Elbrus Expedition Dispatch
June 29, 2010 – Team Climbs to Pashtukov Rocks
The team celebrates at their high point for the day, 15,350 feet above sea level.
Today was an important acclimatization and conditioning day for us. We had a long day, climbing 3,000ft from our barrel to the top of Pashtukov Rocks at 15,350ft/4,700m.
The weather was not very good today. We had virtually no visibility during most of the climb. It's actually quite warm here because we're only 120 km from the Black Sea and the warm ocean air that blows in here brings a lot of moisture. We don't have cold temperatures, but we did have challenging weather with the wind blowing and not very good visibility. There was a great deal of apprehension amongst the group about what they should wear for today's climb. Dressing properly for weather like this means having lots of layers and constantly changing them to suit the changing weather!
Karina leading the group up towards Pashtukov Rocks.
We talked to one strong-looking European group who were on their way down from their summit attempt. Only three of them had actually reached the summit of Elbrus today. You need to have both good weather and good luck to make it to the summit.
So we decided to make an attempt on Thursday rather that Wednesday this week as the weather is supposed to be slightly better as the week progresses. And also, we need a rest; anybody in this group will tell you that today's climb up Pashtukov Rocks really kicked our butts!
We had a good day, but by the time we got down, we were really happy to get into Anastasia's kitchen, have some fresh hot soup and drink some tea and relax. And when I announced that we were putting the summit off until the day after tomorrow, there was a great sense of relief from the whole group.
Despite the grey weather, everyone is in good spirits and excited to be heading for the summit of the highest mountain in Europe in only a couple more days.