They could not cover those final few hundred metres and turned back. I think it must be genuinely painful to travel so far and then retreat without achieving your goal. Only now did I notice that the sun had risen. The western side of the eastern summit lay in shadow, while we repeatedly emerged onto the plateau. The group whose members had climbed beside me slowly made its way onto the plateau. The eastern summit could be seen behind them, and orange marker poles remained from a race. You might imagine that walking across a plateau would be normal or even relatively easy, but the altitude was beginning to make itself felt. I wanted to straighten my shoulders and walk like a victor, yet in practice I barely had enough strength. I could see someone already dancing on the summit and waving a flag. It turned out that I was the fourth person to reach the summit that day. I still had enough energy to look around. There was the summit itself. The climb had taken a long time and required deliberate effort. I rested after every three steps, on the fourth. Before long, everyone else began arriving. They took photographs and celebrated. When I looked from the ropes down the slope, I was glad that I had decided to leave as early as possible. Climbing in such a crowd would not have been much fun. I admit that I remember very little of the descent, or at least nothing about this section stayed with me. The Kosaya Polka once again seemed endless. Around its midpoint, I met Kostya with several other companions. One man was visibly suffering from what the group believed to be altitude illness. At times, he simply gasped for breath, sitting out one such episode in the snow. Kostya turned around and accompanied me back downhill. The descent itself was exhausting and sometimes seemed as though it would never end. The snow began to melt and grew heavy in the sun.
When I noticed that one of my crampon straps was coming undone, I decided that it was a sign that I should rest. Sitting on wet snow beneath a blazing sun, however, was hardly an enjoyable prospect. After a short break, we made one final push towards camp. Kostya was the strongest, so he had to carry my jacket. That was probably what helped me make it back. By the time we reached camp, the place seemed to have quietened down. I could not climb onto the platform by the door properly and barely managed to haul myself up. At least I removed my crampons confidently and with dignity. I then decided to switch back into the previous day’s routine: I drank a cup of tea and immediately collapsed into bed, barely finding time to remove my wet clothes. The others were very bored by then. One had rested well and the other was not particularly tired, so they decided to descend. I chose to stay because I personally liked it there. While I slept, the men packed their belongings and left for Azau. When I woke, everything was silent and peaceful. I drank some tea and went back to sleep. After waking again, I went to collect snow for more tea. As I prepared it, the neighbours returned. They too drank their fill of tea and went to sleep, while I wandered around the area. There stood the famous Priyut 11. A little lower was the Italian refuge, less well known but still worthy of attention.
Climb Elbrus with our guides