It lies at three thousand two hundred and sixty four metres. The lake sits behind the glacier with the striking name of Maly Azau, right on the flank of the beautiful Elbrus. We were lucky enough to come within a kilometre of the mountain then. An enormous amount of snow, however, stopped us getting closer to the lake. We would have had to break trail uphill, and that is not at all easy. The view of this remarkable lake starts to open up right from “Priyut 11”. Nearby there are a couple more waterfalls on the river Kogutay. In the village of Tegenekli itself a monument to Vysotsky was erected in the year two thousand and thirteen. On the other bank of the river stands the Vysotsky mountaineering and hunting museum. Interestingly, its director is a distinguished Russian mountaineer. From the road you get an excellent view of the remarkable Baydaevskie waterfalls. They are opposite the village of Baydaevo, along with the waterfalls of Mount Kaya-Art. Those lie between Verkhny Baksan and Tyrnyauz. So even if the weather turns and you are stuck lower down, you certainly will not be bored! The main thing here is the desire, and of course the energy, to walk through the gorges. And if you have time after the climb itself, there will be plenty to spend it on. You should also not overlook all the towns you pass through on the way. Those are Pyatigorsk, Mineralnye Vody and Yessentuki. Every one of them is interesting to a traveller in its own way. We had the rare chance to walk around Pyatigorsk. It really is a remarkable and very beautiful town. We also visited the famous pass, the Aeolian Harp, the drinking mineral galleries and the warm springs, which form a whole cascade of pools on the hillside. I remember an overwhelming wish to stay there as long as possible.<\/p>\n\n
I would like to add some practical information. It may come in useful if you are planning to travel to the Elbrus region. So, about the lifts. The official operating hours on Cheget and Elbrus run from nine to half past four. In practice it can be otherwise. On Cheget only the lower lift was running at the time, and on Elbrus not a single one was working – for the first three days, at least. Later they did run, but not at full capacity either. The lifts higher up to Gara-Bashi, let us say, were not switched on. As for us, we walked up on foot and then came down by cable car entirely free of charge. Nobody asked us for a ticket.<\/p>\n\n
And a couple of words about taxis. On prices: for 2014 the going rate from Mineralnye Vody airport to Terskol was three thousand roubles (RUB) for a car. I decided to ask several companies and found that the price was the same everywhere. The journey takes about three hours, or thereabouts. I have no complaints about the roads; they really are very good here, including the road to the Azau meadow. Smooth, perfectly decent asphalt. We were met and driven around by a very good man called Nikolay. On the way back he also drove us round the sights of Pyatigorsk.<\/p>\n\n
You may also need local transport within Terskol, out to the Azau meadow. It is worth noting that from nine in the morning onwards you can see plenty of taxis offering their services at the Azau meadow and on Cheget. The price is mostly around a hundred roubles.<\/p>\n\n
I would also like to say a few words about hotels and shelters. As I have said, in the shoulder season absolutely every hotel feels the shortage of guests, and prices at that time are several times lower. We stayed in one of the small hotels on the Cheget meadow. It may not have been the cheapest, but the windows gave a fine view of the mountain, you could hear the river, and the kitchen was simply a delight. On the Azau meadow we stayed at the Virazh hotel. It is not very far from the lifts themselves. Among other things, we were curious at the time about whether there are any hotels on the slope of Elbrus apart from the “Barrels” and “Priyut 11”. We wanted somewhere below the “Barrels” for nights at three thousand metres, for the sake of proper acclimatisation. It turned out that such a hotel does exist. It stands at two thousand nine hundred and fifty metres, near the Stary Krugozor cable car station. At the time, though, like many shelters and hotels, it was closed.<\/p>\n\n
As for food, we decided not to make life complicated and ate at the local caf\u00e9 in the hotel. I would say that the caf\u00e9 at the Kogutay is not exactly cheap, especially compared with the others. On the other hand, the menu is more varied and very good. What would we recommend for getting to know the local cuisine as well as possible and falling in love with it at once? Order chanakhi, of course, and try the khychiny. The latter is a flatbread rather like a pancake. The mulled wine here is also very good. As for the Virazh hotel, the menu there is less refined but not very expensive.<\/p>\n\n
There are grocery shops both on the Azau meadow and on the Cheget meadow. As soon as it gets dark, however, everyone drifts away and the shops close. I would also like to mention the equipment shop. That is where we bought our gas. You can also find any other equipment or clothing you are missing there. There is a similar hire point on the Azau meadow. And if you want to buy a souvenir to remember the place by, have no doubt – you can do that on either meadow. During daylight hours, naturally. Incidentally, as a keepsake, besides the various fridge magnets, do buy some Elbrus tea and a spice mix for mulled wine. As for us, we really did buy a great deal at the time. Not just souvenirs of various kinds, but T-shirts with “Elbrus” printed on them, a bottle of pur\u00e9ed sea buckthorn and mineral water from a spring marked with the altitude – five thousand six hundred and forty metres.<\/p>\n\n
Of course, if you are planning a climb, you are bound to be interested in the question of food on the mountain itself. Let me set beginners’ minds at rest straight away. There are various caf\u00e9s, kiosks and canteens at all the cable car stations. So in season you need not bring any food with you at all. That was not our case, though, so we did have to carry food with us. Above the Mir station there are no catering points at all, apart from the eco-hotel at three thousand nine hundred and twelve metres. So at both the “Barrels” and “Priyut 11” you have to organise your own meals on a stove. Do therefore work out in advance how much food you will need on the mountain. But there is no sense in carrying too much either. We took nothing but instant porridge sachets and chocolate. In our case, though, a climb was not on the agenda.<\/p>\n\n
I would also like to say something about the rescue service. Fortunately, we never had to use it. Even so, just in case, write down the telephone numbers of some of the rescuers in advance. It certainly will not hurt. I can say that the mobile networks work everywhere; there are no problems with that on Elbrus.<\/p>\n\n
See the programme:<\/strong> Climbing Elbrus from the south, 9 days<\/a><\/p>\n It lies at three thousand two hundred and sixty four metres. The lake sits behind the glacier with the striking name of Maly Azau, right on the flank of the beautiful Elbrus. We were lucky enough to come within a kilometre of the mountain then. An enormous amount of snow, however, stopped us getting closer […]<\/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-37370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n