flight was smooth and uneventful. A pleasant surprise was that they still serve food on flights in Russia! I had a good breakfast on the plane and by noon we had landed in Mineralyne Vody. One oddity of being in Russia is that everyone claps when the airplane lands. I think that says everything you really need to know about the state of aviation in Russia!

The airport at Mineralyne Vody is interesting....the departure terminal is brand new and very nice, but the arrival terminal is still the original tiny, 1 room spartan place. Fortunately, all of our luggage arrived with us and we headed outside to wait for our ride to the hotel.

It was a beautiful sunny day and it was hot..I think it was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit. There wasn't much to do but wait. It took about an hour, but eventually our shuttle showed up. The shuttle was a "van/bus" that I believe was made about 50 years ago. It was quite the puzzle to figure out how to get all of us and our gear in the bus. We ended up with a giant pile of stuff in the back that those of us sitting in the back of the bus had to keep piles of gear from falling on top of us during the ride!

It was roughly an hour drive from the airport to the town of Kislovosk which is where we would start our journey to Mt. Elbrus. The landscape in this part of Russia is very beautiful and there were a lot of farms along the drive. It reminded me a bit of being in the western part of the United States.

We arrived at the hotel around 4 pm and checked in. Check in was somewhat challenging since the woman running the hotel spoke no English. She eventually had her 7 year old grand daughter who was learning English in school come and translate! The little girl was adorable and she seemed to really enjoy getting to practice her English. We rested for a bit and then went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. It was a nice 4 course dinner and was interesting because the server could speak no English and we spoke no Russian - this made it entertaining trying to explain what we wanted. Thank goodness for Google Translate.

A few people went out to the local bars after dinner, but I was pretty tired from all the travel so I retired to bed early. Tomorrow we head to base camp!

Base Camp - August 5, 2014

Today is the day we finally set foot on the mountain we have come to climb. We woke up to an early breakfast served in our rooms and then met in the lobby to begin our journey to base camp.

Once again we piled our mounds of gear outside in the hotel courtyard and waited for our ride. After a brief wait, our driver showed up in a 1950’s era Soviet van that looked like it could drive just about anywhere. Our driver Yuri got out, took one look at us and all of our stuff, and immediately got on his phone and (I'm making some assumptions here) told his boss that he needed another van in order to transport all of us and our gear.

Fifteen minutes later, another similar vehicle showed up. We proceeded to load all of our gear into 1 of the vans and all of us into the other. The vehicle wasn't exactly comfortable, but it wasn't too bad. We had expected the drive to take 4-6 hours, but in the last few years, they have paved the road farther and the ride only took a little over 2 hours.

The first hour is up some hills on a paved road as you leave town. After that we entered an incredibly beautiful valley and followed the road up the valley for some time. Eventually we came to the end of the paved road and turned down a one lane, dirt ,rutted road that went pretty much straight down the mountainside to the base camp. There were several large drop offs by the side of the road and many of the people on my trip did not like this part of the ride. One wrong move by our driver and that would have been then end of our climb (and likely us!).

About a mile before the end of the road, it crosses a river and unfortunately the river can only be crossed early in the morning before the snow melts during the day . Our vehicle was unable to cross. Our guides were expecting another, higher draft vehicle to come and take our gear across the river the last mile to base camp, but after over an hour wait, it didn't seem like that was going to happen.

Finally, Sacha, our local Russian guide for the trip, arrived and was able to arrange for our gear to be driven to base camp. The only problem was the driver only had room for the group gear and not for us or our personal backpacks. But...we came here to climb an 18,000 foot mountain, so what’s another mile or so. We loaded our gear in the new truck and then began the trek to base camp. This began with a crossing of the river via a "bridge". I use the term bridge loosely because it is really just a few boards strung loosely together. Crossing the bridge with a 50 pound backpack on was "interesting". The river itself was very fast flowing and very cold, so none of us had any desire to take an accidental swim. Fortunately, we all got across safely and were able to walk the rest of the way to camp easily.

Base camp on the north side of Mt. Elbrus is an interesting place. It is set in a wide valley in the middle of fields that farmers graze their cattle on.  Our outfitter had a cordoned off area with a fence around it to keep the cows out. Most mornings in base camp we awoke to the sound of cows mooing. We found a spot to pitch our 6 tents and settled in. We got our tents up just in time, as shortly after we did, it started to rain heavily.

