Elbrus Expedition Dispatch

July 4, 2011 – The Night Train to Moscow

Just before midnight, right on schedule, at precisely 11:41 PM, our Grand Express train pulled out of Moscow Station just off Nevsky Prospect in St Petersburg. The summer sky over St Petersburg was still light. It is only a two-block walk down Nevsky Prospect to the train station; the street was still full of people enjoying their city.

Our huge duffel bags full of climbing gear for Mount Elbrus were delivered to the train station by hotel van and Vage, from the Nevesky Palace concierge staff accompanied us to make sure our check in went well. Trains in Russia are extremely punctual; you do not want to be late for a departure!

As we rolled southward it was relaxing to know that we would have more than 8 hours on board to sleep and prepare for our arrival in Moscow.

We slept two to a berth in the first class carriage. Dick, Bill, Paul Wally sat together in one berth drinking beer and telling climbing stories from Alaska, the Himalayas and elsewhere for an hour or so, but soon everyone was asleep. About one hour before we pulled into Moscow’s Leningrad Station our uniformed train cabin attendant served breakfast. She had not been particularly pleased to see our large group of climbers arrive to enter her carriage on what is normally a businessman’s overnight train to the capital, but by morning she had gotten used to us and actually smiled as she served us.

Nicholai, a driver from the Ararat Park Hyatt Hotel was waiting at the train station in Moscow. We loaded the big duffels into his van and after only a few minutes of driving we were circling round the Kremlin and Red Square in the heart of Moscow. The Hyatt is located next to Bolshoi Theater, across the street from Red Square; we could not be in a better location. As we entered the lobby, Marcela, Olga, Anton and other members of the Hyatt staff greeted us warmly. The Berg Adventures climbers who pass through this hotel on the way to the Caucasus Mountains to go climbing each summer always seem to be a memorable group of guests for the hotel staff here. They always treat us great.

Larissa, our Moscow tour guide was waiting in the lobby as well. It was nearly 10:00 AM by the time we’d gotten checked in. Larissa has become used to being flexible with our groups. This morning’s priorities seemed to go something like this:

1. several of the group needed to get to banks to secure some more US dollars. We will be flying to the upper slopes of Mount Elbrus by helicopter in a few days.
2. Lunch! The underground “Food Court” beneath the street on the crossing to Red Square seems to be the most expedient option.
3. See the sights of Moscow!

We are all tired, but a walk through Red Square, viewing St. Basils Cathedral and going into the GUM department store at Red Square, where a model of the Sputnik satellite is displayed alongside some of the most upscale designer shops any of us had ever seen made for an interesting afternoon. The group also saw the military precision of the execution of the “changing of the guard” at the Kremlin.

We met for drinks in the lobby of the Hyatt in the early afternoon and later went for an excellent Italian meal down the street from the Hyatt and a few of us could not resist going to the roof top terrace bar of the Hyatt before retiring. Tomorrow our long flight down to the Caucasus region will take us all the way to 43 degrees south, at the edge of the Black Sea - quite a shift from the northern cities of European Russia.