Mount Elbrus summit day

we were up early for breakfast at 1am and departure at 2am. We had booked a lift on a snow cat to take us up to the top of the Pashtukhova Rocks where we had reached the day before. It was dark and with some low cloud so there are no pictures of the start of the day. 

Its was a long and lung bursting slog up the mountain but in the dark it was easy to keep on pushing up the slope without the disheartening view of a distant peak that never got any nearer.

We would be going back the same way so photos were banned on the way up until we were so near the top that it didn't matter. Here are the first photos of the top of Mt Elbrus. The plaque in the centre of the photo and the actual peak to the right.

 A close up of the plaque.

 A view to the west.

 A view to the east and the track up to the peak.

 A view to the south and Georgia beyond the last snow covered peak.

 A selfie.

 Me on top of the tallest mountain in Europe with the rest of the continent behind me.

 The members of the team who reached the top. L to R, Sandeep, Jordan, Michael and myself.

 A detail f the snow layers at the top of the mountain.

 The last walk across the top to the summit in the distance.

 A view of the long last walk to the top.

 Walking down the traverse.

 A break on the way down towards the saddle between the twin peaks.

 A look back towards one of the twin peaks.

 There were spectacular views over the lower peaks nearby.

 We had trudged down the slopes  to retrace our steps a few hours earlier and found this snowcat that had been abandoned at the start f the season. I had been digging a turning around point on the mountain but had suffered a mechanical fault and had been abandoned. The snow was deep enough and so the snow cats now tuned around further down the slope.

 more photos of the snow cat..

After this it was a short walk past the Prijut Hut and back to the Barrels and to find out how we were be getting down the mountain and ultimately to the airport.