Cybercasts

Friends, family and loved ones,

We took one last look at Elbrus this morning and dropped down to the valley below to feast on Shashleak and beer. What a fabulous climb we had in very inclement conditions. Whiteout, wind snow and hail could not stop this team. We figure the wind speeds were around 40 mph and wind chill was close to zero. That requires thoughtful planning and execution throughout the climb. A rest break can destroy you if you don’t take care of little details.

And after we slugged it out all day we were finally rewarded with a sunny (albeit gusty) summit.

Now we are eating and showering to our hearts’ content. Tomorrow we will relax with mellow activities in the Baksan Valley.

All our best,
Carole and Vern Tejas

Comrades, Family & Loved Ones,

We’re back safely from the summit after a very challenging weather day. Epic, really, but we did it all in only 15 hours round trip.

What a strong Team! They did a truly amazing job- but after today we think they should change their name to Whiteout on Arrival.

More later, after we collect ourselves!

Carole & Vern Tejas

Comrades, Family & Loved Ones,

Finally! A clear, dry day! Wonderful views of the Caucasus Mountains down valley and a clear view of Mount Elbrus above.

We headed out after breakfast for a self-arrest extravaganza near our hut. The Team had great spirit as they slid down the hill and practiced arresting their fall from every which position. We then moved to a different spot- steep and icy— and put on our crampons to practice footwork techniques. Everybody did great.  The especially energetic amongst us participated in an optional session in which we practice more crevasse rescue and self-extrication skills.

This afternoon, we packed our bags for our summit attempt, currently scheduled to start at 2 am. The weather forecast isn’t calling for perfect weather but we are hoping that we will be able to pull it off.

Stay Tuned!

Carole & Vern Tejas

Comrades, Family & Loved Ones,

Greetings from our hut on Mt Elbrus! We are comfortable and dry, but the day was quite wet.

We made it up it to the hut in a whiteout but managed to not get too drenched. Once settled, we practiced some skills- rope management, clipping fixed line, etc…

We then headed out onto the glacier and into the whiteness. By then, the precip had tapered off, and it was great to get out on the snow and thread our way around the crevasses. You can see from the pics below that the views were still very white.

Our fingers are crossed for better weather tomorrow but either way we will have fun climbing up to Pastakov Rocks!

Talk to you tomorrow,

Carole and Vern Tejas

Comrades, Family & Loved Ones,

Whiteout conditions did not stop Red on Arrival from climbing up to Pastakov Rocks today.

We battled increasing winds and blowing snow on the way up to the Rocks, but climbed in good style nonetheless. It was a personal altitude record for some of us- and a well earned one at that.

We reached our goal at 14,900 feet and fled down the hill to more protected terrain starting at about 14,400, where we were able to take a break and have a bite to eat. The team did a great job climbing in challenging conditions!
This afternoon, we took the opportunity with some downtime to practice some crevasse rescue techniques.

The team is doing well!

Thanks for following,

Carole & Vern Tejas