Today the team left Moscow and caught a flight to Mineralnye Vody, which is a medium size city here in southern Russian known for its abundant mineral springs. The flight over Russia's inland reminded me of the rural Midwest back home. We quickly hopped on our waiting bus and headed further south into the Baksan Valley where Elbrus sits on the border between Russia and Georgia. The area is mostly farmland with a few small towns that are predominately Islamic via its Turkish roots. We arrived in Cheget which sits at the base of Elbrus and is our launching point for our climb. We are currently getting ready for bed in our hotel after a wonderful authentic Russian meal.
It was another long day of travel and the team is doing great. Everyone is looking forward to stretching their legs tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Glad everyone and every thing is doing great. Success to all. The blog is wonderful. Almost feel like I am there!! Mom
Posted by: Gerri Seaton on 7/10/2013 at 12:20 pm
Larry: You are looking great, sage and youthful. All the best for another of the Seven. Godspeed, Walter Tell the peak “hey” from Lori and I, June 2010.
RMI Guide JJ Justman and 100% of his Mt. Elbrus team reached the summit this morning! Everyone is back, safe and sound, at the Garabashi Hut. The team sent a video as well as a photo from their successful summit.
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls from the Mt. Elbrus Summit!
The Four and Five Day Mt. Rainier Summit Climbs led by Eric Frank and Solveig Waterfall, respectively, reached the summit this morning. Eric reported beautiful weather, no wind and the cloud deck below Paradise. The teams ventured to Columbia Crest and enjoyed the summit views before they began their descent at 8 a.m.
RMI Guides Eric Frank and Solveig Waterfall
The mountain might as well surrender right now. It has no chance against this intrepid group of climbers. Ok, kind of kidding. But we are summit bound early tomorrow morning.
We topped off our preparation for our summit climb of Mt. Elbrus with a bit of training early this morning. Focus was on the use of the mountain climbers best friend, the ice axe, used primarily while ascending steep snow covered slopes. The team practiced with care and enthusiasm ,confidence in this arena will help immensely when confronted with some challenging terrain. And yes, that is what the near future holds for us.
Honestly we go at this climb like all climbs, humble and hopeful. If this beautiful hunk of Mother Earth allows us to stand on the summit, we will be grateful and thrilled. Nature is the boss and we will give it the utmost respect.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
This morning was the first in a while that we weren't getting up early, desperate for conditions to be favorable. We got the stoves started around nine, which sounds late and lazy, except in these parts, the sun doesn't get around the mountain until 9:30. It was socked in and cloudy for our breakfast, and then snowing again, but without any wind. We were set to do our "back carry" -dropping down to pick up our cache from the other day, but we'd also been in touch with Pete VanDeventer and knew his team was descending and would pop out of the clouds any minute. It made sense to greet his gang and to exchange notes at 14,200 before going to get our carry done. It was fun to see their team, flush with success and excited to nearly be done with their climb. In the early afternoon, although it was still snowing, we set off into the murk to find our 13,600 ft cache. The cache was undisturbed, which was a relief. Guess we'd buried it all too deeply for the Ravens. It took just over an hour to make it back up to camp with the cargo. People retreated to their tents for a snooze while a few of us built a new kitchen-dining complex. The clouds began to drop and the sun got shining brightly for dinner and the few remaining hours of the day -it ducks behind the West Buttress at 9 PM and the temperature seems to drop about fifty degrees in a few minutes at that point. But we were treated to great views of Mounts Foraker and Hunter sticking out from the solid base of clouds spread below us. The forecasts still call for snow, but luckily they aren't always right in just how much snow we'll get and at which elevation it will fall. A calm day tomorrow for our carry to 16,200 ft would be greatly appreciated.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Sunday, July 7, 2013
We are down in the thick air of 11k feet! We woke this morning to some snowfall, and generally wintry conditions, but nothing that we couldn't deal with, and in short order we had camp packed and were rolling down the buttress. We made a short stop at 14 to visit with Dave Hahn's team ( who were gracious enough to invite is into their posh and make us hot water) and pick up our cache. Another few hours brought us to the 11k camp, where we made our beds for the night. We plan to wake early and continue our descent down the Kahiltna, with the aim of being at the airstrip by mid morning! With luck, there will be a break in the clouds, and we will see the red planes of K2 dropping in to bring us back to Talkeetna! We'll let you know how that goes, but for now, it's early to bed for us!
