Entries from Elbrus Southside

How was your 4th of July? We had a great light show last night. Lots and lots of lightning, raining hard all night but no issues. We stayed warm and dry in the wonderful lodge. Our day started off with another four-course breakfast. The best news of the day was the lost bag from Poland has arrived. With all our bags accounted for, a quick transfer to a different set of lift systems put us at the base of Elbrus. Three gondola lift sections had us here at our basecamp nestled at 12,500ft in some rustic but comfortable huts. A very nice local cook is taking great care of us and life is good. We did a couple hours of training and climbing after lunch, then more food, more resting, and our team meeting on mountain life and information about plans for tomorrow. Clouds in and out showed the Elbrus summit every so often; its a great life up here on the big hill. The team is doing great and we are having a blast. RMI Guide Mark Tucker

On The Map

July 4, 2017 Happy Independence Day to all of our readers back home in the USA! We couldn't find any fireworks, so we celebrated with a nice walk around the hills of Cheget instead. Beautiful weather and warm temperatures allowed for a leisurely tone today. We spent around an hour above 10,000 feet, snacking, trading factoids, and testing out some thinner air. Passerby might have called it lounging, but we're going to call it hard work. Whatever you want to call it, today was a success. We headed back down toward tree line for lunch in Cheget. The team considered purchasing matching headwear as a sign of solidarity and unity. Ultimately, the potential headpieces proved to be far too itchy. A good idea nonetheless. Now, gear has been sorted, packing has begun, and we are just about ready to move up to the mountain tomorrow morning. RMI Guides JM Gorum and Mark Tucker, and the Elbrus Crew July 3, 2017 Dobryy vecher!!! That's good evening, to all of you at home. We are writing from the wonderful hamlet of Cheget after another full travel day. We left our hotel this morning at 5:40, packed our 24 duffels and 12 bodies into a van, shuffled through airport security, and departed for Mineralnye Vody. We all made it, and so did our bags. Excellent news! The sun and heat of our more southerly locale had people changing into shorts and flip flops as soon as possible. After checking in to the hotel, the team enjoyed a walk around town, some locale cuisine, wonderful views of Elbrus, and maybe even a nap or two. More relaxing is on the schedule before our first acclimatization hike tomorrow. We will check in again tomorrow. Thanks for following along- RMI Guides Mark Tucker and JM Gorum, and the Elbrus Crew.

On The Map

We’ve had a great day in Moscow. The weather was perfect for the whole tour day around Red Square and the Kremlin. It is amazing to see these wonders of mankind in person. We finished the evening at one of the nicest restaurants in Moscow, if you like borsch we know the place! We have a 5 am wake up call for the next part of the journey off to the mountains. A couple hour flight and a few hour drive and we will be staring up at the big hills of the Caucasus range. The mountains are our playground for the next several days, we have a lot to look forward to. Stay tuned, RMI Guide Mark Tucker & Team

Well, we wrapped up our trip today touring the beautiful city of St. Petersburg complete with visits to cathedrals (of course), art museums, and even a boat tour on the Neva River and smaller canals. Our team had a ton of fun despite a little drizzle and enjoyed one last team dinner in the evening. I can honestly say I'm sad to say goodbye to such a great group. Thanks guys for making this trip and awesome climb and such a fun adventure. I hope to see all of you again someday in the mountains or otherwise. Also, thanks to everyone reading this for following along. Now a groggy 3:30 am ride to the airport is looming... RMI Guide Billy Nugent

We had an early rise after our celebratory dinner (and some dancing) in Cheget for our transfer back to Mineralnye Vody. It was a little painful but not too bad as we had a nice, spacious Sprinter van to stretch out in. We caught a flight to Moscow and another to St. Pete's and then checked into our lovely hotel. Travel days always seem to tire you out even though you're mostly sitting around all day. Anyway, more sightseeing in the morning before the journey home! RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Howdy! We are down from the heights after a truly amazing day up on Mt. Elbrus. Our summit day started off with a bit of breeze and some chilly temps but after a couple hours of walking turned into one of the most calm and beautiful days in the mountains that I've had. Our team was strong and we made short work of the climb, celebrated on top with some hugs, high-5's, and photos, and had a smooth descent. A few of us even made a side excursion to the summit of the east peak and enjoyed even more sweeping views of the Caucasus range. All in all it was an epic day. Today we spent relaxing and recovering, shopping for souvenirs, etc. And we ultimately had a great team dinner complete with kebobs and (of course) libations. Good times with great people! Tomorrow we're off to St. Petersburg for a day of culture before returning home to the states. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

We are back safely at the Barrels after 100% of our climbers reached the Mt. Elbrus summit! Three of us even summited both peaks. Perfect weather! RMI Guide Billy Nugent

Hello all, Just checking in from our camp at over 12,000ft in the barrels here on Elbrus. We had a mellow day resting up before our summit attempt tomorrow morning that we used to brush up on some crampon techniques and run through an ice axe arrest refresher. The weather has been funky for the last 24 hours with everything from snow and rain, thunder and lightning, to sunshine and blue sky. The forecast for tomorrow is good so our fingers are crossed. Not much else to report, headed to bed early for our early wake up. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map

We woke this morning to sunshine and French toast for breakfast... and coffee of course. Not a bad way to wake up. After our leisurely breakfast we geared up and headed out on another acclimatization hike this time to nearly 15,000'. We were on the trail for around 3 1/2 hours and over the course of the hike the weather gradually deteriorated. We felt a little bit of hail on our way back to camp but nothing terrible. Still, there are signs of the snow forecasted for tonight and tomorrow starting to show up. We won't mind a little weather on our last training/rest day before heading on our summit push Friday. Friday's forecast is looking good so we have our fingers crossed that it won't change. After our hike the gang went down to the cafe at the top of the gondola and hung out a bit... Good times over here in Russia. Til tomorrow! RMI Guide Billy Nugent

We got up this morning, had a nice breakfast, and departed from Cheget to begin our climb. A quick ten or so minute drive brought us up to Azau, which apparently means something along the lines of "end of the road," where we schlepped all of our gear onto the tram system which eventually brought us up to our home for the next few days. Our camp up here at "The Barrels" is cozy but nice and we've been enjoying the great food from our two Russian cooks Masha and Dasha. Even in the midst of today's shuffle we were able to sneak in a nice hike for a couple hours that brought us up to nearly 14,000'. The weather is looking promising and we're looking forward to another acclimatization tomorrow that should take us even higher on the mountain. RMI Guide Billy Nugent

On The Map