# Mt. Elbrus. Has anybody climbed it?



## PaulB (12 Nov 2019)

As the thread says, has any of you good people climbed it or do you know anyone who has? I'm itching to do it but first-hand accounts seem thin on the ground.


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## Sea of vapours (12 Nov 2019)

I have, about ....errr.... 24 years ago. What are you interested in in particular? I mean, it's technically very easy: a decidedly high walk with a huge snow slope at the top. The views are naturally pretty fine for most of the ascent. The Caucasus is an interesting area to be climbing in too; pretty wild.


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## PaulB (12 Nov 2019)

Sea of vapours said:


> I have, about ....errr.... 24 years ago. What are you interested in in particular? I mean, it's technically very easy: a decidedly high walk with a huge snow slope at the top. The views are naturally pretty fine for most of the ascent. The Caucasus is an interesting area to be climbing in too; pretty wild.


Excellent. Where did you fly to and which route did you take? Where the barrels there then and if not, did you wild camp or walk in from an elevated camp?


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## Sea of vapours (12 Nov 2019)

We flew via assorted intermediate points, landing in Mineralnye Vody, then by road to a place called Terskol (sp?), which is in the valley to the south of Elbrus, where we had hotel rooms. At the time there was a sequence of two gondolas and a chair lift (actually, the second gondola wasn't running) which went up pretty high, something like 3,500m I think. The Priyut 11 hut had not burnt down at the time and we were in that the night before we summited; that was a little over 4,000m, so 1,600m from the summit or thereabouts. The barrels, and a few containeres iirc, are below that, level with the chair lift, and were there at the time. We were being a bit gung ho on acclimatisation and did a couple of high peaks on the Russia/Georgia border before Elbrus, then straight to the Priyut 11 and then summit and down all the way in one day.
Edit: I meant to say that the Priyut 11 was rebuilt and is presumably a bit nicer and less flammable now!


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## PaulB (13 Nov 2019)

Sea of vapours said:


> We flew via assorted intermediate points, landing in Mineralnye Vody, then by road to a place called Terskol (sp?), which is in the valley to the south of Elbrus, where we had hotel rooms. At the time there was a sequence of two gondolas and a chair lift (actually, the second gondola wasn't running) which went up pretty high, something like 3,500m I think. The Priyut 11 hut had not burnt down at the time and we were in that the night before we summited; that was a little over 4,000m, so 1,600m from the summit or thereabouts. The barrels, and a few containeres iirc, are below that, level with the chair lift, and were there at the time. We were being a bit gung ho on acclimatisation and did a couple of high peaks on the Russia/Georgia border before Elbrus, then straight to the Priyut 11 and then summit and down all the way in one day.
> Edit: I meant to say that the Priyut 11 was rebuilt and is presumably a bit nicer and less flammable now!


Great stuff. We want to avoid going with any kind of organised group and want to get it climbed before they cotton on to the significance of it being Europe's highest mountain and start rationing numbers allowed on it and charging accordingly. The more info I can get, the better so thanks very much for that. Despite how long ago it was, it chimes with everything I've read about it so far.


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## Sea of vapours (13 Nov 2019)

If you're comfortable on easy alpine snow terrain then really the only difficulty is the altitude.It's certanly very much at the easy end of the Seven Summits :-) Good luck with the trip!


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