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 the gate beeped ajar and I passed through. Having skied a number of times I booked it to the next open gondola door and jumped in. I scared the attendants and you didn’t need to know Russian to know what they yelled. Like a punk snowboarder I smiled and waved as I scooted aboard and sat. — Elbrus, My Waterloo – publishing October 2012
I barely made my goal time, in spite of the chairlift between the top tram station and the Barrels Huts being off that day. This was an important acclimatization hike to 15,300′, about halfway in elevation gain and miles from the Barrels to the Summit of Elbrus. The snow conditions were awful, terrible, hard frozen slush and gravel dusted packed snow…
…with running water over ice. The trail angled just to the left at Pastukhova Rocks, which seemed quite bare this fall. I had set a goal of hitting the Rocks at 1:00 PM, and I made 1:06. Amazing, 2:13 from the Barrels, but I was beat and empty. — Elbrus, My Waterloo – publishing October 2012
I hit the Rocks and made a hasty retreat to the gondola station to make the last car down. I did not want to walk that 4,000′ in the dark on top of the 4,000′ I already did that day. In the middle of all that I got a chance to shoot a few seconds of video here and there and spliced it all together.