Mt Elbrus – Day 5 – Camp 1 (3800m)

Message last night: “Brilliant weather today – beaut!  Everyone is psyched and well acclimatised after today.  Back at the hotel and are busy packing late with an early start tomorrow (Thurs).  Everyone will be carrying their own gear including tents and tucker – the packs are full -20kgs’.

Sean sounds in great spirits.  Today’s climb involves ascending by the Elbrus cable car (the cable car elimintes a hike over wretched terrain of crumbling lava and loose shale – if the cable car is working) to Garabashi station at 3750m and hike up to Camp 1 (3800m) where they’ll overnight in tents.  There are huts along the route which some climbers stay in but Sean says it’s best to keep clear of the huts and rather sleep in your own tent.

Excerpt from Sean’s book ‘Freeze Frame’… ‘Elbrus is not technical in comparison to any of the other Seven Summits but it does require an ability to cope with Russia’s extreme cold, the altitude and the horrific electric storms that are common in this geologically troubled region.  The southern Caucasus is highly volcanic and Elbrus itself is a twin peaked volcano’.  Elbrus is a dormant but not an extinct volcano.

View from Priutt 11