Elbrus Express Dispatch — Day 1

The first day of the Moun­tain Mad­ness Elbrus Express expe­di­tion is one of few mel­low days on the busy itin­er­ary. It is set aside for those arriv­ing on an overnight flight. A few of us, how­ev­er, arrived the day before, which gave us some time to explore the beau­ti­ful city of Moscow before meet­ing the rest of our team for din­ner in the evening.

Juice, Russ­ian style. Lyra Pierot­ti pho­to (all)

As our team slow­ly trick­led in, I took a few hours to see the sights of Moscow. I hopped on the aeroex­press train into town and walked a cou­ple of miles to Red Square. The streets were hot and mug­gy but I savored the heat, know­ing that things could be dif­fer­ent in a very short amount of time. Tomor­row morn­ing we will board a plane and fly south, then dri­ve into the Cau­ca­sus Moun­tains near Geor­gia. Weath­er has been favor­able late­ly, but the weath­er on Mount Elbrus is known to be fick­le and tem­pera­men­tal, so we are pre­pared for a full range of experiences. 

Red Square scene.

After I had my fill of busy tourist attrac­tions and Russ­ian street food, I start­ed the hunt for the green metro line. Match­ing the shapes of let­ters and words, I iden­ti­fied the cor­rect metro sta­tion, and squeezed into a packed sub­way car. I quick­ly found my way back to the much more mod­ern aeroex­press train, and walked back to the hotel. Jet lag took hold until the late after­noon when it was time to meet our team for a casu­al din­ner. Our group joins us from all over the world. Some as close as Lon­don, a few from the Unit­ed States, some from India, Sri Lan­ka, Bahrain, and the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates, and one from the exact oppo­site side of the globe in Syd­ney, Australia.

Catch­ing the metro.

Stay tuned as our expe­di­tion press­es for­ward! Next we meet the rest of our group and get our first glimpse of the ancient rocks of the Caucasus.

~ MM Guide Lyra Pierotti