We had just sat down in the dining tent to rest when our local guide came over and told us there had been a problem with getting our gear across the river. Apparently the vehicle we had loaded our gear into had broken down before it even got to the river. With lots of groaning, we hoofed ourselves back a mile to the river and sure enough, the car and our gear were still sitting there.

Fortunately, a farmer who lived nearby, offered to take our gear across (for a small fee of course!). That sounded a lot better than us having to schlep it all the last mile. (We had a LOT of gear).

An hour later the farmer came thru and pulled up with our equipment.  The farmer then, with the help of our local guide and translator, offered to make us fresh lamb for dinner. It would cost us a little bit of money, but we all thought this would be a very cool experience, so we agreed to have dinner at his place later that evening.

Around 7 pm, we hiked back to the farmer’s house where we were treated to fresh lamb (he actually slaughtered it a an hour before we got there!) as well as homemade bread and yogurt and some real Russian vodka. The food was great and it was an incredible experience to be able to see how this person lived and very generous of him to have us over to his house for dinner.

With our bellies full and the sun setting, we headed back to camp to get some rest before the real work begins tomorrow.

First Carry - August 6, 2014

No matter how much training you do, nothing quite prepares you for the first day of a big climb when you put on your fully loaded backpack for the first time.

Base camp on the north side of Mt. Elbrus is at 8,500 feet. Our objective was to carry a portion of our gear to a cache at 11,500 feet, just below Camp 1.  After an early breakfast, we were on the trail by 9 am. This portion of the climb is non technical and is usually fairly easy, but it had been raining heavily the past few days and because of this, the trail was very slippery. The hike itself was beautiful and goes up through a couple of wide valleys.

About halfway up, there is a large flat area called "the airfield". It is called this because in WWII, the Germans used it as a place to land their airplanes. We enjoyed this spot because it was 15 minutes of flat walking in what was otherwise a day of going steadily up, up, and up. We took 3 breaks on the way and it took us about 4 hours to get to our cache spot. We spent 45 minutes burying our gear in the rocks and eating a light lunch.

After our gear was cached we began the descent back to base camp. The descent was tricky due to the slippery trail conditions. Two hours later we were almost back to base camp when it decided to rain SERIOUSLY. Up until this point, although it had rained all day, it was mostly a light rain. With about 2000 feet left before camp the skies opened up with a massive downpour and we all arrived back in camp thoroughly soaked.

In base camp, we had the luxury of a large tent that we used for cooking and eating. We all crowded in and hung up our soaking wet gear to dry. It continued to rain heavily the rest of the evening. We were all tired from our first day of carrying big packs. We had a nice Mexican dinner and then crashed in bed pretty early.

It was a tough day, but we accomplished our goal and were excited to be moving up to Camp 1 tomorrow.

Camp 1 - August 7, 2014

After an early breakfast, we broke down our campsite and prepared to say farewell to base camp for a while. The weather was much nicer and as we were taking down the tents, the sun began to poke through.

We were on the trail by 9 am. Our packs today were about the same weight as yesterday, but since we knew what to expect, the going was a little easier. Today with the sun out, we were able to see Mt. Elbrus for the first time. It is pretty intimidating to look at it from this low on the mountain as it looks REALLY big! It was great to finally see the mountain we had come to climb and it got all of us excited.

We got back to our cache in about 3 hours and took a short break before we began the final 1000 foot ascent to Camp 1. The last 1000 feet were really tough. There isn't much of a trail at this part, as it is the toe of the glacier, so it is just a really large, jumbled boulder field. With 50 pound packs on our back it required great concentration to make sure you placed your feet correctly with each step. The going was slow, but eventually we made it up to Camp 1 (12,500 feet).

There are several camping areas spread around at Camp 1 and after we found our outfitters section of the camp, we quickly realized that it was pretty full. You can only camp in certain spots that have been cleared for tents as you're still on the boulder field, so space is limited. It took some time, but eventually we were able to find enough space for all 6 tents. It took us most of the afternoon to get everything set up.

Then we set about collecting water. At camp 1, the only way to get water is to collect it off of the glacial runoff and filter it thru a water filter. This is tedious and time consuming work, but it has to be done so a few of us spent a good hour getting water for our group.

