Today we decided to do an acclimatizing trip up to one of the peaks above Cheget. We could have done it the hard way and walk all the way from the Village at 2000 m but why bother when you have a chair lift that takes you 2/3 of the way! This is also our first acclimatization day so we just want to spend some time at high altitud, not to do hard trekking and get worn out.

Marco was in the chair lift behind Maria. He shouted to her to look back and she did, but she really didn't want to because of the nonfixed hair. She tought he was to far away for a picture and turn around and smiled...well, Marco has 10 times zoom! Maria seems to enjoy the first part of today, although the old and squeaky chair lift didn’t feel very safe

We got of at the end of the second chair lift at 2850 m, from here on we walked the last 600 meters.

We were greeted by a stunning view of the Elbrus valley and the mountain itself. On the enhanced picture it is possible to make out the main land marks of the normal route to the summit; Priut 11, Pastukhova Rocks and the two rock ridges that marks the way between them. You can also see the tracks from the snow cats that take people up to the foot of Pastukhova Rocks, this somewhat spoils the view. To see our first proper view of the aim of or visit, Elbrus with suroundings, click here.

We now make our first acquaintance with a peculiar Russian ritual; to strip down to your underwear/swimwear and pose for the camera while you lay in snow fields on the mountain…Strange indeed…. This guy was happy to pose for a photo with us.

The path was easy to follow and we managed to keep a steady and comfortable pace. We took time to absorb the lovely views that surrounded us. We choosed to do a traverse following the mountain ridge, this gave us a better view. This is of course not the normal route.

Marco and Maria are checking the altitude on the GPS while Mattias is pointing out the route on Elbrus to Yolanda.

This is not the greatest of summits or achievements but we still felt the urge to do the obligatory cheesy flag- lineup photo on the summit.

The peaks to the south of us was just awesome. You could hear the sound from avalanches and the ice breaking of from the glaciers covering the mountains. It would be nice to summit on them but we soberly realized that the fitness level and technical ability was beyond our capacity (but who knows, one day maybe?).

We got a perfect bird’s eye perspective of Terskol, you can see that it is a small village but located in the middle of a climbers paradise. It is clear that this place has the potential to reach the same standard as Chamonix in France once corruption and economy gets sorted out.

We also got a good view of the route we were planning to take the following day; from MBS pass the observatory to the Old Ice Camp and back, a long and demanding trek.

The Ice Camp can be seen in the center of the picture, at the edge of the glacier.

We didn’t see much snow during the day (most of it was covered by naked Russians…), this narrow patch covered the edge of an impressive corridor that drops almost straight down from the summit.

We stopped few hundred meters below the summit to cook some lunch and drink some coffee in the warm afternoon sun. Altin managed to spill his water (twice!) while balancing the stove on some unsteady rocks. Fortunately the others felt sorry for him and shared theirs…

We took the chair lift back down to Cheget and felt that we deserved a reward for all the physical activity. We order one big glass of the local beer each, “Za vashe zdarov’e!” (to your health!)

Back at the hotel room we packed our bags for the acclimatizing trip the day after. Yolanda was trying to clean her drinking system from old orange juice that had made the tube a bit unpleasant with a thin rope.