Mt Elbrus (18,510)  by Brian Schultz   July 27- August 11, 2008

After our Aconcagua climb in 2007, Dave Chamberlin from that group and I kept in contact to talk about a possible climb of Elbrus. After finding out that Aventuras Patagonicas (A.P.), the guiding company we used for Aconcagua, was adding Elbrus to its itinerary in 2008, Dave stopped in at its Boulder, Colorado office periodically to check on what the trip entailed. Rodrigo Mujica, the owner of the company, would be leading the group and confirmed the inaugural trip would be a go even if Dave and I were the only ones signed up.

Impressed with how the company handled the Aconcagua climb, we committed to doing the climb and using A.P. again. Rodrigo had a contact in Russia, an Elbrus guide named Nicolai, who'd be helping with the climbing details and logistics of getting around in Russia, and if additional climbers signed on for the trip, additional Russian guides would be hired.

For the longest time, Dave and I were the only ones signed up, but three more climbers eventually joined the group. I didn't find out until we arrived in Moscow that Rodrigo intended to keep the group size small, primarily to make dealing with unexpected problems easier but also to keep potential personality clashes to a minimum. Rodrigo knew the other three who'd signed on; Dave Earle, and Kevin & Dina Kunkle are all close friends who've used his company separately and together on climbing trips to Argentina, Bolivia, and Switzerland.

Rodrigo kept us updated with details and changes from early 2008 all the way up to our departure date. Dave Chamberlin and I had no sooner booked flights using frequent flyer miles in February when he emailed me to say he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was determined to still climb Elbrus after the surgery, which was successful, and went through a regimen of training before leaving for Russia, including climbing some Colorado fourteeners. Dave climbed Aconcagua with an abscessed tooth so I knew he wouldn't give up very easily on this trip.

The most nerve-wrecking aspect of lining up the trip for me was the visa application. I wanted to have the visa ready and in hand in early 2008 but the Russian Embassy doesn't accept applications until three months prior to departure. The application is a two page form that basically asks for your life history- from school, employment, other world travel, parents names, affiliation with charitable organizations, arrests, and more. They want to know addresses, phone numbers, and dates for nearly all of that, as well as contact names and all places of visit in Russia. Along with the application, you have to submit a confirmation letter from your first hotel in Russia, a voucher from that same hotel, and a cover letter from yourself listing your itinerary in Russia and everybody's names in your group. Lots of hoops to jump through and I wondered if I'd even qualify for entry into Russia. I spent a fair amount of time making sure I had everything filled in correctly before sending it to Washington DC along with my passport and $131.00 payment. I received the visa just prior to heading to Colorado for a climbing trip in July.

I was home less than a week from Colorado before leaving for Russia. I flew out of Minneapolis at 3:15 PM on Sunday July 27 and arrived in Moscow on Monday exactly 24 hours later. The twenty four hour period included a three hour layover in Amsterdam and a 9 hour time change ahead to Moscow time. I was met at the airport by one of our Russian guides, Olga, for the ride to our hotel. Olga had summited Elbrus 27 times prior to our trip but her most recent outing was unsuccessful because the group (from Colorado) didn't want to spend extra time acclimatizing to the altitude. We, on the other hand, would be allowing plenty of time to reach the summit and I was all in favor of taking as many days as necessary. In addition to Olga as our main guide, we'd have Nicolai assisting for much of the climb, as well as an another guide for summit day, and a cook preparing meals once we started up Elbrus' slopes.

The ride to the hotel took an hour because traffic congestion in Moscow is horrible. The drivers are crazy. They pass on the shoulders of the freeway and even on the dirt next to the shoulders when traffic slows down. Check-in at the hotel was a slow process too as every bit of information they have about you is entered into the computer. Paperwork you receive back has to be kept with your passport because security in Russia tends to be tight and you have to produce it if asked for; we even had to show it to a security man every time we used our own hotel elevator. The hotel was built during the Olympics in the eighties and every floor of the two-sided hotel has security doors on each side. After getting off the elevator, my room card wouldn't allow me to access Rodrigo's side, even though it was on my same floor, and it wouldn't work on any other floor either.

Tuesday July 29:

Rodrigo hired a local guide for a morning tour of Moscow. She was an expert on Russian history and spoke good English but after parting company we went on our own to spend more time in and around Red Square. The weather was gloomy and hinted of rain all afternoon but we enjoyed walking around and sightseeing. Moscow is very expensive, about the only thing we found that wasn't overpriced was the subway. A ticket was less than a US dollar and we took advantage of easy access from our hotel to ride back to downtown again for dinner that evening.