Around 7 pm we gathered by the guide’s tent to eat dinner and talk about the plans for tomorrow. The weather was nice and with the sun setting we had some beautiful views of Mt. Elbrus and the surrounding mountains

Tomorrow we go back to get our gear we cached down below.

Mostly a Rest Day - August 8, 2014

Today was ostensibly a rest day....We were able to sleep in a little bit (til like 8 am), had breakfast and then we had to go back down and retrieve our cache we had left a few days ago. This involved going back down (and up) the 1000 feet of jumbled boulders and rocks. It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining, we could see for miles, and the view was wonderful.

There seemed to be a pattern of nice weather in the morning, clouds and storms in the afternoon, and then clearing in the early evening. Today stayed true to this pattern. The weather was beautiful and we made good time getting back to the cache. It took us about half an hour to get back down to 11,500 feet. When we got there, we had a snack and proceeded to dig up our cache and load everything into our backpacks. After we had everything repacked, we began the journey back up to camp. With the heavy packs, it was no easier than the day before, the only good thing was that we knew the next time we went through the boulder field, it would be because we were coming down for good. It took us a little over an hour to get back to camp and once we unloaded all the gear, we settled in for an afternoon of relaxation and rest.

Later in the afternoon, we met on the toe of the glacier to do some self arrest and rope travel practice. Most of us on the trip had done several previous mountain climbs, but it is always good to review and practice self arrest techniques. The weather was nice and we spent an hour on the glacier practicing walking in crampons, walking as a rope team, and self arrest techniques. We practiced this today because above camp 1, it is all glacier travel.

After we were done training, we settled in for a nice dinner,watched the sun set, and then tucked in for the night.

A few notes about Camp 1.

• There are not really any flat spots other than a few places that have been cleared out for the tent platforms.

• The one outhouse is a LONG walk from our camp and is situated on the edge of a cliff. Unfortunately, many of the climbers do not use the outhouse and as a result, the camp is filled with toilet paper and other people's decaying crap and one must use extreme caution when walking around. It is pretty disgusting and helps you realize the importance of leave no trace climbing and cleaning up after yourself.

• At these altitudes, nothing decomposes quickly and even on the relatively lightly traveled north side of the mountain things were rather gross.

Carry to Lenz Rocks - August 9, 2014

Today was a big day. The plan was to acclimatize by carrying a cache of gear up to Lenz rocks at 15,000 feet. Most of the climbers who climb Elbrus from the north side do not make a camp at Lenz. Instead they go all the way from Camp 1 to the summit in one very long day. There are pro's and con's to doing it this way, but the net of it is it makes for a really, really long day. I saw several climbers coming back from doing this and they looked absolutely spent. One of them could barely stand up and was snow blind. It was a good reminder that getting to the summit is only half of the battle and you need to have enough energy to get back down.

We got up early and by 9 am we were on the glacier and ready to head up. The day started off very beautifully and it was sunny and warm for the first hour of the climb. It is amazing how warm you can get on a glacier. When the sun comes out and the solar rays reflect off of the snow and ice it can create a lot of heat and you warm up very quickly.

Shortly after our first break though, the clouds moved in and the weather progressively got colder, windier and generally unpleasant.  We made it to the rocks about 1 pm and by the time we arrived it was a full on blizzard with whiteout conditions. We hastily cached our gear, grabbed a very brief snack and some water and made hast to get back down the mountain.

We were concerned about being on the mountain if lightning started. There isn't much you can do when on a mountain when this happens except hunker down and seek shelter if possible. Since there was no shelter to be found on the way down, we went very fast and did not take any rest stops. We arrived back at camp at around 2:30, thoroughly spent and with fortuitous timing -- about 5 minutes after we were back in our tents, it started to thunder and lightning quite heavily. We sat reading in our tents as we rode out the storm. The storm lasted for several hours, but thankfully let up in time for us to get together for a team dinner.

It had snowed a bit during the storm and it was very beautiful in camp with the sun setting and the snow on the ground.

We were all tired, so we had an early dinner and then settled in for some well deserved rest. 

Unplanned Rest Day - August 10, 2014

We got up early in anticipation of moving up to Camp 2. The weather was clear and we anticipated that it would stay clear until the afternoon when the clouds would fill in. That is what the previous several days had been. Our thought process was to get up early and have camp set up before the clouds and storms moved in.

