Guide: Christine Feld-Boskoff Team Members: 2005 Elbrus Climbers Russ Mandor Tanya Mandor Jamie Mandor Samantha Mandor Maxime Chaya (ski descent) Michael Bosworth (ski descent) Chad Stegeman Christopher Brown Timothy Holland John Holland Daniel Holland Suzan El Houby Billy Blann Anthony Optican James Cameron Guilherme Bertani Robert Parfet Scott Bacheller Glenn Bacheller

Dispatches

September 1, 2005

I would like to congratulate Tony, Billy, Steve, Suzanne, Guilherme and Bo. Robert "Bo" Parfet skied down from the summit!

On August 1st our team left from Pastukhov Rocks at 4800m at 3:00 a.m. for the 18,534 foot summit. We climbed into the dark with many headlamps form other climbers behind us. When we began the "traverse" we were greeted by a beautiful sunrise. We reached the saddle by 8:30 a.m. and our goal at 10: 30 a.m. With threatening dark clouds around us we descend down quickly. Heavy snow began to fall when we reached the barrel camp. The forecast calls for bad weather for the next 2 days. We planned our summit day well!

The team is back in Terskol enjoying a little R & R before flying back to Moscow on August 4th. Weather permitting we may go for a hike tomorrow.

All the best,

Christine


August 30, 2005

This is Christine Boskoff calling from the Barrel Camp at 12,500 feet. Yesterday we took the tram up to the barrel camp and then hiked up to the Pria Hut for an acclimatization hike. Then we returned back down to the barrel camp for the evening, and had a nice dinner. Today we woke about 7am. We had an 8 am breakfast. Then we hiked up to about 15800 feet and then returned to the barrel camp. Tomorrow we plan on doing skills this close to our camp year and then the next day August 1st we plan on going for the summit. Sop we will leave early morning about 3:00 a.m. and then take the Sno-cat up to our high point and then climb to the summit. Everyone is having a great time. We’re enjoying ourselves, and we will call again when we return to Terskol.

Christine

July 28, 2005

Hi Folks,

We are having a great time!! Today after a good breakfast we left for the barrel camp 12,800 feet. We took the tram up to 11,500 feet. From here we took a casual hike up to the barrel camp. Outstanding 360 degree views of the Caucuses (sp?). At the barrel camp we had a nice intellectual conversation over lunch (smile). We descended back to Terskol this afternoon. Everyone is eager to move up to Barrel camp tomorrow. Our hotel is nice, but we are ready to "rough" it for the next 5 nights. Our sixth member "Bo Parfet" is expected to arrive tonight.

Cheers,

Chris


July 27, 2005

Hello Everyone,

We arrived yesterday to our hotel, Povorot in Terskol. We will make this base camp for the next three nights. Dinner last night consisted of crab salad, lamb soup and beef stroganoff for the main dish.

We just returned from a beautiful hike above the village of Terskol. We took the chair lift up to approximately 8,500 feet and hike up to Chegit. Our highpoint today was 10,200 feet. We had a wonderful lunch with magnificent views of Elbrus across the valley.

Tomorrow we will take another acclimatization hike to the barrel camp.

Chris


Greeting from Moscow!

I would like to welcome everyone to the third 2005 Mountain Madness Elbrus Expedition. Our July 23rd team members are Susan Houby, Steve Cameron, Tony Optican, Billy Blann, Guiherme Bertani and Bo Parfet.

Susan, Billy, Steve, and Tony arrived on the 23rd and 24th. They went to the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts yesterday afternoon. Guilherme or "Gill" arrived late last night.

This morning we had a group meeting to talk about the climb and logistics for the next 2 weeks. Today we will take a tour of Moscow including the famous Red Square, the Kremlin and St. Basil Cathedral. After the tour we will conduct a few more gear checks with the team members before dinner.

Our plans tomorrow are to fly to Mineralnye Vody and contine by privite bus to Terskol. We have a fun group and we are looking forward to the days ahead.

All the best,
Christine