Cybercasts

Friends, Family & Loved Ones,

Boy were we glad that we waited a day (lots of wind and some snow overnight)– and hopefully our patience will pay off. Our plan is to start our summit push Monday morning (Russia time) at 3:30 am. So today, Sunday, we spent some time talking about strategy for the summit push and packing our packs.

Mostly whiteout conditions today around the hut (– although very warm) meant that we stayed close to the Huts and worked on our anchor and pulley system skills.

Also got some extra rest for our big push to the summit. The whole Team is feeling really good and excited for our climb to the top of Europe.

Check in tomorrow to see how it all went!

Carole & Vern Tejas

Friends, Family & Loved Ones,

What a difference a day makes! The blue sky! The panoramic views! No wind! Couldn’t be better.

We spent this morning practicing our self arrest skills– basically hurling ourselves down a steep snow slope and then using good technique to stop our fall. Fun, but wet. Most importantly, we now feel confident in our skills.

In the afternoon, we practiced clipping in and out of a fixed line to prepare for the upper mountain.

For extra credit, and in building clouds, we had an afternoon seminar on pulley systems for crevasse rescue.

The important news: as nice as the weather was for most of today, we got a not so great weather forecast for early morning, so we have decided to use our spare weather day and start our summit attempt on the wee hours of Monday morning.

Check back with us tomorrow for a rundown of our further adventures,

Carole & Vern Tejas

Friends, Family & Loved Ones,

Greetings from 12,800 feet on the flanks of Mount Elbrus. This morning, wearing our crampons we hiked up to the bottom of Pashtakov Rocks – just under 15,000 feet. We had weather! A wee bit of sun, but mostly whiteout and, as we got higher, blustery winds. For three maybe four minutes at one point, the winds succeeded in blowing away most of the clouds, so if we were paying close attention, we could see the Eastern summit of the mountain and a cool panorama of the jagged Caucasus Range behind us. But it was a mostly whiteout day. Weather notwithstanding, we had a great hike up to the rocks. Some steeper “off-road” sections were exciting and the steep angle of the trail itself allowed us to practice our cramponing skills. The Team was super strong and everyone did great.

Along the way, we were adopted by a small black dog hanging out just below Pastakov Rocks, who must have known that we would give him food scraps upon our return to the hut. For now, the Team is calling him “Toto”.

This afternoon, we tied knots and rigged a “cow tail” safety cord for the summit fix line.

All my best,
Carole and Vern Tejas

All my best,
Vern Tejas