The Climb – June 2002

Elbrus was the first climb of my Know Guts Know Glory Seven Summits campaign. It was also the first climb I did with Brian Jones from Canada West Mountain School.

The top of Elbrus is just slightly higher in elevation than Everest Base Camp. The mountain is a ski hill, so there are chairlifts part way up, which makes it a shorter climb than it appears. But it's not an easy climb. Elbrus has some nasty weather. Especially wind.

Brian and I were the only two from our team to summit. The weather wasn't cooperating with our team's attempts at all. The winds were blowing really hard.

The climb starts at the top of the lifts with a steep hike up to the "oil cans," which are a few shacks that mark the top of the ski area. From here on up, climbers are very exposed to the elements. We had chosen to get ourselves part way up, camp, then get up early for a summit attempt.

The first night, the whole team was there. So was the wind. No one got very far the next day; we had to make a hasty retreat back for shelter.

The second attempt was much like the first. So was the third. We were starting to quietly question whether we were going to reach our goal or not. We only had so much time. A few team members were lured away by the availability of hot food, hot showers and warm beds at the bottom of the mountain. Brian and I remained for a fourth attempt.

The fourth trip up ended like the first three. But we stuck around, we'd come this far. We told ourselves that tomorrow we were going to get to the top. And we did.

I learned a very valuable lesson from this climb: Perserverence.

About Elbrus

• Feet 18481 Meters 5633
• Latitude, Longitude - 43� 21' 18" North Latitude, 42� 26' 21" East Longitude
• Peaks Two summits: the west (5642m) and the east (5621m). (It is a double coned volcano).
• Location - Caucasus, Russia-Georgia. Between the caspian and black seas the Caucasus Mountain Range is nearly a thousand miles long with 14 peaks higher than Mont Blanc.
• Location of Nearest Major Airports - Moscow, Russia; Kiev, Ukraine; Tbilisi, Georgia
• First Documented Ascent - West Summit: A. W. Moore, F. Gardiner, F. Cruford Grove, Horace Walker, Pete Knubel, 1874. East summit: 1868
• When to Climb - June, July, August, September
• Time to Summit - From one to two days.
• Level of Climbing Difficulty - Not technically challenging.
• The 1,300 meter summit push from high camp is often hampered by unpredictable weather making this a challenging ascent.