| Mt. Elbrus |
| Mt. Elbrus is another one of the 7 summits of the world and stands at 18,510 feet. Mt. Elbrus is pretty much hiking similar to Mt. Kilimanjaro, but Mt. Elbrus is much more dangerous in comparison. You can climb Mt. Kilimanjaro with just hiking boots, but on Mt. Elbrus you will need climbing boots with crampons and an ice axe. When I went in August, more people had died on Mt. Elbrus than Mt. Everest so far that year. Mt. Elbrus is no where near as dangerous as Mt. Everest, but often inexperienced climbers attempt Elbrus without the proper gear. Some people think if the mountain isn't Mt. Everest or K2 then it's not challenging and not dangerous. Every large mountain should be taken seriously, and I actually made several mistakes myself and even had a very close call during the climb! |
| After some local hikes by the hotel where I took the top two photos, we moved to the barrel camp using ski lifts which is close to 12,000 feet. As i mentioned before I made some mistakes which happened on my second day on the mountain. Our group was descending from 15,000 feet to our camp after an acclimatization climb. Everyone broke up from the group and we all went at our own pace. I was doing fine but noticed that I was alone and I didn't see anyone in sight. I continued to go down for a while longer and when I still didn't see anyone I became concerned that I had failed to make a turn onto another trail. You can easily see the summit from our camp, and from where I was now standing it seemed like I was too far to the left of the summit, so I thought maybe another trail had gone to the right and I just had missed it. I decided to cut across a hill to see if I could see people on the other side. If not I planned to return and continue down the trail I had been on. Above me was a Russian camp about half a mile away so I figured since I was in the sight of people I couldn't get lost and would try to give it a shot. I hiked for about 20 minutes and saw no camp or other people. When everything is white and snowy it's difficult to see anything, and the trail I was on was just footprints in the snow, so even if there was a trail a mile away I wouldn't be able to make it out. Around this time some people from the Russian camp saw me and came up to the hill and began yelling at me to go back. I had no idea why they were yelling or what they were saying because they were very far away. I took a few steps towards them and then my leg went straight into the snow. I was able to catch myself with my arms and my left leg which was lying horizontally across the snow while I held myself. I was standing right in the middle of a crevasse field! Crevasses are holes in the ground that can be 10 feet deep or 100 feet deep. I pulled myself out and looked into the hole and I could not see the bottom. I had no idea how deep it was or where other holes around me were. The terrain was flat and covered in snow and looked no different than the snow we had been hiking in earlier. I took out my ski pole and poked around in the ground. Everywhere around me my ski pole went straight through the ground all the way up to my wrist. I spent about 20 minutes poking my way out and zigzagged to safety. At one point I had to jump over a very long but skinny crack in the ground that was probably 50 feet in length. The whole time while I was doing this I had about 30 figures up on the rocks watching to see if I would make it out or not. Once in the Russian camp everyone was extremely nice to me and gave me lots of food and made me do shots of vodka saying where I was at was extremely dangerous. I was taken inside a Soviet airplane that they were camping in and was told to stay the night. I didn't want to be rude so I took the vodka shots they offered and before I knew it they had given five toasts so I was pretty buzzed. I didn't mind spending the night in the airplane but someone from my group came inside a few hours later as everyone else was still looking for me. Back at the camp the guides said we had to celebrate for a happy ending which meant several more shots of vodka. The bottom left is a picture of the Caucasus mountains taken at about 12,000 feet. The right is a photo of me inside the soviet airplane at 14,000 feet right before I take my first vodka shots. |
| Above is a picture of the slope of Elbrus at about 15,000 feet. Near the top of the summit it gets much steeper and you'll need to use your ice axe to continue. It's more difficult to take photos at the higher altitudes because it's extremely cold and the lack of oxygen makes everything you do much harder. Taking a photo doesn't take that much effort itself, but you have to consider stopping, then taking off your pack, pulling your camera out and then having the group wait on you. I didn't take any photos above 15,000 feet except for the ones at the summit. The photo on the right is me at the summit on 8/8/06. |
