Dispatches

August 18:

Goodbye from Russia!
We had a nice farewell dinner last night in Moscow after our flight from Mineral Vody. Anne, Skeet, Domenic, and John or "Doc" departed for Africa yesterday to climb their 2nd seven summit, Kilimanjaro. The rest of the group left today. Glenn left for St. Petersburg. Sam and his wife Ann will tour around Moscow before visiting St. Pete's as well. The rest of the group should be home soon enjoying the pleasures of home.

It was a fun and memorable time for all! Many new friendships were made and goals accomplished. I wish everyone more successful climbs in the future.

Christine

August 16:

Hello from Chegit!
We are back down in Chegit and celebrating our success on Elbrus. August 14th our group left for the summit at 4 a.m. from the Pastukhov Rocks. We had 7 rope teams. It was one of the warmest summit days I ever experienced on Elbrus.

By sun rise our teams had begun the traverse to the saddle. We had a very strong team with 14 out of 15 making it to the top.

By 4 p.m. our entire group was safely back at the barrel camp and celebrating our success with sleep, drink and a hearty dinner.

Yesterday our group went back down to Chegit. We were rewarded with a well needed shower. Later this evening we celebrated in the lively town of Chegit. We had such a good time that only 4 members: Chris, David, Glenn and Jeff joined me for rock climbing in a nearby valley today. It was Glenn and Chris' first time rock climbing. Everyone enjoyed it.
For others it was a rest day doing laundry, reading and resting.
We said goodbye to Skeet, Dominic, Ann and Doc who left for Mineral Vody this afternoon and on to our Kilimanjaro climb.

Tomorrow the rest of us will depart for Mineral Vody to catch our flight back to Moscow.

All the best, Christine

Sunday August 13th –

Hello from Barrell Camp at 12,800 feet.
It’s Sunday morning and I’m looking south at a beautiful panoramic view of the Caucasus which expand all the way into Georgia.
We had a very full day yesterday. After a delicious breakfast we began our climb up to the Pastukhov Rocks. A half way up we stopped to practice skills that will be needed for our climb tomorrow of Mt. Elbrus. We continued on to reach our goal of 15,400 feet.

Everyone is doing well, Skeet feels much better today.

We plan to have an easy day today. We will wrap up skills training this morning, and rest for the summit push. We’ll start for the summit early in the morning tomorrow. We are all eagerly waiting for tomorrow’s summit push.

We send our best to our family and friends. All the best, Christine

August 13

Summit reached! Details coming, but for now we can tell you that 14 out 15 made it to the top and one made it almost to the summit by reaching the saddle. A great effort by all!

August 10

What a nice day! We rode the tram up to the barrel camp at 12,800 feet today. The clouds dispersed by the time we reached the barrels to award us with a beautiful view of our objective, Mt. Elbrus.

We then hiked to the old Pruit hut to about 13,500 feet. Everyone made it to our highpoint except for Skeet who stayed back in Terskol to fight a cold.

We have a great bunch of folks with us. Didier is now known within our group as "Euro Trash" due to his hideous choice of bright colors and mismatch of his clothes. Sam has acquired a fine taste for the local wine. Doc remains in high spirits in spite of his lost bag that has not shown up yet. Both Shane and Doc have missing bags from their international flight to Moscow. Our group will enjoy outfitting them both with the fashionable cloths of the Baksan Valley! Fortunately there are several mountaineering stores here in town to replace the mountain equipment and clothes that are lost.

Tomorrow the group will move up to the barrels or "high camp". We plan on spending 3 nights here before our summit attempt on the 14th.

Will call from our "high camp"! That's it for now!

Christine

******* August 9

Hello Everyone!

We made it to Chegit yesterday. Everyone is very happy to be in the mountains. The elevation is approximately 7000 feet, so it's much cooler than Moscow. Our hotel is very nice and we are calling it "base camp". Also our cook, Rosa, at the hotel is excellent!

Today we went for a hike on Chegit mountain. Everyone did very well and made it to our summit of 11,000 feet. This afternoon everyone is checking out the town of Terskol which is about a 15 minute walk from our hotel.

We are still missing 3 bags, but Ted Callahan has been busy tracking them down. They should arrive tomorrow. Shane is excited, since he has been wearing the same t-shirt for 4 days now.

We have a great team with a lot of laughs! Everyone is very excited about the climb ahead. We will report in tomorrow once again!

Cheers, Chris

*******

August 8

Hello everyone from Moscow!

All 18 of us have arrived in Moscow. Unfortunately not all the gear was so fortunate. We are still missing a few bags. Yesterday, the group toured Moscow. We saw all the classic sights such as St. Basil, Red Square, the Kremlin and other amazing sites.

Last night our group went out to dinner and we discussed our plan for the next few days. Everyone seems all prepared and excited to get to the mountain. We have a fun group. Didier the only French guy, brought all of his bright Euro clothing, so we don't foresee losing him on the mountain.

Today we fly to Mineral Vody and drive to Terskol. We have 3 nights in Terskol taking acclimatization hikes during the day. We look forward moving closer to our goal of climbing Mt. Elbrus.

We all say hello to friends and family back home!

Cheers,

Chris