We had a quick breakfast and set about breaking down camp. By 8 am we were on the glacier and getting ready to start moving up. As we were roping up, unexpectedly, the clouds started getting thicker and thicker. This was concerning and we spent 15 minutes debating what to do before ultimately deciding that if we had that many doubts we should trust our gut and not move up.

We then preceded to walk back and re-setup camp. It was a good thing we made this choice because about 5 minutes after we got camp set back up, the thunder and lightning moved in and it started raining very heavily. Fortunately we were able to stay nice and dry in our tent.

One problem Trevor (my tent mate) and I had the last couple of nights was that our heads were slightly lower than our feet and this made sleeping difficult. Since we now had the opportunity to re-do our campsite, we rotated the tent around so that our heads would be higher. This made for much better sleeping!

It rained heavily all day until just before dinner time when the skies finally cleared. I personally was happy for the rest day. After 4 days in a row of heavy packs and long climbing days, I enjoyed lounging around and reading all day. The relaxing day helped my body recover.

Around 7, we met up for dinner. It had turned into a beautiful night, so we enjoyed dinner with a view and turned in with the hopes of moving up to camp 2 tomorrow.

We had 3 weather days built into the itinerary, so we still had a couple of days if we needed them.

Lenz Rocks Camp - August 11, 2014

We woke up early with high hopes of moving up to Lenz Rocks today, but in a somewhat unusual twist, the weather was cloudy in the morning. Because of the this, we lingered around and had a slow breakfast. Around 9 am the clouds started clearing and we made the decision to break camp and make a move. It took us about an hour to break down camp and by 10 am we were roped up, on the glacier, and ready to go.

By the time we started climbing, the sun had come out and within about 5 minutes of walking it was HOT. We all stripped down to the bare minimum necessary for glacier travel and were still sweating profusely.

It took us about 3 hours to get to camp and I (and many others in the group) was thoroughly wiped. The sun and the heat combined with the altitude had kicked my butt.

Unfortunately, since we were moving to camp this time, getting to camp is only half the battle. We had to clear platforms for the tents. This is a very labor intensive, time consuming job involving finding some semi level ground and then using snow shovels, ice axes, and our boots to make a smooth and level surface big enough for the tents. At 15,000 feet, even a small amount of exertion makes you tired. It took us about an hour to get all of the platforms set up.

Then, once the platforms were ready, we had to actually set up the tents. This is pretty easy when you are in warm weather with no wind. At Lenz Rocks however, it was very windy and getting colder as the sun was going behind the mountain. We all pitched in and got everyone's tent set up. Then we had to go get snow to melt for water. On a glacier the only way to get water is to melt snow and in order to make enough water for all of us to drink today, have enough for dinner tonight, have enough for breakfast tomorrow, and have enough for summit day, we had to melt a LOT of snow. I helped our guides fill up several large garbage bags full of snow and then finally retired to the tent to collapse...I was completely spent.

I had about an hour to rest before we came out for an early dinner. With the sun having gone below the horizon, it got very cold, very quickly. It's funny...three hours earlier we were all baking in the sun and now we were all bundled up in our large down parkas trying to eat dinner while not freezing. It was really cold and quite unpleasant to be out.

After dinner we headed back to the tents. The plan was to get up early tomorrow and head for the summit if the weather cooperates.

The tent was a bit more cozy now. In order to save some weight, we left one tent back at Camp 1 and consolidated into three people per tent. Trevor and I now had Jessica as a third tent mate. It made for a comfy living space, but it also made it a bit warmer and given how cold it was out, this was a good thing.

We were all cold and tired and restless thinking about the summit tomorrow, so by 8 pm we all turned in to try and sleep.

Hopefully the weather is good tomorrow and we can head for the summit!

Summit Day - August 12, 2014

I didn't get much sleep. I was filled with anticipation and self doubts (could I do this, etc…) and my nose was completely stuffed up and I had the hardest time breathing. I tossed and turned and generally had a very unpleasant night. Fortunately, before too long, the sun was rising and the call came that we were heading for the summit. It was cold at 15,000 feet and the wind was blowing strongly, but the sun was out and it was a decent day for climbing.