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| Russia Links |
| Mt. Elbrus is part of the Caucasus range that divides Europe and Asia. Above are the first real views I had of the Caucasus mountains. On the left you can see a small town in the valley below, which is where we stayed at before our climb. On the right you can see some snow above in the middle of August. |
| The town around Elbrus seemed pretty run down. Here are some photos from the area you'll likely stay in before going up the mountain. The town is very small but has a few shops and places to eat, and at least one internet cafe. |
| Our hotel by the mountain wasn't very impressive either. The inside was surprisingly pretty nice though. This is located at about 7,000 feet, and you'll spend at least one night in town to begin acclimatizing. |
George: Thanks Hao, I would highly recommend using plastic boots for Mt. Elbrus! I passed by/talked with
dozens of other climbers on Mt. Elbrus and everyone had plastic boots. Leather boots are good for hiking but not
for longer periods of time in snowy or icy conditions. The disadvantage with leather boots is that even with water
repellent they can eventually soak up melted snow and ice and will become very difficult to dry. Damp boots high
up on a mountain can be pretty dangerous and will probably mean you have to give up the summit if you find
yourself in this situation. If you are not sure whether to make the purchase then you should just rent boots for Mt.
Elbrus as I did. If you are doing a guided climb they should have plenty to offer for a reasonable price.
dozens of other climbers on Mt. Elbrus and everyone had plastic boots. Leather boots are good for hiking but not
for longer periods of time in snowy or icy conditions. The disadvantage with leather boots is that even with water
repellent they can eventually soak up melted snow and ice and will become very difficult to dry. Damp boots high
up on a mountain can be pretty dangerous and will probably mean you have to give up the summit if you find
yourself in this situation. If you are not sure whether to make the purchase then you should just rent boots for Mt.
Elbrus as I did. If you are doing a guided climb they should have plenty to offer for a reasonable price.
George: Hi Claudio, I imagine that since you are from Italy you probably have some climbing experience already.
As Elbrus is mostly just hiking, the only technical aspect you should worry about is using an ice axe for self
arresting since you will have some steep ice slopes. The size of your pack is also a common question. Many
groups also use the barrel huts as a base camp and from there you go directly to the summit, if you do this itinerary
you will never have to carry your own pack, only a day pack. The only real big tip I think maybe to bring some of
your own food since you will burn up to 12,000 calories on summit day for example. Many people didn't like the
food that was served on our climb so it is sometimes difficult to force youself to eat nasty food at high altitude.
Every person has their own preference of course, some liked the food but most did not, but this also will differ
between companies. Good luck on the climb, let me know how it goes!
As Elbrus is mostly just hiking, the only technical aspect you should worry about is using an ice axe for self
arresting since you will have some steep ice slopes. The size of your pack is also a common question. Many
groups also use the barrel huts as a base camp and from there you go directly to the summit, if you do this itinerary
you will never have to carry your own pack, only a day pack. The only real big tip I think maybe to bring some of
your own food since you will burn up to 12,000 calories on summit day for example. Many people didn't like the
food that was served on our climb so it is sometimes difficult to force youself to eat nasty food at high altitude.
Every person has their own preference of course, some liked the food but most did not, but this also will differ
between companies. Good luck on the climb, let me know how it goes!
Claudio from Italy: Hi, as we're going to attempt Elbrus summit later this month, any special final hints?
Hao from USA: Great write-up. I am climbing Mt. Elbrus this August. I am trying to decide whether to buy a pair of
plastic boots or one. I do have a pair of leather boots which I used for climbing Mt. Blanc last summer. Do you thing it
is enough?
plastic boots or one. I do have a pair of leather boots which I used for climbing Mt. Blanc last summer. Do you thing it
is enough?
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