Berg Adventures International: Mt. Elbrus Cybercast 2007

It’s the 29th of July and all the members of the Berg Adventures Elbrus Expedition that are doing the complete trip beginning in St. Petersburg, are all together. Alex was the final member of the team to arrive. He arrived last night and met us at the Nevsky Palace Hotel. He had a relatively short flight from Portugal, through Munich and then to St. Petersburg.

I Wally Berg watches the Rolling Stones live in St. Petersburg arrived a few days ago, always excited to return to my favourite city in the world. We are very far north here. Sixty degrees north is virtually further than anyone lives in Canada even. Maybe 160,000 Canadians might live further north than us and yet, St. Petersburg is a city of 4.5 Million people. It’s the centre of modern and vibrant, as well as rich in history. As I flew into St. Petersburg airport, there was still a red sun in the sky at 12:20 am, just past midnight.

We have had a wonderful few days. We’ve enjoyed the tours by Lina, a St. Petersburg tour guide and an old friend of mine. I have to say that Lida and Lina became like sisters almost immediately from when they first met and they have been inseparable in the days that we have been in St. Petersburg so far. We have had a great time walking the streets of this warm, relaxing, wonderful city of the far north.

Last night, we had a great experience. Four of us, John, Wes, Lida and myself, went to see the Rolling Stones play at the palace square right in front of the Hermitage museum and the Winter Palace. What an amazing sight to see the Stones play in such a historic city. It was a fabulous performance and we walked back to the hotel once again, just past midnight, with the sky not even dark yet. That was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the Rolling Stones play in St. Petersburg.

Wes enjoying the Rolling Stones

As you know, we are going to catch the midnight train to Moscow tonight. Once we are there, we will meet up with the rest of our team members and head way south to the Caucuses Mountains to try to climb Mt. Elbrus.