{"id":37312,"date":"2013-01-17T01:59:08","date_gmt":"2013-01-16T22:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mountainguides.pro\/?p=37312"},"modified":"2026-09-10T16:09:50","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T13:09:50","slug":"first-time-on-elbrus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountainguides.pro\/hi\/2013\/01\/17\/first-time-on-elbrus\/","title":{"rendered":"Elbrus for the first time: a guide’s honest briefing"},"content":{"rendered":"

You do not have to start going to the mountains on Elbrus<\/a>. There are excellent mountains just like it in Nepal, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, France, Mexico and, in the end, in Russia.<\/p>\n\n

But since people keep asking, I shall tell you about climbing Elbrus<\/a>. I have been taking people of every nationality up it since 2001. With some reservations, all of this can be applied to any mountain region in the world.<\/p>\n\n

The bulk of the clientele, oddly enough, is office plankton, people who had never given mountaineering a thought. BE WARNED! At least half of them are hooked for life, or until circumstances beyond their control intervene (a wedding, and so on).<\/p>\n\n

People end up on tours like this in the most varied ways. One year 10 businessmen from South Africa turned up (gold mines, diamond fields, their own banks all over the world). They were drinking in a restaurant and wondering how they might all amuse themselves together. From the restaurant table they sent the youngest of them off to the internet to google an interesting active holiday for them. Elbrus was what came up. Another man, a Spaniard, won a trip to Elbrus on a television quiz. Last year a chap came with his girlfriend and proposed to her out of the blue on the summit. In short, people get up to whatever they like. In case you did not know, a Land Rover has been hauled up Elbrus, people have “ridden” up on horses, on dog sledges and on a four-wheel-drive motorcycle, a small concert has been played up there and a great deal else besides. People have climbed Elbrus with one leg, with cerebral palsy, and people paralysed from the waist down have “climbed” it too. The difficulties and the dangers usually come from being unprepared, and mostly not physically unprepared at all.<\/p>\n\n

The price of a climbing programme. I work as a guide, so I shall deal mainly with the aspects and advantages of commercial climbs. Let me say at once, though, that I do not deny that climbing independently has its advantages, even on Everest, and I respect the choice of those who go alone. Everything negative I write below about independent climbers applies only to the reckless, the over-ambitious and those who do not think enough. You can ride a motorcycle at 300 as well, if you know where and how to do it safely.<\/p>\n\n

The price of an Elbrus tour among Russian companies and independent organisers ranges from 13000 to 45000 per person for the full package (correct me if anyone finds anything beyond that). There are serious things to watch here. Accommodation on the mountain may be tents; accommodation in the valley may be a crowd in one flat somewhere in Neutrino; there may be one guide to 28 people; some things may not be included. But the market is growing and almost everyone finds their buyer, unfortunately.<\/p>\n\n

A guide on Elbrus. On climbs up to 8000m there should be one guide for every three clients. One to four is still workable, but unpleasant scenarios become possible. It depends on the group leader and their ability to manage the whole thing. A guide (we are talking about Elbrus) must have a radio, a navigator, a cool head, a first-aid kit, an excellent rapport with the group, and a sense of humour would not hurt. A rope would be useful too. People often walk up Elbrus with ski poles, having given up on an ice axe. On the saddle I always carry an ice axe in one hand myself, even though I stand as firmly up there as I do in town, which cannot be said of clients. I make my assistants walk with an ice axe as well. People coming down can knock you over, you can trip, slip or lose your balance, and a safe snow slope leads to an injury or even a death. You can argue about who reached the summit, but I have carried a body down from the saddle, a young Swede who should have had his whole life ahead of him. He shot out onto the rocks and took off half his skull. “Independently.” And there was not even any ice on the slope. A countless number of people have been smashed up on the Pastukhov Rocks after coming off the slope above, and by no means always on ice. I am also flatly against roping everyone together on one rope, as many guides do. There have been no incidents so far, but they cannot be ruled out. That is how a famous American woman guide died on McKinley in 2011, on a simple slope. Four of her five clients died with her. They killed each other with their ice axes and crampons because of the rope tying them together. Separately they would easily have managed self-arrest with their axes. I arrived at camp 5300 just as they were being brought down to that very camp and a helicopter was taking away the two who were alive (one of whom died in hospital).<\/p>\n\n

