Entries By casey grom
Posted by: Casey Grom, Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 12,000'
It was a beautiful day here on Elbrus.
We had a normal start to our day with breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the ski lift where we rode not one, not two, but three gondolas to reach our new home for the next few days and happens to sit at just over 12,000ft. It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms that sit atop some makeshift skis so they can be moved. Creative to say the least!
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached about 13,500ft before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon relaxing, walking around and just enjoying the views of the Caucasus Mountain Range.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Posted by: Casey Grom, Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 11,000'
Hello again everyone!
It was a beautiful day here in Russia. We had a nice relaxing start to the day with a traditional Russian breakfast of porridge, eggs and bread. Afterwards we made our way to the local ski lifts to help give us a jump start on our hike. I didn't hear a single complaint about riding up 1,500' on a chair lift before we started our two-hour hike to the top of Peak Cheget. Yes, it is also the name of the town in which we are staying. The hike went well with mostly clear skies and we even caught a few glimpses of Elbrus between the clouds.
After our hike we made it back to town relatively quickly thanks to the ski lifts, where we had a hot lunch waiting for us. After lunch, we dropped off our gear and made a quick stop to pick up a few extra items and even managed to try on a few local hats.
We wrapped up the evening with another nice, home cooked meal here provided by our ever so gracious local outfitter.
Things are good here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 11,000'
An early rise gave way to a groggy ride to the airport this morning that was fortunately on the quicker side because the majority of Moscow had yet to wake. After navigating Aeroflot's slightly confusing baggage system our team was relieved to settle into an airport restaurant and enjoy a decent breakfast and more importantly a decent cup (or two) of coffee. A slight delay, a quick flight to Mineralnye Vody, and a longer bus ride to Cheget completed our traveling for the day. On our drive we watched the rolling hills of farmland become more pronounced, eventually turning into mountains, and finally turning quite impressive with huge relief as we drove up a craggy canyon. Cheget is a little outpost of sorts but our hotel is pretty cool, complete with beautiful views of glaciers above from the forest below and even a medieval motif to the dining room. A bit weary from travel, we're all excited to get out and stretch our legs on our first acclimatization hike tomorrow.
We'll let you know how it goes.
Over and out,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Posted by: Casey Grom, Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Hello everyone.
All is well here in Moscow. Most of the team arrived yesterday evening after some very long flights. As most of us are still adjusting to the massive time change we keep things simple with a little round of introductions and stepped out for a short walk and a nice dinner.
Today we meet with our local tour guide and had an outstanding tour of the nearby Red Square, Kremlin as well as visiting several churches including the iconic St. Basil's.
We took a short break and then headed out once again for dinner and a nice walk.
Everyone is doing great and looking forward to heading to the mountains tomorrow.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Well we had a really nice final day in Russia. We began the day meeting with our tour guide, Illana, and headed out on a quick tour of the city. We stopped off at St. Nicholas Church, stopped by the grand St. Isaac's Cathedral and made our way to the famous Heritage Museum. Not having a ton of time to see the thousands of exhibits so we did and express trip to see the highlights, which included a few paintings and sculptures by Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, and other great artists. It was pretty amazing to see so much art in one place and everyone enjoyed the brief visit.
We took a short break before meeting back up with our tour guide for an evening canal tour via boat of this historical city, which was a great way to wrap up a wonderful trip.
That's all for this trip! The team heads home tomorrow. Thanks for following us.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Planes trains and automobiles, well almost anyway. We traveled all day and have finally arrived in one of the most beautiful cities of Europe--St. Petersburg, Russia. Things went relatively smooth except for the one bag that wasn't able to join us here in St. Petersburg. Hopefully it'll find its way to us tomorrow.
We got checked into the hotel here and then ran out for dinner at this little eccentric place that serves up the most delicious meals. The service was a little slow, but very much worth the wait. After dinner we took a quick stroll around and then made our way home.
Everyone is very excited to explore and see this city in the daylight.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Hello everyone:
Not much to report today, other than everybody slept very soundly last night after some much needed sleep. It was a pretty relaxing day here in Cheget and we ventured out to have lunch at a local restaurant that has a small trout pond, but we opted to leave the fishing up to the locals. After lunch the team wandered through this very small town and did a little shopping too.
We have just finished dinner and a little ceremony where we handed out certificates, congratulated everyone and said a big thanks to our local outfitter for all of their help.
Tomorrow it's off to beautiful St. Petersburg!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
We did it! We stood on the highest point of Europe.
I have to admit we were pretty lucky with the weather, as it was near perfect. The team did a fantastic job of taking care of themselves and climbed strong. We reached the summit around 7:15 am in clear skies with a wonderful view of the entire Caucus mountain range.
But it didn't end there, after descending a short ways off of the summit we were at the saddle between the two summits that Elbrus has and a few of us decided to climb both summits while the rest of the team descended safely back to camp. It only added an additional 1.5 hrs, so not too bad, especially since we had such amazing weather.
After everyone returned to camp, we had a quick lunch and then packed up to head down valley to our hotel at the base of the mountain.
Everyone is high spirits and smelling great!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew
On The Map
Great news! Congratulations to the whole team on reaching the summit. Many thanks to Casey Grom for a safe and successful climb…
Thad’s dad . . . Sam’s granddad
Posted by: Burton Golden on 7/16/2016 at 12:15 pm
Pree-vēt!
Things are good here on Mt. Elbrus and the team is excited for tonight! We did a little prep for tomorrow by reviewing a few climb techniques and then rested the remainder of the day. Our cook Dasha has done a great job of filling our bellies with plenty of good home cooked Russian food.
Everything is set and if the weather continues to hold we'll be up at 2am and after a quick breakfast hop on the snowcat to give us a bump a little further up the mountain. It will shorten our climb a little and increase our chance at reaching the highest point in Europe.
That's all for now. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
CONGRATS!! You made it! Got your message. Glad it was a nice day. Looking forward to some pictures from the summit! Hope you have a safe trip back to camp.
Posted by: Barb McAllister on 7/15/2016 at 9:32 pm
Good Luck on the summit today Michael. I am glad to hear you are climbing with an amazing group of people. Enjoy the day. I miss you at home.
Love,
Jancy
Posted by: Jancy Darling on 7/15/2016 at 4:17 pm
Hello again everyone.
The weather continues to be beautiful here on Mt. Elbrus for us. We started the day with a nice breakfast and then set out on our last acclimatizing hike just before 9:00 a.m. The team did a great job as we made our way up to about 15,000', and it took us only about three hours. We stopped along the way to take a few breaks and enjoy the view.
After reaching our high point we made our way back to camp just in time for another enjoyable lunch.
Since then it's been nap time for most of us as we continue to adjust the time change and seek refuge from the sun.
Everyone is doing well and in good spirits.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
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52 Peaks! I’m with you in spirit! Stay safe & enjoy!
Posted by: Todd on 7/26/2016 at 10:53 pm
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