On the 13th of July 2012, only one week after I came home from Mont Blanc, I headed out to a new trip to Mount Elbrus – with 5642 meters the highest mountain in Europe and thus one of the Seven Summits.
Seven Summit score before Elbrus: Tommy 5 – Stephan 1.
Elbrus is located in the North Caucasus region, so it was quite a long journey there. At Oslo airport I met Tommy – the other Norwegian who had booked this trip through Eco Expeditions as I had. Tommy was an experienced mountaineer who had previously climbed five of the Seven Summits (Aconcagua, Denali, Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro and Mount Vinson). For me this was going to be the second Seven Summit after Kilimanjaro (and for Mr. Nansen who was joining me as well, the first one).
We first had a flight to Moscow via Tallinn and stayed there for one night. The next day we met our guide Sasha at the airport and took a plane to Mineralnye Vody in the North Caucasus region, close to the border to Georgia. Here we met the rest of our group which was completely Irish: Derry, John and Róisín who had all booked this trip through Adventure Alternative. After a rather wild car ride from the airport we arrived at our hotel Nakra in Terskol in the federal Russian republic Kabardino-Balkaria. For a couple of days this was our base from which we went on acclimatisation tours.
Acclimatisation tour – from the left: Sasha, John, Róisín, Derry (hidden) and Tommy
The first one took us from our hotel at 2000 meters up the Cheget mountain just to the top of the ski lift at 3000 meters. Here we took a little break and I ordered a beer and mixed it with sprite. This was very unusual for Sasha who explained to me: “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.”
Lunch break with Elbrus in the background
This tour was a half-day’s trip only so we could enjoy a nice lunch and a sauna visit later on. The next day, which was as sunny and warm as the day before, we walked up Mt. Terskol to an observatory at 3050 meters. From there we had a fantastic view on Mt. Elbrus with its two peaks.
After three nights in Terskol, we left this town and started our ascent on Elbrus. As a first step we moved up to the mid station of the ski lift at 2950 meters where we stayed for one night in a “hotel”.
Home sweet home
After that we continued to our next camp which was in a metal container at 3850 meters, right above the “barrels”, where we stayed for two nights. On our first day here we took a small acclimatisation tour to Priyut at 4160 meters. On the second day everybody else went on an acclimatisation tour to Pastukhov Rocks (4800 m). I had to literally sit this one out after I had become a victim of the poor hygienic conditions in the outhouses and was struggling with diarrhea. I went on a little acclimatisation walk on my own that afternoon, but only managed a few hundred meters because I was completely dehydrated and exhausted.
Róisín, Derry and John outside our last domicile at Priyut
The next day we moved up to our last camp at Priyut (4160 m). Here we just had to prepare our equipment and relax before we were going to try the summit that night.We got up at 1.30 AM and had a little snack for breakfast before we started our summit attempt at 3 AM. The weather was perfect: a starlit sky, temperatures just below zero and practically no wind.
Tommy during a break right before sunrise
We first took a snow machine to the bottom of Pasthukov Rocks at 4550 meters where we started our ascent on a rather steep slope. The snow was very firm though and easy to walk on. The first few hours were dark and chilly, but right before we reached the saddle between the West and East peak at 5300 meters we came into the sun, and we soon had to take off several layers of clothes. The ascent from the saddle to the West plateau at 5600 meters was the toughest part.
Ascent from the saddle to the West plateau
From there it was only an easy, almost flat walk, and at 10.45 AM we were standing at the top of Elbrus at 5642 meters and could take pictures and enjoy the view for quite a while since it was warm and no wind at all.
Summit success – from the left: Tommy, Sasha, Derry, John, Mr. Nansen, Róisín and myself (click for larger image)
The descent back to our camp at 4100 meters was quite a challenge because it was hot, very intensive sunlight, and we were running out of water. At 2 PM we were very happy to be back in our camp and able to enjoy some cold water and juice.
New Seven Summits score: Mr. Nansen 1 – Stephan 2 – Tommy 6.
After one more night up on the mountain, we returned to our hotel in Terskol. We celebrated our summit success with a great lunch and a bottle of sparkling wine, and enjoyed the privileges of civilisation such as a decent toilet and a warm shower.
Beautiful landscape around Terskol
The next day we went for another easy hike in the beautiful Terskol valley. Then we flew back to Moscow where we enjoyed a great rodízio (Brazilian barbecue) dinner with red wine and delicious caipirinhas. Finally we had a few hours the next morning for sightseeing around the Kremlin before I returned home to Oslo after two great weeks in the Caucasus.
On the Red Square in Moscow