Elbrus 9th August 18

Elbrus 9th Aug 2018

Leader: Ken Applegate

18th August

Great to see summit photos from the team!

After a rest day, a 3am start saw the team boarding the snow cat to whisk us up to the Pushtakov Rocks at 4600m, from where a steady ascent took us to the long traverse to gain the col at 5300m, which separates the West and East summits of Mount Elbrus. From here, a long section of fixed lines brought the team to the final snow slopes and on to the highest point in Europe.

The team did fantastically well, putting all their training in to practice, and we reached the summit at 11am. A huge well done to them all!

17th August

Ken messaged to say the everyone has made the summit this morning, they are now back in the valley.

16th August

Yesterday, the team had their second day on Mount Elbrus, with some members reaching the Pushtakov Rocks at 4550m and others 4700m. This morning, we had a training session on using the fixed lines and an afternoon of resting in the sunshine. The team are in high spirits and looking forward to tomorrow.

Update from Ken:

“The Elbrus team had a couple of days at the nearby Lake Syltranko, where we made an ascent of a couple of nearby 3500/3600m peaks.  The weather was kind to us for much of the time, giving us more views of Mount Elbrus.  One thing is for certain we wont be going hungry on this trip.”

News in from Ken:

“After a number of cancelled and delayed flights due to bad weather in Europe, the Elbrus team were still able to make the most of their first day, by heading out on an acclimatisation walk up the nearby flanks of Mount Cheget. They reached an altitude of 3200m, and amongst the brilliant views of the surrounding alpine peaks, caught a glimpse of Mount Elbrus through the clouds.”