Guides who appear to be serious have also lost clients on Elbrus three times in my memory, during the climb. Two disobeyed and went off to the eastern summit, having got far ahead of the whole group on the descent from the western one. Two Canadian brothers; the bodies were never found. One fell on spring ice while changing over on a fixed rope above Pastukhov, and there, frankly, who is to blame is anyone’s guess, there is not enough evidence. And one man’s heart stopped on the saddle because of a thrombosis, and that is something you cannot foresee.<\/p>\n\n

On the subject of hiring a guide yourself, incidentally. Guides who work regularly are usually booked under contract for the whole season, from May to September inclusive. There are usually no gaps in the diary. There is a small pool of decent guides who do not speak English, so they work as assistants or take casual work with Russian visitors, but they only like working on the mountain. Why? Because a guide’s pay for the whole programme is 100 dollars a day, while summit day is already 300 euros (give or take, depending on the guide’s mood and on whether they want to work or take a breather). To that you should normally add the guide’s cable-car ticket, food and accommodation, though for 300 euros those costs may well be waived)))<\/p>\n\n

No, no, of course you can find a “guide” for 100 dollars on summit day too. But that will unquestionably be someone who is on Elbrus by chance. Such a person may be an International Class Master of Sport in mountaineering and very good company over a drink, but the statistics say that does not help. I shall not name names, but a little googling will easily turn up cases where inexperienced instructors or guides (inexperienced meaning 5-20 ascents of Elbrus) destroyed whole groups. There I would say it is unquestionably safer to go alone than with a guide like that. At least you will have time to turn back.<\/p>\n\n

Climbing independently and being caught by bad weather, many people change their minds about commercial mountaineering on the spot and even try to wedge themselves in among the clients between the lead guide and the guide at the back. We take an extremely dim view of that. Behind the last guide, by all means. We regularly look for lost people and pick them up ourselves, standing in for the emergency service on the mountain. But we will not spend long persuading or searching, because our clients’ safety matters most, and in a blizzard it is a matter of hours and sometimes minutes. Last year, on the last climb of the season, I gathered up 7-8 “independent” climbers who had navigators but were in a complete panic. On top of that I had 10 clients of my own. That same night one “independent” climber froze to death on the saddle. I simply did not see them in time in the blizzard. The day before, in a similar story, a lost climber sat out the night alive, but the emergency service never came for them. They were rescued by our guides at the request of the missing man’s friends. And we are the only ones who mark the trail and put the markers straight (thanks to ElbrusRace there are now wands from the spring, so you no longer have to bring your own). A good snowfall buries the wands at once, and climbers pull them out and use them instead of ski poles, or simply break them.<\/p>\n\n

The route. The simplest route is the South. There is the least walking here and slightly more comfort than on the North, East and West. There are cable cars, snowcats, hotels and huts.<\/p>\n\n

The North is slightly harder. There are only a couple of huts, at 3700, and you have to live in tents at base camp. There is a lot of walking roped up, far fewer people, a far longer summit day and higher physical demands.<\/p>\n\n

From the East it is slightly harder again: utterly wild, long, beautiful.<\/p>\n\n

The hardest and most dangerous is from the West. Crevasses, wilderness, beauty, a couple of crashed helicopters along the way. I do not recommend East or West as a first climb.<\/p>\n\n

There are programmes that go up one side and down another. They are called the “cross” and the “traverse”. They are harder logistically, and therefore more expensive even when you organise them yourself.<\/p>\n\n

Physical preparation. Ages from 8 to 80. The recommended age is 16 to 70.<\/p>\n\n