Wednesday July 30:

Our journey to the Elbrus region began with another long traffic-congested drive to the Moscow airport. We checked in for our flight to Mineral Vody on S-7 Airlines and proceeded to another counter to pay our excess luggage fees. It couldn't be avoided with all the gear we had and for the personal items some of the others brought, like laptops, heavy cameras and tripods, etc. All bags, including carry-ons, are weighed and count toward the total weight allowed before the fees kick in.

The flight to Mineral Vody took just over two hours. A shuttle by van to the small village of Cheget took another two and half hours, including a brief stop at an armed checkpoint and another longer stop at a local market for food supplies. It rained pretty much the whole way up the Baksan Valley to our lodge in Cheget at 6,900 ft. The Povorot Lodge was nice, had large rooms and a modern bath, and breakfast and dinner were included. After eating dinner, I made my way over to a U.S. group guided by Mountain Madness from Seattle and found out that nobody in their group of 15 made the summit the day before. Their weather was horrible and only four of the climbers made it as far as 17,900 feet before gale force winds turned them back. They seemed to be a happy group considering none of them made the summit.

Thursday July 31:

Thunderstorms delayed until 11:40 AM what would've been an early morning acclimatization hike. Once we got going though, I enjoyed the easy hike on a road above the town of Terskol. We hiked to the Terskol Observatory (~10,000 feet) and though fogged in for much of the hike, it felt good to be moving and gaining elevation. Our gain on the day was 3,100 feet, roundtrip mileage was 11-12 miles. We arrived back at the lodge at 6:45.

Friday August 1:

The beginning of our journey up Elbrus' slopes was delayed again by early morning thunderstorms. When we finally reached the small village of Azau at the base of Elbrus, we rode the tram up to the ski hotel (9,700 ft) where we'd be staying. It was another nice lodge with spacious rooms. After lunch we got ready for another hike, and at 1:20 PM departed for a glacier a thousand feet higher. Olga and Nicolai sat back and watched while Rodrigo instructed us on the proper technique of glacier travel. Even though the route on Elbrus avoids glaciers and crevasses, it was a great learning experience and lots of fun. We arrived back to the hotel at 5:50.

Saturday August 2:

Today we rode the chair lift to the"Barrels" huts (12,470 ft). The giant barrels provide sleeping and cooking accommodations but we hiked up higher on the snowy slopes to a single barrel hut at ~12,650 feet, a brand new hut in which we were the first occupants. The privacy from the huts below was welcome but the best part of today was getting our first clear look at Elbrus, as we were finally above the fogged in valley below.

Nicolai talked to some Russian climbers who didn't summit because of high winds. It seemed nobody was having success on Elbrus, at least we weren't hearing of anybody making the summit, and I was getting uneasy at the thought of poor weather continuing into next week. After lunch and celebrating Rodrigo's birthday, we hiked up the slopes to the "Diesel Hut" (13,300 feet), the highest hut on Elbrus and built next to the old Pruit hut which burned down some time ago. The two story hut has lots of sleeping rooms and two kitchens but a disgusting outhouse. We were scheduled to move up to the Diesel Hut on Monday and found out, fortunately, there's a better outhouse around the corner from the hut.

After a break we continued up the slopes to ~14,000 feet before heading back down to our hut at 12,650'. Nicolai parted company with us and headed back to Terskol to pick up clients whom he'd be guiding separately in a few days.

Sunday August 3:

Rodrigo used his satellite phone to get a weather update and decided to move us up to the Diesel Hut a day early. The improved forecast meant our summit day would now be on Monday and we were all excited. It only took an hour to move up there and we settled in for a rest day to conserve energy instead of hiking to Pastukhov Rocks as scheduled. Other than a brief snow storm in the evening, the heavy clouds in the valley below lifted and revealed a spectacular view of the Caucasus mountains. Everybody with cameras scurried outside to get pictures. Morning plans were to get up at 2:30 AM, ride a Snow Cat to just below Pastukhov Rocks, and begin the climb from there.

