We arrived yesterday after a rather wild car ride from the airport at our hotel in Terskol in the Russian republic republic Kabardino-Balkario. I’m sharing a room with Tommy from Norway – the most experienced guy in our group who has climbed Mt. Everest and five of the Seven Summits. The rest of the group is completely Irish: two guys, Derry and John, and a girl, Róisín. And our Russian guide Sasha of course who always has a good joke to tell.

Today we went for a small acclimatisation tour from our hotel at 2000 meters up the Cheget mountain just to the top of the ski lift at 3000 meters. This was a half day’s tour only so we could enjoy a nice lunch and go to the sauna later.

Learning of the day: the lady in the café was surprised that I blended beer with Sprite. Sasha explained me why: “Stephan, see: In Russia we don’t mix beer with lemonade. We mix beer with vodka. Actually, we say when you drink beer without vodka, it’s like throwing money to the wind.”

View from our hotel