{"id":37391,"date":"2016-03-08T12:25:38","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T09:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mountainguides.pro\/?p=37391"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:10:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:10:56","slug":"my-victory-in-the-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountainguides.pro\/es\/2016\/03\/08\/my-victory-in-the-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"My Victory in the Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"

There were five of us in the group at the time \u2014 five desperate characters who cannot sit at home and are forever drawn towards feats of some kind. So we managed to get up to the saddle, and that is a serious altitude already, five thousand three hundred metres. Just above the saddle, short of the fixed ropes themselves, one member of the group unexpectedly caught his crampons and fell into the saddle down an iced slope. He was lucky that time and survived. Rescuers reached him at once and gave first aid. That, of course, was the end of his climb. But it could have ended far worse. As everyone knows, people die on the slopes of Elbrus every year, for all sorts of reasons. Despite what had happened, we decided to keep moving towards our goal. The forecasters were predicting weather that was well suited to a climb. In the end we decided to make a reconnaissance and go up to the Pastukhov Rocks, which stand at four thousand eight hundred and forty-five metres. We had of course done our acclimatisation, on the route from upper Baksan at two thousand metres up the valley of the Kurtyk river. We had a tent camp at the Mir station then. The weather at the time really was excellent: a light breeze was blowing and we genuinely began to regret letting such a good chance to climb the mountain slip away. So we had the good fortune to set out at nine in the morning; we passed the Barrels hut and then the Priyut 11. Runners came past us going the other way. After Priyut 11 the weather began to get considerably worse, and the wind and snow started to pick up. Even with that unwelcome surprise, though, the weather was more or less bearable. As we climbed we enjoyed the astonishingly beautiful views. I remembered the well-known saying that the only thing better than mountains is more mountains. When we reached the Pastukhov Rocks we decided to have a photo session. Some cheerful foreigners joined us then. We took on a share of their good humour and carried on. And on the way back, exactly as we had been promised, the weather grew worse still. In time visibility dropped to ten metres. The whole outing took us about six hours.<\/p>\n\n

That evening everyone talked it over and decided to move as close to the summit as possible, up to the Pastukhov Rocks, and to go for the western summit the next day. That is exactly what we did. But the camp took some work. The slope turned out to be steep. I should say that when you are choosing a place for a tent it matters to take account of snow, ice, rocks and wind.<\/p>\n\n

At three in the morning I heard someone talking. It was clear that the others were ready to start the climb. I once heard an experienced mountaineer say that a mountain cannot be mastered, you can only walk up it. When I looked out of the tent in the morning an astonishing picture opened up in front of me. A great many climbers were on the move, a genuine line of them with no beginning and no end. I immediately started wondering how we were all going to fit up there. All you can do is smile and walk, and the others were hurrying me along. I left camp among the last, because I was afraid the camp would be blown away and spent a long time securing it every way I could think of. As a result I set out at five in the morning. As soon as I got onto the track I was slightly amazed by the variety of climbers. There were professionals here and there were people who simply love the mountains. As for the style of climbing, everyone has their own. Some were traversing and others were going straight up. I decided to go straight up, from one marker flag to the next. Once I reached the Kosaya Polka I began to come to myself, and I was even overtaking other climbers. By now some people who had summited were coming the other way, both groups and solo climbers. There were far more groups, and it is easy to see why: going up alone is far more dangerous. Once we reached the saddle, the really interesting part began. I noticed that the number of people had dropped by about eighty per cent. Some were standing and thinking about whether to carry on or turn back. The weather was certainly no pleasure by then. The wind began to strengthen. There were three hundred metres of climbing left, and up a steep slope.<\/p>\n\n

At the saddle I had the luck to catch up with my companions. They were resting. I thought for a moment, weighed up the arguments for and against, and decided to carry on with the climb. I did not regret it for a minute afterwards. Later I found out that several people fell after me. Seeing that, almost everyone decided to turn back. As for me, I got as far as the fixed ropes and started thinking about the recent accident. I had thoughts of turning back, but then I looked down and decided it was worth a try after all. The weather really was terrible by then: heavy spindrift and a gusting wind of about a hundred kilometres an hour. I even had to speed up a little \u2014 as much as my strength allowed, of course. In the end I was on the summit at ten forty-five. I did not stand there long and decided it was time to go down. Everyone knows that mountain weather can turn very fast, so there is no point in lingering. Tired as I was, my legs carried me back down of their own accord. On the way I even managed to overtake fifty people, if not more. All of them asked, with a kind of frustration, what it was like up top. I got to the Barrels at about two in the afternoon. My friends were waiting for me there. I could see at once that they were worried about something. I thought then how good it was that everyone was safe and well \u2014 and of course there was the joy of knowing that we had done it: we had climbed Elbrus!<\/p>\n\n

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What to read next<\/h2>\n

See the programme:<\/strong> Climbing Elbrus from the west<\/a><\/p>\n