Elbrus Expedition Dispatch

August 5, 2008 – Team Stretches Legs on First Day Hike

On August 4, 2008, Michael, John, Kate and I landed in Mineralnye Vody at about 11:30 in the morning. We cleared baggage claim quite easily, loaded our bags into our minivan and then started driving towards Terksol in the Caucasus Mountains.

We stopped at our favorite roadside market as we drove south from Mineralnye Vody airport where we love the fresh baked bread and the local color. There are women with their great smiles and gold teeth who are always eager to laugh with us, have their photos taken and of course, sell us anything that we want to buy.

We arrived at the hotel in the mid afternoon. We called ahead to make sure the sauna was ready and it certainly was. At 5:00 p.m. John and I were there soaking all of the travel weariness away.

After the sauna we met for our first meal at our hotel, which will be our home base for the entire time we are in the Caucasus. For this beginning portion of the climb we will be working out of the hotel, returning each day as we do our conditioning and acclimatization hikes. They have a wonderful buffet at the hotel every evening with all kinds of food. Our favorite the first night was the mutton stew and the mashed potatoes.

Today our guests were off on our first hike as we usually do. We drove to Duantugan and are heading up towards the Kashkatash glacier right now. I told the group that we would be stretching our legs a bit today and Michael already is laughing about - just what Wally Berg means when he says “stretching your legs”. I think the group will find today’s walk a good way to begin moving after a day of air travel and touring the cities.

On the way to the Kashkatash Glacier we stopped at a local mountaineering shop, got some maps, and checked out the gear that is available in the Caucasus.

We had rain today in a big way. You probably remember our last group had perfectly blue skies in their early days in the Caucasus and then had bad weather on Elbrus. We are hoping that this time it will be the reverse. We don’t mind a bit of rain if the weather improves.

So here we go! Climbing higher and stretching our legs up the trail towards the Kashkatash Glacier.