The Barrels, Mount Elbrus

We were driven by Aslan from the hotel to the cable car where we unloaded our big bags, our day packs, enough water for the next four days, various carrier bags full of bits and bobs, boxes of vegetables, bread, biscuits...in short.  everything that we might need to be self sufficient. I couldn't resist a photo of the cable car station guard dog.

A view up the mountain from the cable car station.

The cable car coming into the station.

A view of the station as we left.

And a view down from near the mid way station down the valley back to the village and the cable car station with one of the pistes seen in the foreground.

The adjacent modern bubble which runs parallel to the cable car.

We had got to the top of the cable cars but we had one more ski lift to take...but it wasn't working. Also it was a single seat lift and the only other single seat ski lift I have ever seen in decades was at Sestriere. We left our local guide Sasha to find a lift an took some time out to look around such as this view across one of the glaciers that flow off from the top of Mount Elbrus.

A view of the bubble.

A view across the valley.

Inside the main cable car station was a small museum dedicated to the Great Patriotic War which is what the Russians call the Second World War, which just like the Americans, they were late supporting Great Britain who had been fighting Germany and Italy for nearly two years before they both joined in. The area was occupied by Nazi forces as they advanced through the area towards the strategic oilfields to the southeast.

The roof leaked and hence the need for the blue buckets...the damp was affecting the environment and the exhibits which is a great shame since someone had made the effort to collect and exhibit the items.

Sasha had found a lift in the form of an ```ex Soviet army 4x4 truck that would take us up a steep rough track to our accommodation.

A rather poor picture of me in the middle with Mike on the right and the leader of another group with whom we shared the truck to keep the cost down.

A look over the top of the truck roof as it bumped up the track. The short journey is worst in summer as the winter snows fill in the holes and the track is a lot smoother in winter.

A view from the truck of one of the glaciers that cascades down the mountain.

A view back down the track on a smoother section where the photo wasn't blurred by the bumps. The two faces that you can see are Graham and Jordan...and despite being August in the northern hemisphere and on a similar latitude as the south of France, it was cold.

we approached our accommodation which was perched on the top of a ridge between two fingers of the main glacier.

This is a picture of the 4x4 truck that we had come up in as it moved off after dropping us off. There was once a flat hard concrete standing in front of our accommodation but the ground had moved with constant freezing and thawing and now the concrete had broken up and was a challenge to drive or indeed walk across.

Our accommodation was in former grain silos or water tanks that had been converted into sleeping quarters.

A view of one of the fingers of the glacier that sweep down the hill to one side of our accommodation.

 On the other side of the ridge was a snow cat car park.

 A view of the barrels which comprised our sleeping quarters of the next few days.

 The other four members of the team that would be attempting to reach the summit of Moubt Elbrus. L to R, Sandeep, Mike, Graham and Jordan... and I am behind the camera.

 And then the same pose with me on the far left.

We started up the mountain for an acclimatisation trek with full packs. The weather was not good as it was still windy and low cloud cover and it was snowing. And there was a dual carriage way make by skidoos. 

 A view of the rocks further up the slope.

 A group photo.

 The Prijut Hut which was the target destination of our acclimatisation trek that day. It used to be a hotel but it built down. There is now a wooden hut that serves as a cafe during the day and a newish steel frame has been erected as if there are plans to rebuilt the structure but there was no building work being undertaken this summer.

 The inevitable selfie with me wearing my grade four sunglasses to protect my eyes from the intent sunlight that can damage the retinas at high altitudes....although as it was so cloudy, the potential damage was reduced but it is always better to be safe than sorry.

And just above the Prijut Hut was a memorial to the several people who die on the mountain each year. There are plaques recording the names of individuals who have died on the mountain. Some of them are mountaineers who have experience, knowledge and the necessary equipment who have had an unfortunate accident. Unfortunately the majority of the victims are innocent day trippers who don't realise how dangerous a mountain can be and have got lost, fallen into crevasses, suffered from a change in the weather which is typical for mountain areas. It was still August in the northern hemisphere and it had snowed and left more than 15cms of snow overnight.