Trip Reports

Elbrus - 4 to 16 Aug '18

Summit of Elbrus 15 August 2018
Trip Report

Written by Leader Mara Larson, August 2018

Our 4 August Elbrus team came together in Mineral Vodye, a tranquil spa town north of the Caucaus range and got to packing and reorganizing for an early morning drive through the foothills and into the start of our adventure.

The drive took us through sweeping landscapes – fine roads, green rolling hills, and our first sights of the twin-peak summits of Elbrus looking calm, peaceful, and very, very distant.

Our next few days of acclimatization had us hiking alongside glacial streams and waterfalls, wildflowers and deep gorges, and towers of magnificent lava formations- though we were pummeled too hard by hail stones to stick around for long on the latter.

And while settling in, and letting our body’s adapt to the altitude, we also got into the local food – rounds of rounds of soups and stews, mountain curries, lentils, and plenty of cabbage. And specialty Russian chocolate and condensed milk kept us fortified once we hit our high camp. At just under 3800m, North Hut, our high camp became our base from where we experienced all-seasons. Our acclimatization day up to 4010 meters (summit of Mont Blanc) was in outstanding conditions – clear, warm, and sunny. Nice enough that we even stuck around exploring remnants of a downed helicopter and tucking in for hot tea and a view of other teams moving up and down this remote side of the mountain.

From there the “changeable” Elbrus weather arrived. Rainy nights had us strategic about dinner table seatings - avoiding the corner drips in our tin shack. Our rest day the skies opened up with snow and thunderstorms, clearing for just a sliver of alpenglow late in the evening. And our first summit day brought wind speeds and precipitation simply too high to leave the huts. So we waited it out and tried for the slightly better weather day to follow. It was an impressive effort from 4000m, where we not only roped up but added our goggles and summit mitts pushing through harsh winds and unrelenting spindrift. The forecasts suggested the chance of some relief by daybreak, with wind speeds predicted to drop ever so slightly. It wasn’t to be. The morning rolled in even more severe, so after a steady 6 hours the team, bar Tony and Kirill, called it and returned to high camp to rewarm and recover.

Rounds of fluids and a hearty lunch rebuilt energy stores and then it was time to show the team one last forecast – 36 hours out looked like a small but beautiful summit window. The only flaw? We were out of days, and bed spaces, at our high camp…we’d have to make a massive run for it by the other side of the mountain!

The choice was really up to the team, and it didn’t take them long. They were packed up and moving down the trail back to our base (and the 4x4’s readying to get us out) before the boots were even dry from this morning’s attempt!

So while Alexey and the team moved down, I stayed behind to welcome Kirill and Tony back from their day up the east summit. 17 hours up and down, and just 68 feet shy of the true summit was no small effort in these conditions.

From here, it was a day of river crossings and road adventures probably not appropriate for a commercial expedition. We’ll spare the details and focus on what followed: after 7 ½ hours of mad 4x4s, vans, and trucks with only minutes spared grabbing cokes, fantas, some spare cash, and a toilet dash we were no sooner on the ground than another mad dash hucking all our bags, duffels, ropes, gear on a series of ski lifts while the clock wound down and the lifties fought back against our late-day arrival. Alexey worked some magic and saved the day when me missed the very last lift by mere minutes, finding us a ride for a handful of roubles in the back of a ‘sporty’ service truck. Back door not included. We swept aside the dirt and hay and held on for one last round of 4-wheel drive madness before jumping off in front of our new home for the next 8 hours – the famed barrels of Elbrus south side.

It was a good thing this crew was up for an adventure, because there was hardly a minute to waste. We dashed to the café and bought out the stack of snickers bars for summit night calories. Made it back to the barrels in time for a warm and hardy dinner, and then straight to ‘‘sleep’’ for 4 hours before our second summit push.

This time the forecast stayed true. From 5000m we climbed through to dawn at the saddle, and then with the warmth of the morning on our side, we made it finally up the steeper summit slopes to the true summit of Elbrus’s western peak.

A hardy congratulations to all the team members, whose efforts and adaptability made this wild adventure possible. A special shout out to Mark, hit hard by illness just at the wrong moment and with far too many kilos lost to join in our ruckus trip around. Here’s to your strong return next season. And to our local staff of Alexey and Kirill, thanks for joining us on the wild, memorable ride!

Mara Larson

« | Next report »

Jagged Globe Newsletter

We publish an email newsletter with trip reports and latest availability, plus features, competitions and general news of our climbing, trekking & skiing activities.

Categories
Archives
 
Follow Us:
1