Entries from Elbrus Southside
Hello all,
Thankfully everyone easily survived our celebration dinner and made it home at a decent hour. Today was a rest day for us in Cheget and most of us took it easy. We mostly relaxed, packed up gear, and did a little exploring around the valley. We also went out to a nearby restaurant that has a trout pond where we watched locals fish and enjoyed a nice lunch.
Tomorrow is our travel day from the mountain to St. Petersburg, so we are off to bed as we have a very early departure.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
July 29, 2017
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 7,500'
Hello again everyone!
The team has finally made it off of the mountain and we are safely back in Cheget. We sadly had our last meal from Dasha this morning before saying our goodbyes and hitching a ride downhill. She and her amazing mountain food will certainly be missed.
Hot showers were had by all, and its safe to say we are smelling good again.
We mostly relaxed the rest of the day and are just heading out to our celebration dinner where our wonderful local guides will no doubt "introduce" us to a little Russian vodka.
That's all for today.
на здоровье!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
July 28, 2017
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 18,510'
We did it! 100% on top!!! The entire team stood on the highest point in Europe.
We were pretty lucky with the weather, as it was near perfect, so the decision to climb early and avoid the forecasted weather paid off. We started at 3:30am with a snowcat ride up to 15,000' then hit the trail in a decent breeze that thankfully mellowed out a few hours later. It was a beautiful and welcomed sunrise as the sun helped warm us up.
The team did a fantastic job of taking care of themselves and climbed strong. We summited in clear skies with a wonderful view of the entire Caucasus Mountain Range, which is something I haven't had often here on Elbrus.
After descending a short ways back to the saddle between the two summits that Elbrus has, a few of us decided to climb the second summit while the rest of the team descended safely back to camp. I've been pretty lucky the last few climbs and have pulled off the double summit a few times. It was a bonus for sure.
After everyone returned to camp, we had a quick lunch and are currently relaxing with smiles on our faces.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and a happy crew
On The Map
What an accomplishment! Congrats!!!
Posted by: Brinkley Pound on 7/28/2017 at 11:17 am
July 27, 2017
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 12,000'
Hello again from 12,000' in Russia!
Things are good here and the team is excited for tonight! Today we had our last acclimatization hike before tonight's climb. Normally we take an extra rest day before climbing, but the forecast doesn't look too good the next few days so we are making our bid tonight. We started early today to maximize our rest today and have been relaxing since noon.
Our cook Dasha has done an amazing job of keeping our bellies full with plenty of good home cooked Russian food.
This evening we had a thorough discussion about tonight's upcoming climb and everyone is packed and ready. Hopefully the weather continues to hold and we'll be up shortly after 2am and after a quick breakfast hop on the snowcat to give us a bump a little further up the mountain. This will shorten our climb a little and increase our chance of reaching the highest point in Europe.
We had a trivia challenge today and one lucky winner will get to make a satellite phone call from the summit. So everyone following along, keep your phones handy, you just might receive a call.
I'm expecting us to reach the summit somewhere around 10-11am here, same time zone as Moscow.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Way to go! Very much of a team effort. Can’t wait to hear all of the details. Safe travels on the return.
Posted by: Jim Pound on 7/28/2017 at 2:25 pm
So happy for you all. Sorry to miss Seth’s call but will treasure the voice mail!!!! Absorb the moment!
Posted by: Brinkley Pound on 7/28/2017 at 6:29 am
July 26, 2017
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 12,000'
We woke to clear skies and beautiful weather today. We had breakfast in the hotel and then loaded up all our climbing gear and drove to the base of the ski resort where we rode not one, but two gondolas, a single chair lift and then a short snowcat ride to reach our new home on Mt. Elbrus for the next few days. It's rather comfortable up here, as our outfitter has taken a few shipping containers and converted them into simple bunk rooms some for sleeping and some set up as dinning rooms.
Once we got settled into our new home we headed uphill on another acclimatizing hike and reached just over 14,000' before returning to camp where our wonderful cook Dasha had a nice hot lunch waiting for us.
We spent the remaining of the afternoon doing a little training for our climb. The weather forecast has been a little up and down, so are just staying prepared. Everyone is doing great and enjoying the views of the Caucasus mountain range which are pretty amazing since we are camped out at just over 12,000'.
