We are sitting in a Barrel at three thousand eight hundred metres, trying to get warm. Yesterday we were warned that today would be cold, and that turned out to be true: it is very cold all around and there is no getting warm at all. It is minus twenty outside, and that is no longer a joke. We have, however, discovered some red ice, which turned out to be wine. We like wine, dry wine especially, so it is quite possible that we will be able to melt it on the gas stove we have with us. We drink it quickly and get into our warm sleeping bags.<\/p>\n
Later we lit the gas heater kindly provided by the owner of the Barrel. We sit looking at our boots and imagining that it is much warmer in the room than in the kitchen. Autosuggestion really is a valuable thing. That was how our winter climb began. It should be said that people rarely set out on Elbrus in winter: it is too cold here and there is too much ice, which makes a mass ascent unrealistic. In summer hundreds of people go up to the summit, and that counts as normal. But in spite of all this, here we are, and we badly want to reach the summit, even though we have only five days, which is not enough for full acclimatisation. We will do everything we can to make the climb up Elbrus.<\/p>\n
Now, in order. First we went to Terskol, where we checked straight into a hotel and started preparing for the climb: first registration with the rescue service, then all the other preparations and sorting out equipment. The next day we went up to three thousand eight hundred metres. I was a little worried about my own condition, since this was the second day running with a big height gain, but it all passed off quietly. First we went up on the lift, and then on foot from the Mir station, because the upper section of the cable car works badly in winter. We arrived at the Barrels. My friend feels excellent, and the altitude is not troubling me much either. Spirits are good and we believe more and more in a successful climb. The next day we decide to go up to the Pastukhov Rocks to acclimatise. It is hard here without a GPS unit: everything around is white, and if the distance between us is more than ten metres we cannot see each other. For safety we roped up and started a steady climb. We got as far as four thousand one hundred metres, then rested, but we needed to get up to four thousand three hundred. The weather did not improve, and our guide decided to run a snow-and-ice session, because in winter the slopes of Elbrus above the Pastukhov Rocks are covered in hard ice. Walking on it is harder: the ice is too hard, and crampons do not bite as they should but have to be driven in with force. We also had to fix ropes on all that ice and rig lines on ice axes. We practised for a long time, working on our technique with ice equipment.<\/p>\n
Suddenly the weather began to break, and we decided to go down. Everything around is white, and it feels as if you are in space, losing your bearings. The GPS unit helped us find the way, and we got back to the hut, having completed a productive day of acclimatisation. We spent the next day at the Barrels, talking to interesting people and resting. The climb to the summit is planned for three in the morning: it is the shortest day and, according to the predictions, the day the world ends, but we do not believe that and are simply getting ready for the climb.<\/p>\n
Five in the morning, and we are already at the Pastukhov Rocks. It is dark, snow all around, but there is no wind at four thousand seven hundred metres. When we reached the ice we realised we had been lucky: there were snowy patches all the way, and we wove between them, trying to avoid the ice. In some places, though, we had to step onto the ice and drive in our crampons, which is rather like standing on glass. My partner found it hard, especially on ice like that for the first time, but he managed. We climbed to four thousand eight hundred and fifty metres, and altitude sickness caught up with me. My friend was having a hard time too. Going up on your fourth day in the mountains is a trial, and with every step there is less air. Three days is clearly not enough to get used to the altitude, but our team was determined, and, working through the difficulties, we reached five thousand metres. There we stopped, drank some tea and began to go down.<\/p>\n
The snow was falling in large flakes, the wind strengthened, and when we got back to the hut we packed our things and set off for the cable car. Good shashlik was waiting for us in Terskol, and we summed up the climb with satisfaction: we had managed to get high enough and to gain experience of a winter climb on Elbrus. The main conclusion is that going down at the first signs of altitude sickness was the right decision, and we will always have the chance to come back and try again for the summit.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Related:<\/strong> all Elbrus routes and programmes<\/a> – the classic route from the south<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are sitting in a Barrel at three thousand eight hundred metres, trying to get warm. Yesterday we were warned that today would be cold, and that turned out to be true: it is very cold all around and there is no getting warm at all. It is minus twenty outside, and that is no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14084,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n