Our team has arrived on Mt. Elbrus. It was a beautiful day and every time I ride the tram up to camp I think, "Geez, I wish Mt. Rainier had one of these"! After we arrived the team took an acclimatization hike to 13,680 feet. We got a taste of thin air and then we headed back down to 12,600ft for an incredible lunch. Some of the team are enjoying the cafe just below our camp while others are relaxing. Yes!! This is the life! Tomorrow, stay tuned, our plan is to acclimatize to 15,000 feet give or take.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Last night was full of gigantic fireworks set to the tune of the Star Wars anthem…on YouTube…on my laptop! But heh, it was a great way to spend Fourth of July and with great company.
We spent today finally stretching our legs and getting into the high altitude zone. Our team had a beautiful day trekking up to 12,000' on Peak Cheget. Don’t take my word for it…check out the video!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
We had a successful day traveling by planes, trains and automobiles! After a long day we have arrived in the little ski town of Cheget. It is raining cats and dogs so our evening dinner is inside the warmth of our comfortable hotel. The team is having fun as we slowly ease into the adventure. Tomorrow we will get out and stretch the legs with a good acclimatization hike. Stay tuned for some action packed photos and videos.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Hello Everyone!! Happy 4th of July from Russia! Our team had a great first day in Moscow. We took in the sights and visited some of the great historical places of this great city. Have a glance at the video to see what you are missing! Tomorrow, we fly to get a little closer to Mount Elbrus…Stay Tuned!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Hello from Azau. The team is down to five as two left yesterday evening. The remaining teammates are having our last dinner together as I type this message.
Today the guys went for a horseback ride in the morning and then we all went to a 'catch your own' trout lunch. There may or may not have been beer drinking involved as well.
It has been a total blast of a trip and today was hilarious. We are all catching flights tomorrow and beginning our journeys back home.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
We did it! 100% to the top of Mt. Elbrus. We basically squeaked in the summit right between a couple of storms. We hopped out of bed at 11:45 PM last night and were loaded up in a snowcat by 1 AM. After a 45 minute ride we started our climb under starry skies.
The whole crew stayed together as we made our way up the ever steepening slopes to the summit. Good footwork and breathing techniques were mandatory as the trail was pretty much non existent due to the recent snow. We made great time to the summit and the views of the Caucasus were amazing. We were also the first group of the day so we had the summit all to ourselves. Bonus!
No less than 10 minutes after we began our descent it began snowing and the visibility decreased considerably. Our timing was perfect and that was primarily due to our excellent Russian guide Yuri. Thanks partner!
We are packing now and we'll hop on the gondolas when we are all set. Hotel rooms and kebabs for us tonight.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Hi from High Camp on Mt. Elbrus. The weather forecast is looking pretty good for a summit bid tonight! We'll be up around midnight, shooting for a 1:00 AM departure.
Today was pretty relaxing with a late breakfast followed by some avalanche transceiver training. Once that was complete we went for a short hike before lunch. After lunch we took a break and then prepped our gear for the summit push.
If everything goes as planned we should be on the summit between 6 and 7 AM our time. Hopefully I'll be calling from the top for my next check in.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Its a storm day for Team Elbrus. We actually had good weather this morning and got out to do some more practice with the ice axe and crampons. We then moved into self arrest practice. By the time we finished that it had started to snow and then that turned to rain for a minute. The wind really kicked up for a few hours after that and we had a real storm for a while
We all hid from the weather and watched a movie this afternoon. Thanks to Brett for supplying the iPad. It's about 5:30PM now and there's not much wind and some sun at camp. The upper mountain is covered in a large cloud and it looks like there are more clouds moving our way. Because of that we have decided to stick to our original plan and go for the summit either tomorrow night or the next.
I'll check in again tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
You guys are great!! Its so much fun to watch your progress…..Cant wait till I get the news that you’ve reached the summit and are on your way down! I wonder how long it takes to get down???Carol
Privet! We are up on the mountain and everyone is doing great. The seven of us are bunked in an 8'x8'x20' container at 12,500' elevation. We started the morning with coffee at the hotel along with the Elbrus Ski Team who are on their way to St. Petersburg today.
After breakfast we drove to the base of the big ski area here and loaded ask our duffels on three consecutive gondolas. Garabashi Hut is right at the top of the last gondola so we were able to drop duffels, grab lunch and head out for an acclimatization hike.
Yuri, the local guide, and I decided to try and shoot for a climb up 15,000' to speed up our acclimatization schedule as the weather forecast isn't looking great after tomorrow. Everyone did really well and we made great time up and down from 15k.
Tomorrow we are going to make a plan after checking the weather. We will ideally go over some ice axe safety techniques and go on another hike, but we will just have to see.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall and Team Elbrus
Way to go boys! Sounds like you’re doing great. If you have some down-time, have Keagy lead you in a few stanzas of “Lotties”. I know a guy whose name is Keagy…........
Best of luck on the summit and stay safe. Wish I could be there with you.
Hello from the tiny mountain village of Azau. Today was our transfer day so we've been up and on the move since before 5:30am. We rolled out of Moscow just as the hard core partiers were finishing up their night and it was funny to see people dressed up for going out mingling with other people starting their Saturday morning.
The traffic was light, the check-in and security lines were smooth and the flight was just under two hours. The only major events of the day had to do with our spirited Russian driver and cows in the road.
Tomorrow we'll get some hiking in and I think the whole team is looking forward to some exercise and fresh air.
That's it for now,
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
Way to go Ryan! Keep ‘em climbing!! I’ll be watching the team’s progress, looks like a fantastic trip!
Posted by: Shirley Tharp on 7/5/2016 at 10:08 am
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