Entries By casey grom
We did it! We successfully climbed to the highest point in Europe. It wasn't easy, in fact it was far from it.
We started our climb in pretty windy conditions and battled our way for several hours before the weather finally eased off. I have to admit I wasn't sure it was going to happen for us, but a big thanks to our local guides for working hard and to the crew for doing a great job of taking care of themselves. We had our heads down most of the climb due to the blowing wind and surface snow that continuously made it difficult. The team worked extra hard today to make it happen, wearing parkas and goggles nearly the entire day.
We have finally descended all the way back to Cheget and just finished another wonderful meal, washed down with endless vodka in Russian style!
Everyone is in great spirits and looking forward to taking in the sites and relaxing in beautiful
St. Petersburg.
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and Team
On The Map
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the RMI Mt. Elbrus July 11th team reached the summit of
Mt.Elbrus, Europe's highest peak on July 20th. The team had a great day and will check in again when they are back at camp.
Congratulations to the team!
On The Map
Not that we needed it, but yesterday's thunderstorms with hail, lighting, and strong winds only confirmed we'd made the right call to delay by one day. By morning today the clouds had blown off and the sun was back out but you could still see the wind up high blowing strong. Rather than rest all day again, we went for a nice hike after breakfast to stretch the legs and exercise the lungs a bit. Being a Saturday there were dozens of snowcats full of people and endless snowmobiles flying past as we hiked.
After our hike we enjoyed another nice meal cooked by Albina and then sat together to discuss our upcoming climb. We have gone over all the details and are already packed up ready for morning. Our plan will be to wake up around midnight, have breakfast at 12:30 and hopefully be riding our snowcat by 1:30. The snow cat will drop us off basically where we ended our highest acclimatization hike two days ago. From there it should takes us about 6-8 hours to reach the summit of
Mt. Elbrus if all goes according to plan. The forecast looks better than yesterday's and the team is very ready for the climb.
We'll do our best to call from the summit, and will undoubtedly check in when we return.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Today the team got up a little early to make use of the firm snow to practice using our crampons, and we revisited how to self-arrest also. After our morning session we enjoyed breakfast and then relaxed near camp till lunch. The weather has slowly been changing here and shortly after lunch we decided to postpone our
climb by one day as the forecast is showing a slight improvement for tomorrow evening. So that means another day of rest tomorrow!
Not much new to report here, but everyone is doing well and we have our fingers crossed that the weather improves enough to allow for some amazing views.
We'll check in again tomorrow before our big climb!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
It was another beautiful day here on
Mt. Elbrus! We woke to clear skies, calm winds and a amazing view of the enormous Caucasus range. (Really you should google it sometime!) We had our standard breakfast of porridge, boiled eggs, assorted meats, cheeses and coffee. Today was our planned acclimatization hike and we did just that. The team hiked for about three hours uphill and reached about 15,000 ft, which was a new record for some. We enjoyed the views took a few photos and then headed back down to camp for lunch. The remainder of the afternoon has been spent playing cards, reading and napping.
All is well and we are looking forward to having a rest day tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
July 16, 2014 - 5:12 am PT
We started our day at a reasonable hour with breakfast at 8 am, we had porridge, fried eggs, and of course plenty of the Starbucks coffee we brought along. :) After breakfast we finished the remainder of our packing and headed over the the gondola to hitch a ride further up the mountain to our new
Base camp on Mt. Elbrus. Two gondola rides and one super long single chair lift delivered us at our new home just over 12'000'. Our new home is basically a retro fitted shipping container, they're brand new and rather comfortable.
After we settled in we had a nice lunch cooked by our wonderful and cantankerous cook Albina. She's a great cook, but I think is a little over worked and runs a tight ship.
After lunch we headed out to stretch our legs and continue our acclimatization process by hiking for a little over an hour and gaining well over a thousand feet. Everyone did great and we are now back at camp watching the evening clouds roll in and getting ready for dinner.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
All is well here in the Baksan Valley, at the base of Elbrus. We've settled into our comfortable hotel here in Cheget, which doubles as a ski town in the winter. It reminds me of Jackson Hole with Mt. Rainier instead of the Grand Tetons.
We woke to a beautiful morning and finally we were able to get out and stretch our legs a bit. We made the most of the local ski lifts, (to save our knees of course) and hiked up the neighboring peak to start our acclimatization. It started off a little cloudy today, but eventually cleared for some decent views of
Elbrus. After our ascent we headed back down to town for a nice lunch and headed over the local climbing shop to pick up a few last minute things. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, getting our bags packed and just wrapping up another enjoyable Russia dinner with plenty of borscht.
All is well here and we'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and Crew
Hello again Everyone,
It was anyone long day of travel here in Russia for us again. We departed Moscow moderately early and flew southward to the town of
Mineralnye Vody (which means mineral water) where we were meet by our local guide Alexander. We loaded all of our duffels into the waiting van and continued heading south towards Mt. Elbrus. This part of Russia is very rural and the countryside is mostly used for agriculture purposes, especially sunflowers! It has been heavily influenced by the Turkish and is therefore predominately Islamic. It's beautiful here, but it also seems a bit behind the times when compared to Moscow or St. Petersburg. The team enjoyed the views, had a little fun, but everyone is ready for some exercise!
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and Crew
Hello from Russia everyone!
The team arrived yesterday, and after the long flights we took it easy with a brief team meeting and a quick bite to eat. We then retired to our rooms to sleep off the jet lag.
Today we woke up rather leisurely, had a continental breakfast, and walked just a short distance to meet our tour guide at the
Red Square and Kremlin. We spent the better part of the day walking around the Kremlin, Red Square, and the famous St. Basil's Cathedral. Along our walk we also passed by the tomb of the unknown solider and had a brief lunch at the G.U.M.
After our tour we took a short break to do a little exploring on our own, or snuck off for a quick cat nap. We wrapped up the evening with a nice walk down to a diner to grab dinner where we enjoyed mingling with the locals and getting to know each other better.
All is well and everyone is looking forward to heading to the mountain tomorrow.
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and team
The
Mount Rainier Four Day and Five Day Summit Climbs, led by Seth Waterfall and Casey Grom, reached the summit this morning with clear skies, warm temperaturess and winds ranging from 5-20 mph. Both teams began their descent from the crater rim at 7:15 a.m.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
RMI Guides
Seth Waterfall and
Casey Grom
That is an impressive accomplishment. Congratulations!
Have a safe trip to St. Petersburg.
Posted by: Tamara on 7/20/2014 at 6:22 pm
You did it and I see smiles all over the place. I am very proud of all of you. Love and prayers Mom and Granny
Posted by: Cornelia on 7/20/2014 at 3:37 pm
View All Comments