We dressed quickly and ate a light breakfast. By 8:15 am we were roped up and ready to begin our ascent. We had 9 members on our team and all but one of us headed for the summit. One person felt that he was too exhausted from the previous day's climb to attempt the summit. We all tried to encourage him to give it a try, but he felt it wasn't his day. It is never easy to stay back like that. I've done it myself a couple of times and it is a tough decision to make. At the end of the day though, you have to listen to your body and trust your instincts. I give him a lot of credit for making the decision that was right for him.

The rest of us started climbing at 8:45 am. One nice thing about attempting the summit from Lenz Rocks is that you don't have to do the traditional alpine start (midnight or so).  It was cold and rather windy, but we made good time. The trail for the first couple of sections is pretty consistent and not too steep. There were a few crevasses around, but they were very obvious and easy to avoid.

At our second rest break, my hands had started to get very cold, so I threw a couple of hand warmers into my gloves. It took about 20 minutes for them to get going, but once they did, my hands felt much better. The going was slow, but we kept a good steady pace and after about 3 hours, we reached the saddle.

The saddle is the point on the mountain between the east and west summits of Elbrus. It is here that the less traveled north side route meets up with the much busier south side route. The south side route is more developed and popular. It is also easier than the north side route. On the south side, you take a cable car to about 12,000 feet and then you take a snow cat up to close to 15,000 feet and only need to climb the last 3000 feet or so.

This is also the spot where the climbing gets steeper. From the saddle to the summit is about 1000 feet and the incline goes from about 30 degrees to closer to 50/60 degrees. Sitting at the saddle, already exhausted, and looking up at the climbers struggling up the steep hill did not inspire confidence.

The weather was holding out nicely, so after a short break, we began to ascend the ridge. It was steep, but by taking it one step at a time, it was tolerable. There were some “interesting” things going on here....as we were ascending, there were some inexperienced people, without crampons, coming down and instead of traversing the mountain safely, they were trying to go straight down and they kept slipping.  Aside from their own personal safety, the problem for us was that they were directly above us and if they fell, they would likely take us out as well. We kept a close eye on them and did our best to stay out from underneath them. Fortunately, they were able to successful get down and we were able to move on up above them.

After we negotiated the steep ridge, it was another 15 minutes of walking slightly uphill to get to the final summit ridge. The last ridge is only about 20 feet high, but it is very steep. The nice thing is that you can see the flags on top, so you know it's the last bit before the summit.

At about 2 pm, local time, we were at the highest point in all of Europe -- the summit of Mt. Elbrus! I was incredibly elated. This was the first of the 7 summits for me and I was thrilled to have made it. It was very windy on the summit, so we we didn’t dawdle. I took a few quick celebratory pictures and started to head back down.

Getting to the summit is only half the battle. We still had to get safely back down. We were all tired, so we went slowly down the very steep section. It was hard work, but about a half hour later we were done with the steep part and back to the more mellow terrain. In total it took us a little over 2 hours to get back to camp 2. We were all exhausted when we got back to camp, but we had a decision to make -- stay and spend another night at camp 2 or pack up camp and move back the the comforts of camp 1 (a far more comfortable camp at a lower altitude). We had a lot of differing opinions on this. Several of us (myself included) wanted to pack up and get down to the lower altitude. Several others were very tired and wanted to stay at camp 2. I had had such an unpleasant night the previous evening, there was no way I wanted to spend another night at this camp! After a brief group discussion, we collectively agreed to go back to camp 1.

It took us about an hour to pack up our gear and then we were on the way down again. By this point we had been on our feet for over 10 hours and our packs were now very heavy (since we added tents and sleeping bags, etc..) and we were all very tired. We stumbled and staggered our way down and about an hour and a half later we rolled back into camp 1. It was 7 pm when we got back.

We had planned to pitch the tents at camp 1 again, but all of the camp sites were in use, so our local Russian outfitter let us sleep in a sleeping shed they have. By mountain standards, this was living in luxury. Four walls and wooden bunks with mattresses! We unpacked our gear, had a quick dinner and since we were all incredibly tired, passed out in the bunks by about 9 pm.

It was a long and tough day, but we made it to the summit and everyone got back down safely. All in all it was a fantastic day!

Heading Down - August 13, 2014

Sleep felt so nice last night after our very long and successful summit day. We awoke around 7 am to an absolutely beautiful morning. It was sunny with no wind and blue sky. You could see for miles and the view of the Caucus mountains was stunning.