Dasha has once again had filled our bellies full of delicious Russian food and so the team is off to bed now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
We miss you but love following your latest adventure! Love and Prayers Jill, Rachel, David, Caleb, Kiki, Cora, Emily, Shane, Eli, Silas, Samuel, Shena, Jeff, Anthony and Chloe
Posted by: Jill Crumley on 7/27/2017 at 3:41 am
Awesome pictures! Looks like a great time. Have fun as you both get closer to the summit.
Love
Dad
Posted by: Wayne Kelly Sr. on 7/26/2017 at 1:02 pm
The team made it to St. Petersburg yesterday. We went out to a nice team dinner, and a few folks left early this morning to get back home. The rest of the group spent the day touring the wonderful city of St. Petersburg. The cathedrals and palaces here are ornate beyond measure. We spent the afternoon cruising through the canals on our own private boat, and finished the evening with an excellent dinner at the historic Astoria Hotel, complete with a celebrity appearance.
Most of the team leaves early tomorrow morning for the U.S. It's been a great trip all around. Thanks to all of the team, and to everybody following along.
RMI Guide JM Gorum
July 25, 2017
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 11,000'
All is well here in the Baksan Valley, at the base of Elbrus where we've settled into our comfortable hotel. We made the most of the local ski lifts, (to save our knees of course) and hiked up the neighboring peak to start our acclimatization. It started off a little cloudy today, but eventually cleared for some decent views of Elbrus. After our ascent we headed back down to town for a nice lunch and headed over to the local climbing shop to pick up a few last minute things. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing, getting our bags packed and just wrapped up another enjoyable Russian dinner with some wonderful Georgian soup.
All is well here and we'll check in again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
July 24, 2017
Posted by: Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 7,500'
Здравствуйте (hello) from Russia!
We had an early start to the day as we left Moscow this morning and have traveled via plane and bus to the beautiful Caucus mountains. Our flight took us to southern Russia not too far from the Black Sea to a place called Mineralnye Vody, which simply translates to Mineral Water.
This part of the country is predominately rural and is responsible for much of the agriculture that the larger cities depends on. We were meet by our trustworthy guide Yuri, whom I've climbed with many times. Then hopped in our van for the 3 hour drive up the Baksan Valley to the base Mt. Elbrus.
Things went pretty smooth minus a few little traffic jams with cars, motorcycles and cows all humorously trying to use the road.
The small town we are in is called Cheget, and it doubles as a ski town in winter and converts to climbing town in the summer. We didn't do a ton of exploring this afternoon due to the adjustment of the time that we are all still feeling and having started so early. However, tomorrow we will do our first acclimatizing hike and do a little exploring too.
All is well here as we are looking forward to a little exercise tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello everyone -
The team arrived yesterday after a tiring day of travel. As most of the team is still adjusting to the nearly 12 hour time change we kept things simple with a little round of introductions and a brief overview of the days ahead. We then took a short walk to get dinner at a nearby restaurant before turning in for the night.
Today we meet with our local tour guide, Victoria, and had a wonderful tour of the nearby Red Square and the Kremlin. We visited several churches including the iconic St. Basil's, plus a brief stop at the famous GUM, which is a high end shopping mall that sits across the Red Square from the Kremlin.
We've just returned from dinner and are getting packed up for tomorrow's flight to the south which will get us closer to Mt. Elbrus.
Everyone is doing great and looking forward to heading to the mountains tomorrow.
That's all for now.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Good luck on summit success this morning. You all look ready!
Richard Cost I expect you to do both. Love you!
Posted by: Stacey Cost on 7/27/2017 at 11:43 am
Glad the trip is going so well. Richard Cost, you make a nice blonde.
Posted by: Stacey Cost on 7/25/2017 at 8:31 pm
July 21, 2017
Posted by: JM Gorum
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Elbrus Southside
Elevation: 12,500'
After a windy night, the team awoke to blue skies and a relatively calm breeze. We spent the first half of the day reviewing skills like rope travel and self arrest. The remainder of the day has been spent relaxing, prepping gear for our summit attempt of Mt. Elbrus tomorrow morning, and watching some very acrobatic birds fly around camp. We are pretty much ready to go, now we just wait and hope for good weather. You'll hear from us tomorrow!
RMI Guide JM Gorum
On The Map
Wishing Ray, Nikolai and Aleksandr a fun and successful climb to the summit tomorrow. We’re all looking forward to the stories and picture back here at USC. Good luck!! Angela
Posted by: Angela Walker on 7/21/2017 at 7:16 am
David, and team - what a fantastic accomplishment! Keep climbing safely.
Posted by: Jay McCampbell on 8/7/2017 at 7:42 am
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