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- Jul 18, 2015
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A Bit of Luck for Elbrus Group 2
MM Guide Mark Pugliese reports on the second of three Elbrus trip of the season that was met with some good luck and a successful summit!
After a day touring the Kremlin and Red Square in Moscow, our group boarded the domestic flight to Mineralnye Vody and drove south to the Caucasus mountain range.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=2d64425e8a428378b166d9c8a0af349a 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=1629a18330c415bdc1788847255fce03 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=f10941052f4135824a540da647bca9e8 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=ab283218a87f2f8e5602e022eb071f58 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=7d8b2c5b148b7b0a6a5d3a843c569e84 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=b87d54bcc4bfd2edab87753beb266d97 1200w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=bb6ea15b76a3250b0cd9ed615290877d 1400w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1849.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=8dc935b7e3b9e8c0567d7b55487ca83c 1536w)
Moscow. Mark Pugliese photo
Our group of twelve stayed in a small family-run hotel in Terskol, a little mountain town at the foot of Elbrus. Here from our “luxury base camp” (6,800 feet) we took a couple day hikes up to Cheget peak (11,500 feet) and the Terskol observatory (10,000 feet). These hikes are especially beautiful and an incredible way to see the Baksan Valley, with each passing hike we did, Kyle K. kept saying “Now this is the new coolest thing I have ever done!”.
Acclimatization hike. Mark Pugliese photo
After spending a couple days acclimatizing both to Moscow time and to the altitude. We made our way onto the tram lines and rode up to our new home, the barrel huts (12,000 feet).
We faced bad weather here with electrical storms, hail, and winds so strong the barrels swayed. The hazardous weather made it difficult to fit in our planned acclimatization hike to 15,000 feet. But we did what we could.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=10c53b1c782620cfbd33d757ce4ee281 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=50f81fcd3017894af076c7caf08eaf71 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=1701d1f4b5d77ce95b5834c119ef1018 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=2b90e3db5047c89b955cb33b398f7633 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=4e75b321e3e5b9bca27684148f9e4c2e 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=f094f671cb5296918fb784076e967721 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=dd723a6479ca4f90fb62d61e5c1ea36e 1024w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1254.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=538228178be211330d4077655d012dcf 1024w)
The beautiful Baksan Valley. Mark Pugliese photo
Our first two summit day options, the team faced horrible weather and we decided to wait until the third and final day to try and climb. On July 1, we woke up to a broken sky, this was the first time we could see patches of blue at least. After a very cold cat ride to 5000 meters. We got out and started walking. As we moved up, the clouds broke further and the weather improved steadily.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=5a6f3272b14a0cc419f7edc2da637cf7 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=800a22db0d8cffcfe73b52f449753c17 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=4c0597b29bdca9c229a965f2736222b1 700w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=b3465fbbcc413a53e18566f386b32af7 800w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=a9beee4dc401d10daef19d65fdf6c6ac 1000w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=93b58c975bc341442ef85fd5417e57d4 1022w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=fd30f4910f68d2b729c77211f7561b41 1022w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2FIMG_1270.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=187ab33c5200b1f2d504bb8fa8a7320b 1022w)
A clear day for the summit attempt. Mark Pugliese photo
Everyone was in disbelief at how nice the weather turned out. I remember Deana H. remarking to us “How could we have lucked out any more than getting this perfect day?” The answer was we couldn’t have lucked out any more, it was a day made for us. By the end of it, 9 out of 10 of our guests summited and I skied with three of them from 18,000 feet, making for a pretty sweet 6,000 feet descent.
That night we caught the last chair down and made it back to Hotel Povorot for a much needed shower followed by dinner and drinks. One person in our group asked a staff member of the hotel where a dance club was. She replied right here. Next thing we knew they moved all the tables and chairs out of the dining room and we had dance music bumping and flashing lights. A fairly surreal change from “barrel life”. It was incredible to see a group that was so tired on the mountain dance so much a few hours later! These are the kinds of experiences that make the unique culture of Russia something special, the hospitality of our hosts was second to none.
![](https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=300&s=fe26391917de8d0bc5c6b3ee8128eaaf 300w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=500&s=489f3f48373949cca482f85f82bffa0e 500w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=700&s=54bcd324d36badd4246383839f10845a 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=800&s=bac687c4d185a46214d5185445167903 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1000&s=adffe00ef784d1dd91dc60ad6e0a7786 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1200&s=fd185fd6adfec7f744be88ab63dcc8df 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1400&s=325985757c1492ffcc6830ddcc624aaa 640w, https://mountain-madness-external.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fkraftwerk-mountain-madness.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fblog%2Fimage3.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=max&q=80&w=1600&s=6484510d0e97c0f604cdca0ca2966f0f 640w)
Congrats to Group 1! Mark Pugliese photo
Thanks for a good time, Elbrus Group 1. All you out there reading, be sure to join us next summer to keep the good times rolling in Mother Russia.