We had bad weather scheduled for both summit and spare summit days, so on the second day we decided to go anyway despite the fact that it was snowing, and there were lightning strikes further down on the mountain. The normal route has people starting from the Pastukhova Rocks, from where it is approximately 9 hrs to the summit.

The Barrels

The two summits of Mt Elbrus

However four of us decided this sounded too easy and decided to start from base camp at the Barrels, adding another 3 hrs to the climb! (Foolishly I had listened to a guides account of the previous group making the summit in six hours from the rocks, so figured 9 hrs up, and 4 hrs down didn’t sound too bad!). We started out with about zero degrees at 1.20am in light slow. After an hour the lightning was getting quite close, so we stopped in the diesel huts to shelter.

At 4.30am those that took the snow cat to the Pastukhova Rocks reported the weather to be no worse higher up, and as the lightning had abated we continued on. I would say it was dawn by the time we hit the rocks, and I switched to warmer gloves and put away the head lamp. At this point my watch was completely iced over so I lost track of time (and as I had forgotten to blow the water out of my camelbak tube, that had also frozen meaning I wasn’t getting much water either!).

From 5000m to the saddle was seriously tough going in deep snow. We past numerous groups that turned back between these two points, and our group of 5 that started from the barrels dwindled to three.

At the summit visibility was about 20m, and our guides got lost on the way down. They used the radio/maps and gps to choose a direction which had us slugging through deep fresh snow (no visible trail or snow poles). At this point I was half expecting to be rescued, as I wasn’t sure if we were going the right way, and I was only making a half dozen steps before falling down! Anyway it’s amazing what you can achieve if you refuse to give up and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

At some point later we hit the saddle again and finally some flat ground. I started taking it easy at this point until a guide came up from another group saying that our head guide had requested us (the last summitters in our group having had three extra hrs of walking) to catch up the others on the way down so that we could all get back to the barrels for an immediate departure off the mountain down to the hotel.  So much for a rest!

After catching the group we all took the snow cat down from the rocks to the barrels (the two of us that started from the barrels wanted to walk the whole thing but we were told we would be left behind if we did this, as it would take us 90 minutes longer than the cat, and the lifts were closing). We are not quite sure what time we hit the barrels, but between 3 and 4 pm is the guess. One long day!

One thing learnt is that adding another 700 vertical meters to a summit day already over 1km long is rather foolhardy… Anyway, all is well so it is time to set my sights on my third of the seven summits… Aconcagua in January anyone?! ps, group summary: 24 climbers. 22 attempts. 11 success. Of the eleven 6 were indian air force out to complete the seven summits mission. Two of us (Arunas and myself) started from the Barrels. The other three consisted of one Canadian and two Swedes. Thanks to Darryl for being ahead of us and not giving up, as everytime the guides asked us to turn back we could refuse saying someone else was higher up, and we’d only turn back if they did!