Monday August 4:

Rodrigo came into our room at 1:30 AM and said the winds were too strong to attempt the summit. I honestly didn't mind since Tuesday was the better forecast anyway but unfortunately for Rodrigo, he still had to pay for the Snow Cat, which cost 250 euros. The policy is firm, if you reserve a Cat, you pay even if you cancel. We went back to sleep until 8:00 and after breakfast hiked up to Pastukhov Rocks. We continued up to 15,400 feet where the weather fogged in quickly and turned much colder, but no complaints, it was great for acclimatizing. Our gain was over 2,000 feet and I was feeling strong.

Tuesday August 5: Summit day

I was awake a full hour before our 2:30 AM wake-up call. The winds were howling when I stepped outside and the temperature was biting cold, so it was sure nice to have the warmth of the hut to prepare in. Clothing consisted of: balaclava, ski hat, short sleeve shirt, long sleeve shirt, polartec fleece, goretex jacket, down parka, long underwear, goretex pants, socks, plastic boots, gaiters, and midweight gloves (I had warm mittens in the pack for later but never needed them). Crampons, goggles and trekking poles rounded out the gear and by the time the Snow Cat arrived, we were ready.

The ride brought us up to 14,900 feet just below Pastukhov Rocks, which is as far as the Cats go. The other hired guide introduced himself as we put on our packs and at 4:10 we began our ascent in single file, following many other groups who were already ahead and some much higher on the slopes. The headlamps of the other climbing groups made for an interesting perspective in the pitch black and around 16,000 feet it began snowing, which wasn't in the forecast, but I don't think anyone was too surprised, I sure wasn't with the other climbing I've done at high elevations. I was very comfortable as we ascended, neither hot nor cold.

Having three guides, including Rodrigo, for five people was very generous on Rodrigo's part and allowed us to set different paces. Rodrigo wanted everybody to summit without being pushed by the faster climbers, figuring to have one fast and one slow group with perhaps someone in the middle. Although he didn't say so, he knew that I missed the summit of Aconcagua and surely figured me to be in the middle or rear group.

Initially we fell into two groups. Dave C , Dave E and Kevin were in front with Rodrigo while Dina and I took up the rear with Olga and the other guide. Even so, we were passing nearly every other group on the mountain and there were lots of them. We calculated some 200 plus climbers to be on the mountain before the day was over. The snow, however, never let up and the intensity increased as we gained elevation. The winds were blowing harder too. My legs were feeling strong, probably from all the climbing I did in Colorado just before this trip, and eventually I pulled away from Olga and Dina. I could see ahead that Dave Earle was stopping often to catch his breath and when I caught up to the front group on one of their short rest breaks, he was struggling. He insisted he was okay but I was worried about him.

Despite the snowstorm we weren't concerned about losing the route because it's well marked with tall poles and we could always see the next marker ahead. Whenever Rodrigo's group took a break I caught up to them. Eventually Dave E lagged behind and the Russian guide stayed with him while I joined Rodrigo's group just below the saddle. I stayed slightly behind but always in sight of Rodrigo but once past the saddle he asked me to keep pace with him, which I did. The traverse from the saddle brought us to the back side of Elbrus and the remaining steep slopes up to the summit. We were now in front of every group on Elbrus but one.

Kevin asked me to go ahead of him as he was having trouble with the pace and altitude so I moved up. We turned a corner of sorts and stopped to pull out our ice axes. After strapping trekking poles to the packs we started up again and shortly reached a flatter area. While stopped, Rodrigo lifted his ice axe in the air and startlingly announced he could feel electricity and that our situation was dangerous. I was mortified at being so close and possibly having to turn around but after a few minutes he checked again and didn't detect anything.

As we headed up I could see the group that had been in front was now only a few hundred yards away, apparently on the summit because they weren't moving anymore. It was an easy grade, less than 100 vertical feet of gain, and I was ready to charge ahead. Dave Chamberlin, still trying to get his axe back on the pack, insisted we go as a group but I knew he wanted to be the first on top after being in front the entire way thus far, so I waited.

Just below the summit, Rodrigo stepped aside and waived Dave, me, and Kevin past him. At 9:18, we stepped on top and celebrated in the driving snowstorm, taking a few pictures but staying only minutes because of the still potential danger of charged air. Lots of other climbers were closing in on the summit, which wasn't very large, and it was just as well to make room for them. We had no views with the limited visibility anyway. It was a great feeling for me to make Elbrus with no altitude issues, especially after having problems on both Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. I truly expected to be the last one in our group to make the summit, if I even made it at all, so being the second one to summit was nice. Rodrigo heaped praise on me.

