Mattias and Maria will go with the cable car to Barrels today, then relax and feel the thin air before they return to Terskol. We other ones started the trek after a steady Russian breakfast at MBS hotel and walked through Terskol and some small farms above it. Marco spotted some locals and tried to make contact but without success, they kept their distance (clever animals…).

After Marco had been rejected by the locals we started on the track that leads up to the Observatory that is located below the Ice Camp. The road went through an area of pine trees and hillsides where farmers were taking in the hay (by hand!) in the morning sun.

After a couple of serpentine turns in the wood area, and after that Altin fixed his blisters resulting from new shoes, we turned left and started on the long traverse that climbs gently along the whole mountain side for about one kilometer before turning again. The road is in good condition and we are making good progress.

We spotted this plaque on the rock face above the road and climbed up to have a closer look. We have no idea what it says but it must be something grand for someone to make the effort of putting it up here.

When the road finally turned right we were greeted by this fantastic view. The waterfall are 30 meters in hight and is the result of melted ice from the Garabachi glacier. In the picture we see Marco, Altin and Yolanda. We hesitate to go to the waterfall because of naked people...

Once again we got a sample of the Russian habit of dropping their clothes in mountainous regions.

Finally Altin and Marco had gather enough courage to approach and we refilled our bottles with the clear and cold water before we continued our walk. For a view of Dalblads moment, click here.

When the road leveled out and turned right to the Observatory it was time for us to start on the smaller path that breaks off to the left and leads to the Old Ice Camp. We walked for about 10 minutes before we stopped for a short break and some food. Altin and Yolanda are resting in the warm sunshine. How romantic...

One hour after we had left the road we reached the first snow fields and the path was now in places harder to find than further down.

We finally reached the old Ice Camp and walked among the deserted old houses around the site. In the picture Marco, Altin and Yolanda is posing in front of the old mainbuilding (no, the skull is not our friend). In the background we can see Elbrus, beautiful. The site is littered with old junk and interesting things and it was fun walking around the place and guessing and imagining what the stuff had been used for some decades ago.

We decided to spend an hour at the new altitude to get as much acclimatizing as possible and positioned us with a fantastic view of Both summits of Elbrus in front of us. Pastukhova Rocks can be seen just below the east summit.

Marco is taking an afternoon nap in the sun. Notice all electronic... GPS, cell phone, digital camera... all in use and ready.

We didn’t bring the stoves today, a few snack bars and dry fruits were enough and was washed down with hot water from our thermos flasks.

We also got good view of the Barrel huts that we would stay at the following day. Also we had the chance to study the old traverse over the glacier from Ice Camp to Barrels. This is a real old, classic and alpine approach to Elbrus. Only for tough people with other words.

When we entered the Ice Camp we walked past this old house and Marco and Altin could not resist the temptation of taking a closer look on the way down.

Altin felt almost like back home in London, but he missed the view over Themsen... The house had partly collapsed but the place must have been amazing to stay in when it was in better condition. Imagine sitting on the stairs with your morning coffee while the surrounding views are lit up by the morning sun!

Marco felt adventurous and scrambled up on a nearby bolder to get a better view of the slopes beneath us.

They caught up with Yolanda further down the path; she had managed to resist the urge to crawl around in old collapsing houses. A small lake had formed on a flat section along the path and had a snow crater around it that made it look really cool and resembled an old amphitheater.

It was getting late and we set a fast and steady pace down the hill to make sure we got back to MBS hotel in time for dinner.

This peculiar rock wall (about 15 meters tall) that stood above the road was impressive and unlike anything we had seen before.

We arrived back in MBS hotel just in time for a quick shower before the dinner.

Mattias and Maria had spent the day resting at the Barrels and joined us for dinner. I took them several hours to get up there, since the queue to the cabin was enormous. It's weekend and a holiday season. This make it crowdy. The service at MBS was really good and although the Russian food was different from what we are used to it went down very well.