Elbrus Expedition Dispatch

July 12, 2011 – An Exciting Summit Day on Mt. Elbrus

A Mount Elbrus update from the Berg Adventures Office:

Today was summit day and an exciting day it was. This morning, 9 of our 11 summit team members made it to the summit of Europe’s highest peak, Mount Elbrus at 18,596ft/5665m. And a beautiful summit day it was! The views were stellar, extremely beautiful. There was hardly any wind and though they started the climb with clouds, by the time they reached the summit the skies were clear.

It was a long and challenging day, and it worked like this: Dick and Paul and Bill started climbing with our guide, Alibek. They reached the summit first. A few hours later, at 11am a second team of Chris, Ljerka, Jeremy, Bruno, Mario, Steve and Jeff began to climb.

Armando has been doing his acclimatization hikes every day and he was gauging his own progress. With a lot of mountain experience under his belt, he just knew that he wasn’t quite on the mark for a successful summit this time so he did not go today. He stayed back with Donna, who had never intended to summit, and with our cook, Leila.

With a number of Berg Adventures trips under his belt and many successful summits in the past, Steve knew he was not at his best today and decided to turn around at the saddle. He got there moving slowly and realizing that he wasn’t having a very good day. He rested with our guide Vladimir and then he started moving above the saddle, but he decided that he just didn’t have the strength and energy to continue so he turned back.

All in all, the team had a fantastic summit day. They are all tired, but happy with their accomplishments. Everyone is doing well. Congrats to the entire team!