My most unusual holiday. Part two

The next day our plans called for a more serious acclimatisation walk. Right at the start of it we reached a rather interesting spot known as “the German airfield”. It is worth mentioning that it was precisely because of the unusual lie of the land that this place was once used as an airfield during the war. After that we climbed higher still, to an altitude of three thousand one hundred metres, and came to a place with the amusing name of “the stone mushrooms”. That same day we were also taught how to use trekking poles properly, how to move over boulders and rocks, and how to breathe correctly, which matters just as much in the mountains.
I have to say that it was genuinely fascinating to watch the landscape change as we gained height. The rich, bright colours faded a little and gave way to more muted tones. Because the ground was all stone, the plant life became far sparser. As for the walk itself, it was fairly hard going. What saved us at that point was plain vitamin C. At the end of the day we came back down to base camp. Then came a good supper and sleep.
The next day we had to carry some of our things up to the upper camp, which stands at three thousand seven hundred metres, and then come back down to sleep at two thousand six hundred metres in the lower camp. But since everyone in the group was feeling reasonably good that day, we decided not to waste it and to try to move up instead. The guides gave us a valuable piece of advice: do not take anything you do not need. I packed my rucksack quickly, took some of the food along with a couple of gas canisters, and was horrified by the weight. I can say with certainty that I had never in my life lifted such a heavy rucksack. And so we set off. One of the women in our party somehow managed to strain a ligament in her leg. To be honest, I still do not understand how she got to the top that day. Perhaps there is something in the idea that women have more endurance than men. It is interesting that on a trek, just as in running, you need to warm up before you set out, and to cool down afterwards. I was extraordinarily lucky at that point, because I had no injuries, no strains and no other troubles. We had to follow the same route as the day before, only now we were loaded with rucksacks. We deliberately moved slowly, all at the same steady pace. It is generally accepted that this makes going uphill much easier, and all the more so with a huge rucksack on your back. By then the vegetation had almost completely disappeared and we had to walk across large boulders. Now and then they rocked comically underfoot, and sometimes they even rolled away. It really did amaze me how quickly the body can adapt to an unfamiliar situation. Only a few days earlier I would not have agreed to walk over rocks like that without some sort of protection, and now I was doing it with a very heavy rucksack as well. It started to get colder. Every so often there was ice showing between the rocks. After seven hours of climbing everyone was thoroughly tired and worn out. We did our best to support one another. What helped me was knowing that even slight young women were carrying rucksacks as big as mine. It was on that climb that I really appreciated how comfortable the rucksack and the lightweight trekking boots were. The weight of the pack was distributed onto the hips in a rather clever way, and the boots did not slip on the rocks and, to my relief, did not catch on one another. On the way we passed the rescuers’ base. They gave us delicious hot tea and we had a rest there. To make camp away from the known paths we had to keep going, and now we had to cross a glacier. For the first time we had to put on mountaineering boots. After nine hours we managed to reach the site of our second camp. Here there was a spit of black volcanic rock in the middle of the glacier, right at the foot of the giant that is Elbrus. The view really was extraordinary – otherworldly, in fact. There is a great deal of ice, rock and cloud here, and the clouds keep drifting past below your feet. But by then we were so tired that we did not care. On top of everything else, I should point out that this was the first time we had been at three thousand seven hundred metres. Every new step was accompanied by that notorious shortness of breath. We put the tents up quickly, boiled some water and climbed inside. We wanted to come round as fast as possible. The way we felt then really was strange. There was a sense of fuss, even of nervousness, and it was very hard to concentrate on anything. I spent something like half an hour looking for something in my own rucksack, and someone else wandered about near the tents for quite a while. In all likelihood we all looked rather comical at that point. It was the lack of oxygen working on our brains. I climbed into my sleeping bag on my last reserves of strength and fell asleep at once.
As had become the tradition of the past few days, I woke again at five in the morning. My head was completely clear and no longer troubling me. I came out of the tent and was delighted by the beauty that opened up in front of me. Below me were magnificent clouds, and above towered the giant Elbrus itself, glowing in the rays of the rising sun. We put on our special clothing. Even though it is very light, it gives you the impression of walking around in a spacesuit, because the fabric is completely windproof. Or perhaps it was the altitude working so vividly on my imagination. After breakfast we set off on an acclimatisation walk, this time to four thousand five hundred metres. We were heading for the Lenz Rocks. We learned how to put crampons on properly and how to tie into a rope, and then we set off. I can say with complete confidence that moving fast at that sort of altitude really is impossible – and extremely bad for you as well. After a couple of hours a strong wind got up and the sun disappeared behind the clouds. It became much colder, so we had to put more layers on. The confusing situation with the temperature continued. The sun came out from behind the clouds again and the wind dropped. Now it was hot, and I overheated completely in my warm clothing. On top of that I picked up the pace so as to reach the rest stop as quickly as possible.