Elbrus Expedition Dispatch
July 5, 2014 – It Snowed All Night!
On July 5th we stopped back by the mountaineering shop for some important items we needed before our climb; smaller boots and a new thermos bottle.
On yesterday's climb Leslie had tried one size of rental boot. He had chaffing on his ankle so we returned to see Andre at the shop and the solution? A size 42. This pair should work perfectly for the summit climb; it is good to have these shops around so we can be sure we get the right fit!
Joanna noted that she had to buy or rent a Primus thermal bottle from Sweden. She had left one of hers at home.
We were waiting for everyone to get their last minute items and get fittings done and Neil, always the dog lover, made a friend.
We've got what we need now - time to go to Elbrus to stay for the summit climb!
Back at the mountaineering shop to find a better fitting boot for the climb
Leslie at the mountaineering shop with his new gear
While waiting for everyone to get their items, Neil made a friend!
Wally in the shop helping everyone find the proper gear
Later that day:
It’s 7 in the evening on Saturday and we moved into the Barrel. It is very cozy right now. There was a rather violent thunder and hailstorm that began a couple of hours ago when we were actually coming down from our ascent.
Our high point for the day was 4,500m above the Barrel. This is after we left our hotel in the valley, rode the gondola’s and the chairlift back up. We dropped our things off at the Barrel, let Leila get her kitchen set up and then we took off for our climb. It was in the sunshine when we left but by the time we descended we got a bit of hail and right now as I said it is very cozy in the Barrel.
Leila made a fantastic soup with fresh greens and vegetables, and eggs. And of course we are in Russia so there was a drop of sour cream in the soup, it was delicious. We had a nice fresh salad as well with cucumber tomato and feta cheese. And that is just the soup and salad. She is actually working on dinner right now which will take a couple of hours.
I don’t think we are going to leave the Barrel tonight because we are cozy. So we are going to be climbing to get higher tomorrow, we are expecting the weather to be clear tomorrow but perhaps we will have another cycle of this afternoon rain and hail and or snowstorms. But for now it is all good as far as acclimatization goes. The team is hanging in there, doing great and excited about being on the mountain and sleeping at 3,800m tonight.
Listen to Wally's call
Arriving at the Barrel to a lot of snow!