Running is the best training. If there is no running track, you can run up the stairs of a tower block. Or walk them. Running on tarmac, and running at all if you are overweight, is strongly discouraged: the load on the joints is excessive. You can walk, swim or cycle. You can do none of it and you will most likely still get up from the South, but you will be in no state to notice the views, and after that ordeal you may well give up mountains altogether. Success rates in commercial groups run at 65-98 per cent depending on the guide’s approach and luck and, oddly enough, regardless of how long the programme is. You do NOT need pull-ups and press-ups for Elbrus. Nor do you need to reach Candidate Master of Sport standard in running. Running a marathon is even slightly bad for high-altitude mountaineering.<\/p>\n\n

As a piece of advertising: my favourite Polar heart-rate monitor helps me with my training. A hangover, laziness and feeling unwell will never throw the training process into confusion!<\/p>\n\n

Acclimatisation on Elbrus. The mechanism of altitude sickness exactly repeats the mechanism of a hangover: the brain is not getting enough oxygen. With everything that follows from that. Good acclimatisation partly makes up for a lack of fitness. Many clients who have climbed Elbrus cannot catch up with a trolleybus in a traffic jam. Everyone’s holiday is short, though, and 8-day programmes, for instance, sell six times better than 11-day ones. Forget about tablets: they will remove some of the symptoms but they will not help you walk. Your legs turn to cotton wool, your will deserts you, and if there is no reliable friend or guide beside you, that is that. Amphetamine I have not tried, admittedly. Take vitamins for about three weeks before the climb and iron supplements during acclimatisation. I serve clients red wine (an excellent iron supplement) where it is available. On Elbrus it is always available. For 1-3% of people (the sources differ) anything above 4000m will never work out. Something to do with enzymes and disrupted red-cell production. I know one such person myself: they are flat on their back even at 3700, and they are an excellent climber. But do not write yourself off too quickly: full acclimatisation for Elbrus and heights like it can take until as late as the 14th day.<\/p>\n\n

Equipment. I have written a short separate article on equipment and how to choose it, not yet published anywhere. If there is demand for it, I shall put it up.<\/p>\n\n

On Elbrus, over and above the general list (which I shall put on my site shortly), it is worth paying particular attention to mittens, boots, an ice axe, ski poles, ski goggles (only goggles will let you see in a blizzard), a balaclava and a windproof face mask. If you are going independently it is advisable to have a very well charged phone (though so far it has not helped anybody much in finding the way) and a satellite navigator. You can buy clothing for 10 thousand dollars, or sew it yourself, or go up in a sheepskin coat; just reckon on -20 in summer. And on it not letting the wind or the wet through. Bad boots and gloves, on the other hand, are a straight road to frostbite and sometimes to death.<\/p>\n\n

A cool head.<\/p>\n\n

You can go for the summit in bad weather, but only if you are confident of getting down safely. No summit is worth your life or your health. People die even 100m from the Barrels on the south side. You simply have to understand that, and for Having a navigator is good, but nothing like enough for safety on Elbrus. One discharge of static electricity (and summer thunderstorms on Elbrus are getting more frequent) and you will be finding your way by touch. Forgotten batteries, the satellites going down (it happened once for twenty-four hours, and we were caught in a blizzard at exactly that moment) or simply very thick cloud can leave you without that last hope. There is a small new hut on the saddle, and there is the fumarole cave. Reading a little about them is enough to survive later on. Some friends of mine once cut a chest-deep trench in the ice with their axes in a blizzard, so as not to freeze and to spend the night in it, and then it cleared and the trench was not needed. One instructor spent two nights in a crevasse. And panic will kill you within hours. And ambition has to be kept in check: it is ambition that has caused almost every death on Elbrus.<\/p>\n\n

If all this strikes you as too complicated for Elbrus and you think you can simply turn up, have a stroll and nip to the top, then just pick a bigger mountain.<\/p>\n\n

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What to read next<\/h2>\n

See the programme:<\/strong> Climbing Elbrus from the south, 9 days<\/a><\/p>\n