Its been a 3-1/2 year hiatus for the 7 Summits. JD, Rob and Big Jon climbed Mt. Elbrus (5642m), the continental summit of Europe, back in the summer of 2005. Luckily Duncan was up for the challenge, so I did not have to go to Russia on my own. We arrive in the Baksan valley in early September. This place is a ski resort in the winter, so there are a number of Alpine style ski chalets and hotels, but with a run-down Russian feel. Azau is the name of this town, right at the foot of Mt. Elbrus. We are staying at a hotel furnished by the company that arranged for our visas, border zone registration, and climbing permits (Soviet red tape is endless).
Our first day is an acclimatization hike to neighboring Mt. Cheget. We ride a single person charlift half way up, then hike the remainder to the 3700m summit. Its a gorgeous day and we get our first views of teh volcanic mass of Elbrus, which towers above all the other peaks in the area.
The next day we are packed up and on the cable-car, which will take us all the way up to the bottom of the glacier at 3700m. We set up camp as best we can away from a mess of rusting scrap metal, dirty huts broken down snow-cats, and generally a fine mess of Russian junk. We set off in the mid-day heat for an acclimatization hike up the route. We get all the way up to the Pushtakov Rocks at 4500m before coming back down for a hot meal.
We hitch a ride up the mountain with some sight-seers on a snow-cat the next moring. Worried about a poor weather forecast for the next week, we stache the tent and decide to make our break for the summit. Its rushed, to be sure, but these weather windows can mean all the difference.
A long slow slog takes us up a steep snow slope before the route traverses left to a col between the east and west Elbrus summits. We take one of our few breaks in the day, glance at the clock, and decide that even though we are late in the day, the weather looks good so we are safe to continue. Another steep snow slope brings us to the summit plateau. A few hundred feet further and we are topped out! At only 4 days, this was one of the faster climbs. 4 down, 3 to go!