We had a leisurely breakfast and then packed up to head down the mountain for the last time. By 9 am we were ready to descend. It was exciting to be getting off the mountain, but our packs were HEAVY! Every inch of my pack had things crammed into it and I had stuff dangling all over the place on the outside of my pack. Once I got the pack on it didn't feel so bad, but getting it on was quite the chore.

The first 1000 feet of the descent was back through the boulder field and with our very heavy packs, we had to go real slow. It is hard enough to keep your footing under normal circumstances and now we had this huge weight on our back, so we moved slowly. It took us about 45 minutes to get through the rocks and once we did, the going got much easier.

We plugged along for another 1000 feet down until we found a very nice spot by a stream to take our first break of the day. The weather was beautiful and we took a long break as we all enjoyed the views of the mountains around us and the warm weather. I was feeling pretty good until I had to put the pack back on again. That thing was sooooo heavy!

We continued down for another hour or so before we took our final break of the day about 1000 feet above camp. I was feeling pretty good except for the big toe on my right foot which was getting beat up pretty badly. I took some time at the break to tape it up and that did a decent job of slowing the damage. The last section back to camp was a bit tricky as we had to navigate around some large boulders and narrow ledges. I was about 500 feet above camp (I could see it below me) and I lost my footing going around a large rock and almost tumbled down the mountain. Fortunately I was able to catch myself before I fell too far and was able to recover, no worse for the wear. The last thing I wanted to do was injure myself just above camp.  It was a good reminder that the climb is never over until you are safely all the way down the mountain.

We were back in base camp a little after noon. We thought we would have to wait around for our drivers, but they were there waiting for us and were in a hurry to get back across the river before it became impassable. We hurriedly gathered up the gear we had left at base camp several days ago, repacked it, and loaded up the vans. We had the same two vans that we had on the way in to camp.

Getting across the river in these vans was "interesting". As we got close to the river, our driver let out a loud whoop and gunned the car across the water. Looking out the window, I could see that the water was almost up to the windows. I was somewhat amazed that we actually made it across.

Having made it across the river, we began the ascent up the steep two lane road out of camp. To make things more entertaining, the weather gods decided to have it start hailing heavily shortly after we started up the mountain. I've never seen so much hail in my life. We were pelted for about 30 minutes. I was quite impressed with our driver. He kept going through it all and eventually we made it to the paved road and headed back to Kislovosk.

We got back to the hotel around 4 pm and the first thing we all wanted to do was take a shower. When you haven't had a shower for 8 days, you would be amazed at how good it feels! I spent almost 30 minutes in the shower enjoying feeling clean again.

Later that evening, we all headed to the hotel restaurant for a celebration dinner. After dinner most of us were pretty tired, so we went to bed early. Tomorrow is a free day to explore Kislovosk. We have the extra day because we did not use one of our built in weather days on the climb. I am excited to have the opportunity to explore town a little bit.

Kislovosk - August 15, 2014

We slept in a little later today and at about 10 am Trevor (my roommate the whole trip), Jessica (our tent mate at high camp) and I decided to go explore the area around the hotel. We spent a couple of hours wandering around some of the small shops by our hotel. After a couple of hours of aimless wandering, we decided we were hungry and all three of us were craving some pizza, so we found an Italian place right across the street from our hotel and sat on the outdoor patio and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We had excellent pizza and enjoyed the nice weather and post climb vibe.

A few of our teammates wandered by and joined us. After lunch we want back to the hotel to rest briefly before our whole group met up to walk down to the main part of Kislovosk. It was about a 15 minute walk and we arrived in a large outdoor shopping plaza. Kislovosk is a huge tourist area, but it is a place where Russian tourists come, not western tourists, so we were a bit of an oddity. We spent some time walking through the shopping area and then we meandered through a huge public park that was very beautiful. There was a stream running through the middle of a forested woodland with some grass and lots of large old trees. Apparently walking thru the park is a popular thing to do because there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people in the park. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying themselves and it was nice to see people so happy.

Around 6 pm, we went over to a restaurant that had been recommended to us by a local guide. We got there and they set up a nice table out on the patio for all 10 of us. We then had what was by far the best meal of the trip. I'm not sure what it was called but they brought out several huge plates of meats and potatoes and vegetables and it was all incredibly delicious. We ate until we were all about to burst.  We were at dinner for several hours before we finally walked back up to the hotel.

