Cybercasts

Today was a travel day for some members of the team, who went to Moscow for an extra day of city sightseeing. The rest of us hung out here in the Baksan Valley. We hiked down to a natural mineral spring. We went fishing for trout…

And then had a very memorable feast

Followed by a well deserved afternoon nap!

Thanks for following,

Vern and Carole

Hello friends, family and loved ones,

Our weather vastly improved which made packing up and transporting our mountain gear actually enjoyable. Some last parting shots of the beautiful Caucus mountains and then we started down.

Hot showers and clean clothes awaited us. What a luxury after all our endeavors. We savored our climb over over skewers of hot Shashlik and cold drinks.

The local dish, Shashlik.

All our best,
Up to our Elbrus in Shashlik

Friends, family and loved ones,

Happy to report our summit success today! We are now back at the hut (everyone doing very well) sitting out a wind, rain and hail storm. The real story for Team Up To Our Elbrus today was the weather. We woke up at midnight to lightening and thunder. Our planned departure was for 3 am, at which point the storm had mellowed to just rain. We decided to give it a go and see what the weather was doing up high. We pushed up in inclement conditions, which improved gradually over the next 6 hours or so, although we still climbed through white out conditions, wind and blowing snow.

The weather only lifted 5 minutes before we reached the summit. It is a testament to the strength and determination of the team that we were able to stand on top and take the summit photo below.

We actually had beautiful weather on our descent, but no more than one hour after getting back to the hut, a new storm is now pelting us with hail and rain. Perfect timing or what?!

Tomorrow we will pack up and move back down to our hotel at the base of the mountain. Showers and BBQ await.

Friends, family and loved ones,

We had a rest day today and spent the morning practicing skills that will enhance our summit success.

Knots, crampons and fix line technique were covered.

Dividing a rope for glacier travel is an important skill to master.

We also reviewed how to prepare for the summit bid and discussed some strategies and tips that have been successful in the past.

Although the weather has been marginal over the last few days, we are hopeful that there is going to be the weather window that we need to be able to top out tomorrow morning. Right now, we are Team Up To Our Elbrus in anticipation!

We are heading to bed to be ready for our 1:30 am wake up call.

Thanks for following,

Vern & Carole

Friends, family and loved ones,

Team Up to Our Elbrus was up to our Elbrus in altitude today. We climbed up to Pashtakov Rocks at about 15,000 feet. The round trip took us about 6 hours and the team was looking really good– they made it look easy. Along the way we visited the remains of the famous Priut Hotel – once the highest in Europe- and took a break at a memorial on the site.

We enjoyed the clear weather on the way up and made it to the Rocks just as the clouds started to roll in. The photo below shows us getting ready to descend.

Some people glissaded down, some of us walked and Mack snowboarded– she’s really good! We made it back to the hut just as the rain started and had a well earned rest before dinner.

Tomorrow we will acclimatize some more and do one last skills review before our summit push.

Vern & Carole