Russia- Mt Elbrus

Russia-Mt Elbrus

07/09-12/03
This is what we came to Russia for! Given the rainy weather in the valley I wasn't quite sure what we would come across on the mountain. Leaving the Dacha it started raining, the closer towards the base we got, the harder it was raining. Oh great. We rode the two gondolas a few thousand feet up to where the rain changed to snow. Next was a ride on the single chairlifts. Our packs rode separately than us cause the weight of a person and a pack would probably make the chair break and fall, which apparently isn't too uncommon. It was freakin' cold and windy and visibility was pretty low. Up at the Barrel Huts around 12,500ft I was questioning my decision to camp instead of staying in a nice warm and dry Barrel. Oh well, I kept thinking that "Thou that shall not kill me will only make me stronger." The existing tent sites were up the hill from the Barrels on a rocky ridge. It took me almost an hour to set my tent up solo given the high winds, white out conditions and freezing cold. I had to strategically place rocks on different parts of my tent to keep it from blowing away while I tried to tie it down and get the poles in. The ground was about 1/2 inch thick so stakes weren't going in, so they were buried in between rocks and tied to them. It dropped about 3 inches of snow just while I was setting it up. All I could think about was those stories of being holed up in a tent for 3 days straight. Sure didn't sleep much the entire time, probably due to the constant sound of a freight train from the wind!
Luckily the weather cleared some a few hours later and the winds were helping to dry things out. Once the mountain was visible it really raised moral. What dropped moral was the Polish climber who stumbled in with bad frostbite and reports that he lost his teammate. They searched for two days by helicopter and never found him.
The second day on the mountain brought us beautiful clear skies and great views of the twin summits and the surrounding Caucasus mountain range. There were constant snow plumes blowing off the summit from the high winds. We all took a hike up to the Pruit Hut remains and above towards Postukov Rocks which would be our starting ground for summit day. Some clouds and wind, but a much nicer day then the previous one. Rumor had it that a cyclone was forming over the Black Sea and the good weather window would be closing in the next couple days. Good timing for us? Hopefully! The rest of the day was spent lounging around, eating and drinking lots, and eventually preparing for a summit bid that night as long as the weather was good.
There's just something damn cool about waking up in the middle of the night and freezing your ass off to climb a mountain! Call it sick, but it's very cool. With 3 layers of poly-pro/fleece/gor-tex on top and bottom I was ready for our 3am snow cat ride which proved to be the most painful part of the trip! Four bodies sliding down towards you and jamming you into a metal bar isn't fun. I even dropped my crampons but Greg made a kick-save before they popped out the back, whew. The stars were out and it was pretty windy, but on with the crampons and time to gain some altitude. Vladamir was our guide and set a great pace, perfect to stay warm yet not be out of breath. Once the sun started coming up the views were spectacular! The peaks behind us were getting lit up, the shadow of the Earth was stretching along the horizon, and the shadow of the peak stretched across the land. Absolutely spectacular. Not long afterwards we were on the traverse towards the saddle and Vladamir was having some obvious problems. No one saw him eating or drinking so at a break in the saddle we loaded him up with diamox, gu, and powerbars. He pointed out the route and as a group we hammered on. At this point we were in the sun and it felt great. We were about 2 hours from the summit and traversing the steepest part up the side of the west summit. Singing "Greta" by WSP to myself helped me to pass the time and forget that my lungs were about to burst and that my heart was beating behind my eyes. It was awesome how we all worked together as a group, going a good pace for everyone, and helping each other out when needed. That's what gets people to the top. We got to a somewhat flat spot and rumor had it we were 1/2 hour from the summit!!!! Shortly after we could see the high point in the distance and we were almost there. Aaahhhh, the highest point in Europe!!!! What a great feeling, and as usual the tears streamed sweat and sunscreen in my eyes so I could barely see. After tons of pictures, hugs, and congratulations most folks headed down from the small summit. The winds were about 40-50mph and the temp was 17 degrees Fahrenheit below freezing, enough to knock a skinny-ass like me off my feet a couple times. Bob and I were loving it so much we decided to stay up there for a while. Within the next hour we were both able to celebrate the summit with Rhonda and Bill again. Man, it was great!
Heading back towards the saddle we met up with the rest of the group as the last two were on their way to the summit. Once within view of the Pruit Hut we were one our own if we chose and it was a nice slow hike down the glacier with fantastic views of the Caucasus range all around. Eventually getting back to the Barrel Huts we all sat around talking about the awesome day and eating all the junk food we could get on our hands. The big topics were pizza and Kentucky Fried Chicken. MMmmmm. We were even close to riding the lift and gondola down just to have some celebratory beers! 14 of the 18 of us made it.
Since we summitted on our first of three possible days we were heading back to the Dacha the next day. The weather was beautiful once again and all we had to do was pack and get down the mountain. What a fantastic time....