Speedy and Successful Summit of Elbrus

The third Moun­tain Mad­ness Elbrus trip for 2016 went off with­out a hitch! 

I’d like to thank the whole team for an incred­i­ble expe­di­tion — I’m psy­ched to have made so many new friends! 

Some of the high­lights from this trip include two beau­ti­ful acclima­ti­za­tion hikes in the Elbrus region, a per­fect sum­mit day, and of course the won­der­ful accom­mo­da­tion at the Hotel Povorot in Cheget. 

When we first arrived in Cheget the weath­er was con­sis­tent­ly beau­ti­ful in the morn­ing, with clear skies and low winds. This made for excep­tion­al con­di­tions to begin our acclima­ti­za­tion pro­gram with hikes up to the Cheget Ski Area and the obser­va­tion tow­er over­look­ing Ter­skol. The views of the moun­tain were stun­ning. As crys­tal clear skies met us each morn­ing, as we began the crisp walks through the forest. 

View from acclima­ti­za­tion hike. Mark Pugliese pho­to (all)

Once we moved onto the moun­tain, we checked the fore­cast and saw clear weath­er for two days. We did one more sun­ny acclima­ti­za­tion hike up to about 4700m to pre­pare for our final sum­mit push. We awoke sum­mit morn­ing to a thin cloud lay­er that we were able to punch through, and burst out into the per­fect star­ry night with the sum­mit loom­ing above us. We began our walk at 5000m and were stand­ing on the top a mere four hours lat­er. The team’s prepa­ra­tions and phys­i­cal fit­ness were very appar­ent, see­ing as we were able to ascend with such speed and effi­cien­cy. Props to you guys! 

Climb­ing toward the summit.

We were able to descend to 5000m and hitch a ride back to the bar­rels, and then back to the hotel lat­er that day. We cel­e­brat­ed in the won­der­ful Hotel Povorot with a deli­cious din­ner, music and danc­ing. Thanks again to the team for a great expe­di­tion, I hope to see all of you on Mad­ness trips in the future! 

Our vic­to­ri­ous team!

~Mark Pugliese, Moun­tain Mad­ness Guide