Category: Trip Report
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Ice Climbing Stairway to Heaven – Cold
I am going to be ice climbing at the Ouray Ice Fest 2013 next week, so I’m trying to get my groove back on by ice climbing as much as I can in between work and family activities. I climbed solo on Thursday Because of the weird wet dripping ice coating the rope I experienced…
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Climbing the 14ers – Gray’s Peak
There is a lot of training value in climbing the 14ers of Colorado. Especially in the Winter season, when conditions are much like they would be in Alaska or other cold windy places. My friend Todd came up from the Front Range to spend the night. Saturday December 29 we woke up to below zero…
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Lincoln Falls Ice Climbing
On Thursday December 27 I took my friend Todd up to Hoosier Pass for Lincoln Falls Ice Climbing. He’d never been ice climbing before and had been curious to try for a while. In his real life, Todd is a figure skater and coach. He’s my wife’s choreographer for her upcoming competitive ice skating program.…
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Fall Hike on Rainier to Camp Muir
A Fall Hike on Rainier to Camp Muir should be on everyone’s list of climbing objectives as a shakedown cruise for your other adventures. Mount Rainier is a 4,000 meter volcano in the Pacific Northwest of the USA near Seattle Washington. The snow and ice can vary quite a bit from the Pebble Creek area…
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Elbrus 2012 Summit Day
It was a cold night without heat in the Barrel Hut #4 where I slept at the 12,300′ level on Elbrus in Russia, and I slept fitfully. At 5:30 I stepped out to check conditions and though it was very cold and windy, the sky was clear, so I prepared to go. It was slowly…
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Elbrus 2012 Pastukhova Rocks Hike Video
I hiked to Pastukhova Rocks on Elbrus, a volcano in the Caucasus of Russia, and one of the Seven Summits. On Thursday September 6 I took a taxi to Azau, where the tram and gondola bottom stations are. I took my billet or pass as we Americans prefer, and waved it at the scanner and…
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Elbrus 2012 Resting at the Barrels Huts
On Friday, Sept 7, I moved up to the Barrels Huts at the 12,300′ level on Elbrus, a volcano in Russia, the highest point of Europe and one of the Seven Summits. On this trip I first encountered the Barrels on my acclimatization hike of Tuesday September 4 from Cheget to the Barrels. The Barrels…
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Elbrus 2012 Cheget Hotel and Market
I spent much of my time in the Elbrus region at the hotel in Cheget, a small village about 3 miles from the Azau, the village at the base of Elbrus from which the Tram and Gondola run up the flanks of the highest point of the European Continent. When I first arrived on Monday,…
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Elbrus 2012 – Hiking from Mir to Pastukhova Rocks
On September 6, 2012 I left the hotel and took a taxi to Azau to ride the Gondola up to Mir, the top station for the cable cars on the South side of Elbrus in Russia. At the top gondola station, Mir, I exited the car and lo and behold this was one of the…
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Elbrus 2012 – Hiking to the Barrels from Cheget
On Tuesday, September 4th, I did my first shakeout cruise. My acclimatization hike from the hotel near the market in Cheget, up to the barrels, from 6800′ elevation to 12,300′ elevation. Roughly 5400′ of elevation gain over 7.3 miles. Reverse that for the return home. I walked up the access road from Azau to the…