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.

Pastukovas Rocks on Mount Elbrus

This was another testing trek to get used to the altitude and the equipment. We set out from the Barrels after breakfast which was a huge calorie laden affair but we were doing a lot of exercise at altitude for hours on end plus using calories to try to stay warm. Whether it was working in the cold outdoors or just trying to relax in the barrel  with the radiator trying its best to boost the temperature, we were using up calories.

 We were setting out on a trek to pass the Prijut Hut that we had passed the previous day to climb up to the Pastukovas Rocks which start at an elevation of 4,700m so it was going to be a long day with climbing to a vertical height of over a thousand metres in a day.

It was a cloudy day and visibility was so poor that there are no photographs of the first part of the day. However the cloud level rose and there were a few photos of the later part of the day.

And a photo of me with my pick at the top of the rocks.

A view down the valley from which we had trudged up.

And another view of the incredibly expansive sights on offer if the skies were clear.

And soon we were back at the Barrels and we had a clear view of the twin peaks of Mt Elbrus

The next day was a rest day but there was more snow overnight which provided another covering of bright white snow. It had fallen as rain further down the valley. It had collected in a lake at the front of a glacier and it had split out over the terminal moraine and had flooded the valley. Several houses were destroyed, there were several deaths and a road had been washed away.

 A picture if the Bergschrund crevasse on the glacier adjacent to the Barrels.

 And the twin peaks of Mt Elbrus from the same position.

 But it wasn't all rest. I went out with Mark and Sandeep and got some practice in, such as walking up as ice field with an ice age.

 And it looks like I am lying in the snow but actually I am sliding down and practicing arresting myself with the ice axe.

 The feet have to be upwards otherwise the crampons will catch in the ice. At speed this could mean a broken leg or finding that you have turned 180 degrees and are now travelling down hill head first. I was practising on snow but it was still worth the effort to practice rarely used skills.

 A view across the valley which is covered in cloud.

 Sunset in the mountains...

 ...and an early night as we were getting up early for the ascent on Mt Elbrus.

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.