It was a very relaxing and enjoyable day. Tomorrow we fly to Saint Petersburg!

Getting to Saint Petersburg - August 16, 2014

Well...we made it to Saint Petersburg, but this being Russia, it wasn't without a bit of turmoil. Things started out well enough - We met in the lobby at 7 am, had a quick breakfast and then moved all our gear outside and waited for our ride to the airport. After a while, our fancy large van (the same one that picked us up when we got here) showed up. We loaded it up and by 9 am we were on our way back to the airport.

It was a beautiful morning and we were treated to some spectacular views of Elbrus along the way. From the distance, it sure does look like a big mountain! We all patted ourselves on the back for having been on the summit only a few days ago!

We got to the airport 3 hours before our flight (should be plenty right???).  The Mineralyne Vody airport is interesting - when we landed and came in the arrival part of the airport, it is still the original arrival hall and is a decrepit, worn down, ramshackle room. The departure terminal, in contrast, had been recently rebuilt and is this large beautiful terminal with several nice shops in it.

We got in line to check in....I was first in line....I had a paper ticket in my hand...what could go wrong???

I handed my ticket to the check in clerk and she typed away on the computer for several minutes. It seemed to be taking longer than it should and eventually a managerial looking individual came over and they spent several minutes speaking in Russian and looking over my ticket. I couldn't tell what they were saying, but I could tell by how long it was taking and their mannerisms that something was amiss. I was beginning to get a bit wary...

Eventually the manager told me I needed to come with him (uh oh) to another counter. I went over there with him and Jeff, our head guide. After a while, we determined that i (and as it turns out 4 of the other 11 people flying in our group) did not seem to have a reservation in the system even though I had a ticket in my hand. I was starting to get concerned that we were going to miss our flight. It took a lot longer than I liked, but eventually I (and the others) were issued tickets and we got on the flight just in time.

The flight itself was an uneventful 3 hours and we arrived in Saint Petersburg around 4 pm.

It took about an hour to get all of our luggage gathered up and find our driver and local guide. The guide came along to give us a brief overview of the plan for tomorrow. She was a very friendly young woman who was born and raised in Saint Petersburg.

We got to the hotel, checked in, then walked down the road to another really nice restaurant that had more great food. On the way back to the hotel a few of us stopped in an Irish Pub that was right next to the hotel and enjoyed a few spirits before calling it a night.

Saint Petersburg - August 17, 2014

Our last day began with a light breakfast as a team in the hotel before our guide came to pick us up. Today we would be touring this beautiful city. Saint Petersburg doesn’t look like any of the other cities in Russia. Moscow and Kislovosk both had more traditional Russian architecture but Saint Petersburg definitely had a more European look and feel. I hadn’t done a lot of research on the city prior to the trip and I was surprised to learn that the city has multiple canals running through it and feels a bit like Venice. It was a very scenic and pretty city to explore.

Our first stop of the day was at The Hermitage, a famous art museum that used to be the Winter Palace in the days of the Russian Czars. The building is gorgeous and huge. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to live there! We spent several hours exploring the various art exhibits. Throughout the morning, our guide explained to us what life was like for the Czars (good until the revolution!).

After the Hermitage, we walked over for a tour of the Savior on the Spilled Blood church. This is an amazingly beautiful church that embodies everything you likely think of when you think of a Russian Orthodox church. It is huge with multiple cupolas. Inside the church was like being in another museum. The church is filled with paintings and ancient artifacts. It was a very impressive place and we spent a few hours here.

When we were finished the church tour, we spent a couple of hours just walking around and exploring this very beautiful city. There were a lot of tourists and that made things much easier since almost all of the shops and restaurants had menus in English.

Late in the afternoon we boarded a tour boat for a cruise around the city via the canals. It was a beautiful day and as our tour was at sunset, we were able to take some amazing photographs. We explored a good portion of the city and learned a good amount of Russian history.

After the tour we had our last team dinner and a few celebratory drinks at an Irish pub near our hotel.

Tomorrow we all head back home. This was an amazing trip with an amazing team of people. I successfully climbed the highest mountain in Europe and was able to see a bit of Russia. I hope to come back some day and explore more of this fascinating country.

Map of Russia - Elbrus is the located at the red pin

Elbrus North Side Route Map