On the descent we passed by Dave Earle and the Russian guide. Dave was laboring but eventually made the summit, as would Dina and Olga later. Eight inches of new powder had already fallen up high and footsteps were quickly filling in from the still falling, blowing snow. Climbers were queued up from the saddle all the way to the summit, even so, Rodrigo wanted to wait for the rest of our group so we could all descend together. It was too cold to stand and wait though. He did, however, spot a tent well off the trail and beckoned us to hole up in it while he'd wait for the others. It was probably set up as a shelter, as it had no provisions inside, but we soon departed when it was obvious the others weren't coming down as quickly as expected. Our descent went without incident. We took one break for food and water and arrived back at the Diesel Hut at 12:40 PM.

The snow finally quit, the skies cleared (photo 1, photo 2), and with everybody back safely we lolled around the rest of the day, visiting with other groups and just taking it easy. The fresh snow cover with blue skies and the sun shining made for an especially scenic landscape around the Diesel Hut. While outside we had to take cover occasionally as workers above us on the slope were dynamiting rock for a construction project.

I wasn't too thrilled at spending a third night at the hut but we'd be rewarded soon enough with showers and nicer accommodations. The late afternoon offered some nice photos of Elbrus and the Caucasus, and in the evening Rodrigo regaled us with stories about Denali as well as in the days that followed. Some of his stories sent shivers down my spine. Dave C, Dave E, and Kevin were especially interested in climbing Denali and wanted to know everything about it. Rodrigo lived in Alaska for fourteen years and guided Denali many times, and after hearing him talk about his Denali experiences I came to very much appreciate his guiding abilities and knowledge of mountain conditions.

Wednesday August 6, 2008- Sunday August 10, 2008:

The morning was beautiful on our descent of the slopes and excellent for those climbers going for the summit today. The chair lift and tram brought us down to Azau and from there we shuttled to the Povorot Lodge again in Cheget. It didn't matter to me that the electricity was out temporarily at the lodge and that I had to take a cold shower, it felt wonderful. We were desperate for a good lunch and a fellow in the lobby directed us two miles down the road to a restaurant. There was no sign marking the restaurant but it was easy to find. The server spoke no English and the entire menu was in Russian but we ordered using a phrase book and Dave Earle was particularly good at making animal sounds while pointing at the menu. It worked and we had one of the best meals of the whole trip there.

On Thursday we took the chair lift from Cheget to view Elbrus and the Caucasus range from the other side of the valley. It was another beautiful morning and we did some shopping afterward in the small village, then had a memorable lunch at a restaurant up the road from Cheget. The restaurant had a trout pond, supplied fishing poles, and if you caught a fish, they would fry it up for you. I think Dave E would've spent the whole afternoon trying to catch a fish but he soon hooked one and we all shared in his good fortune. The rest of the food was great too, incredibly cheap compared to Moscow, and just as we were about to leave, a belly dancer emerged for a performance. Needless to say, we stayed another hour.

On Friday we drove back to Mineral Vody and then flew to Moscow. In the evening we took the Metro to Red Square and encountered a demonstration while walking to our restaurant. We gathered that the flag waving and sign bearers were protesting a war but didn't find out until the next day that Russia invaded Georgia, one of the breakaway provinces, and just on the other side of the Caucasus range from Elbrus. We continued on to a restaurant near the American Embassy and had a wonderful but expensive meal. My share was $125.00.

Saturday was a fun day shopping at the markets, especially after finding out that flights the next day wouldn't be affected by the war. It was our last day of the trip and since it was sunny, I went back to Red Square by myself to get some better photos and ended up staying for a couple hours. The hustle and bustle outside Red Square, with shoppers drawn to the tent stalls set up for the weekend and people out simply enjoying the weather, was something I won't forget. The war seemingly had no effect on them or maybe they didn't care but I treasured those few hours spent mingling with the crowds.

I flew out of Moscow on Sunday, overnighted in Amsterdam, and arrived home on Monday. The jet lag was the worst I've ever suffered and it took several days to recover but didn't minimize what was otherwise a great trip. I've been extremely fortunate to wind up with good groups of people on my climbs outside the U.S. and this group was no exception. We meshed nicely and just like with my other groups, we had one person in particular, Dave Earle, whose terrific sense of humor and nonstop jokes kept us laughing all the time.

For anybody considering climbing Elbrus and looking for a guiding company, I heartily recommend Aventuras Patagonicas.

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