I will admit, without any exaggeration at all, that I had dreamt of climbing Elbrus for years. But, as so often happens, something always got in the way. And then the moment finally came when everything really did line up. Most importantly, I could at last afford the climb. A mountain ascent, as everyone knows, is not a cheap pleasure. First, if you use a tour operator you have to pay a certain sum for help in getting up the mountain safely and in reasonable comfort, with professionals. Second, the equipment costs a good deal. But you can, of course, take your equipment from a hire shop instead. That is exactly what I decided to do. I had to save money somewhere. As for choosing a tour company, there was no difficulty there. I decided to go with the company we had walked with in Crimea not long before, over the May holidays. I had liked everything about it then, so I decided to travel with them. I should say that I did not really train for it, because I was sure I was in decent physical shape anyway. As it turned out later, that was a mistake. There were moments in the mountains when I found it very hard, and I silently told myself off for not preparing properly for the climb.<\/p>\n
I cannot say anything bad about the organisation. Everything was clear and there were no slip-ups, starting with the meeting in Pyatigorsk itself. The plan put an acclimatisation walk at the very beginning. It took us along the Adyl-Su ridge. I have to mention that it really is a place of incredible beauty. It was a good thing I had a camera with me and could capture all of it. What was interesting is that for all the beauty of the area, we saw people only once, when we came out on the pass. It turned out that most people prefer to go up Cheget. I am happy that we ended up here instead. That was also when we had our snow and ice sessions, which really were very instructive and interesting \u2014 all the more so for anyone in the mountains for the first time. They decided to show us a great deal, just in case. Later it became clear that none of it was wasted: that knowledge came in useful further on.<\/p>\n
So, to the climb itself. Some people insist that the cable car, the snowcats and the snowmobiles are for weak and unsure climbers, but as beginners we decided to use them all the same and tried going up on the cable car. I have to say that the acclimatisation outing to five thousand metres struck me personally as very hard. I even began to doubt whether I would be able to climb the mountain at all. But with guides as professional as ours, not getting up was simply impossible. Their optimism carried us, and we managed it \u2014 we stood on the summit! What did I feel up there? Mixed things, I have to say. Of course I felt relief that there was nowhere else to walk and nothing else to get through. There it was, the goal, and it had been reached. What I did not enjoy was the crowd of people, and the fact that the summit itself is not all that impressive. That evening we were congratulated, and we really did feel like winners. And that, essentially, was the end of our adventure. In Pyatigorsk we tried the local food and walked around the town. There was plenty to take in by that point. We would recommend the trip to anyone who enjoys an active holiday. But do prepare for an event like this in your life. Even if you are in excellent physical shape, you need thorough preparation, and you need to start it early.<\/p>\n
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Related:<\/strong> all Elbrus routes and programmes<\/a> – the classic programme from the south<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I will admit, without any exaggeration at all, that I had dreamt of climbing Elbrus for years. But, as so often happens, something always got in the way. And then the moment finally came when everything really did line up. Most importantly, I could at last afford the climb. A mountain ascent, as everyone knows, […]<\/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-37368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n