RMI Guides Pete, Geoff, Robby, and team
Hi team: My stepson is with Dave Hahn on the way up, and I’ve been reading your team’s posts also. Hope you got down, and got to fly out.
Posted by: Vicki on 7/10/2013 at 3:25 pm
Hola Guapo,
Viola just called me to tell me you were stuck” IN a glacier?” I HOPE NOT!....I’m hoping you meant : “stuck ON the glacier i.e.:mountain”. Did you forget our home number?
You have nothing scheduled at the office until the 22nd. Viola wanted me to let you know that. She said you would be home Thursday How is this possible?
Aywhoooo
Are you planing to take me away?...Far…....Far…...away? I hope so! If you can’t…make sure you pick up a box of Calgon at the supermercado before you come home! (Calgon take me way!!)
xxoo
Marion
After a good night of sleep and a belly full of fresh fruit, bread and an assortment of meats and cheeses we headed out to explore the city a bit. Our hotel is perfectly located in central Moscow with the Kremlin and Red Square just a short walk away, so that's where we headed first. We payed a brief visit to the Red Square then watched the changing of the guard at Russia's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier before spending a little more than 2 hours inside the beautiful Kremlin. Once back outside we opted for a tour of the famous Moscow subway which sits hundreds of feet underground and is incredibly efficient and meticulously decorated. Apparently it was built so deep it could double as a bomb shelter during the Cold War years. It was amazing and a little overwhelming too.
The team then took a break for lunch and so members took naps and others explored a bit on their own. We have wrapped up the evening with a great meal and a nice little walk. Everyone is still feeling the jet-lag, but doing great otherwise.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Our night's stay in the Garabashi Hut (12,000') on Mt. Elbrus went well. We were up early for a quick breakfast and then headed out onto the mountain with our crampons and ice axes to do some training and review while the snow was still firm. The team did well and we climbed up 15,000' which also helped with our acclimatization. Around noon we started our descent and after a few hours arrived back to our camp. We enjoyed soft snow on our way down and perfect weather.
Once back at the hut we gathered for a nice lunch. We have spent the afternoon resting and drying out our gear.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Looks like an awesome trip; can’t wait to hear more next month. Rigorous art book training is paying off!
Posted by: Mary Leslie on 7/8/2013 at 8:09 am
Looks like you guys are fitting in well with the Cossacks up there! Gosh, RMI really went all out and organized a mega-group climb for you all—a “barrel” of fun! They know how much we love a party. Any shopping on this mountain?
I spent the weekend at the beach - sunny and warm and thinking of you guys. Take care, go slow, and listen to Mr. Tucker! Xoxo. Renee
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guide Brent Okita reached the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning with 100% of their team members. Brent reported perfect conditions with light winds and clear skies.
They started their descent from the crater rim shortly after 7 a.m. and will return to Camp Muir for a short break before continuing down to Paradise.
we look forward to seeing the group at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to the entire Four Day Summit Climb June 4 - 7, 2013 Team!
It is a rest day for Team 1 on Mt. Elbrus. I wish I had some really exciting things to report. However, rest days are filled with the continual search to beat the boredom of camp life. Activities like cards, dice, reading, people watching, drinking coffee, eating food, etc...are a few of the things we have partaken in so far today.
I'm not gonna jinx it but our summit day tomorrow may require a constant supply of sunscreen and cooling mist machines! It's normal for team members to be a little nervous before summit day. But I'm telling ya...if I were to place a Las Vegas bet, it would be 100% to the top.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Glad everyone and every thing is doing great. Success to all. The blog is wonderful. Almost feel like I am there!! Mom
Posted by: Gerri Seaton on 7/10/2013 at 12:20 pm
Larry: You are looking great, sage and youthful. All the best for another of the Seven. Godspeed, Walter Tell the peak “hey” from Lori and I, June 2010.
Posted by: walter glover on 7/9/2013 at 5:51 am
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