Everest 2006
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Elbrus 2005 Expedition Trip Reports!
Back to Elbrus again this year!
We have two climbing expeditions into the Caucus Mountains of Russia this summer. Scott Woolums will be leading these this season. (photo of Nikolai, Olga and Scott on the summit of Elbrus in 2003)
Elbrus- July 17th Expedition
The Great Falls Montana team! Conrad, Brice, Mary, Caitlin, Elton, Steve, Erin, Michael will be joining us in Moscow. Planning a few days in St. Petersburg following Elbrus. Watch for the live trip reports here!
Elbrus- August 1st Expedition
A smaller trip to Elbrus with Adam and Meredith.
Live Reports from Russia!
Getting Ready
to Leave for Moscow!
7/6/05
Very busy here getting everything ready for our Elbrus season!
Lots to do before meeting in Moscow on July 17th. Watch for updates here. Very
excited about getting back to Elbrus and the Caucus Mountains. We will have two
trips this season, both starting in Moscow. Al for now!
Scott Woolums reporting from Hood River, Oregon.
Off to Minerylr'ne
Vody Today!
7/18/05
Quick update here. We have had a
great couple days exploreing Moscow. Lots of fun. The Kremlin, Red Square, Arbat
and some of the very impressive parks. Now its time to fly south towards Georgia
and head up to the mountains. Will be posting some photos from the Baksan Valley
soon. Have to catch a flight in 15mins right now!
Scott Woolums reporting from Moscow
In the Baksan
Valley!
07/19/05
A long day
traveling today. Started with a 2 hour cross Moscow ride, then a 3 hour flight
on Siberian Airlines. In Minerly'ne Vody we had another 4 hour van ride almost
to the border with Georgia. And now here we are in the small, mountain resort
village of Chegit tucked into the beautiful narrow Baksan Valley below Elbrus.
Very nice spot! Even nicer to finally be here!
Tomorrow we are planning a short hike up on Chegit Peak to start acclimitizing.
We have 4 days here to acclimitize before going up to Elbrus. A nice place to
spend it. Chegit is basically a ski resort in the winter and a base for trekking
and climbing in the summer. Thick pine forests and great views of the mountains
all around. Our base camp for trips into the Caucuses.
A good dinner at our Dacha/Hotel. Spokonya Nochi (Good Night!)
Scott Woolums reporting from Chegit, Russia.‚
Summit of Chegit
Peak Today!
07/20/05
Excellent day today. Up to the
summit of Chegit Peak behind our hotel. Climbed to over 11,000 ft. today
starting the acclimitization process. Felt really good to be out hiking finally
after a number of days travelling and in Moscow.
Our first real view of Elbrus today in really perfect weather. Some cloud but
basically hot and sunny!
Tomorrow we are going into the Adylsu Valley for an overnight trip. This is a
remarkable valley into some of the Caucuses most beautiful peaks. We have
planned a climb up either Gumachi Pass or Peak the next day. Everyone is jazzed
to go!
Scott Woolums reporting from Chegit, Russia
Dobre Utra (Good
Morning!)
07/21/05
Packing up
right now to go into the Adylsu Valley today. Again, beautiful weather. The
Adylsu is a very lush, green valley that goes into the heart of the Caucuses
below several glaciers and 5000 meter peaks. We have organized horses for the
equipment which will make todays walk more enjoyable. We'll camp in a place
called "Green Hotel" which simply means in some very green meadows right below
the Gumachi Glacier. Tomorrow, hopefully with good weather, we'll either try to
summit Gumachi Peak or just go up to the pass depending on conditions and
weather. Either way it will be a fun coupl days. We will be back in Chegit
tomorrow evening.
Everyone is feeling super. Looking forwatd to the trek today!
Scott Woolums reporting from Chegit, Russia
Summit of Gumachi
Today!
07/22/05
Where to
start! Yesterday we hiked into the absolutly amazing Adylsu Valley in perfect
weather. Lots of photos. Went for a short hike up to the Jangtogan Glacier and
practiced some cravasse rescue. Very nice evening below the peaks of the Adylsu.
This morning we all got up early (4am) to have a go at Gumachi Peak. Really went
well. Our group moved quickly up to Gumachi Pass in the early morning. Three
members decided to not go on. Elton wanted to take it easy on his recently
broken ankle and save it for Elbrus (no real problems, just a precaution).
Caitlin and Mike also went down. The pass is a good elevation for acclimitizing
so the peak was just a bonus climb for today. The rest of the group pushed on in
really good conditions. Gumachi is right on the border with Georgia, so we climb
half in Russia and half in Georgia. A little steeper snow, then some rock
scrambling led us right to the summit! Spectacular views. Enjoyed lunch, then on
down to base camp at the Green Hotel. WHat an area to spend a week and climb.
Lots of peaks of all differnt grades.
Anyways it was a fantastic overnight trip with a perfect summit. Now we are
looking towards Elbrus starting tomorrow. We move up to a hut at about 10,000 ft
tomorrow. The the next day up to 13,500, then with good weather we plan to
summit on the 25th.
Scott Woolums reporting from Chegit, Russia
Up to
Elbrus this morning
7/23/05
We leave for the first hut this
morning on Elbrus. This is a newer hut near the 3000 meter tram station where
there is some great hiking to a lake near there. Really a beautiful place. Its
almost more of a hotel than a hut so it should be very nice. From here on we
will be sending reports back with the satelitte phone. The weather is still
looking good with a good forcast on the horizion. 2 more days is all we need
now.
Scott Woolums reporting from Chegit, Russia
Summit Day Tomorrow!
24 Jul, 05 - 04:13
Enjoying some very hot sunshine
today. Feels like over 100. We just walked up from the top of the tram this
morning. A perfect day, no wind, blue skies and hot.
Lots of people coming down from the summit. We are looking at going tomorrow
morning early. The weather looks perfect so if everyone feels good we are off at
3am tomorrow.
We are using a semi-private hut, actually the highest on the mountain for
sleeping and cooking. Although we have also set up some tents as the huts can be
almost too warm at night!
So good night from high camp.
Scott Woolums reporting from high camp on Mt. Elbrus.
Yahoo! We all made
it!
07/26/05
It's been
a long 48 hours. The good news is that we all made it to the summit yesterday on
a nearly perfect day.
Lets see, where to start. From the hut we caught a snow cat yesterday morning at
3am up to Pashtukov Rocks at around 14,800 ft. to begin the climb. It's still a
long ways from here, almost 4000 ft vertical feet at altitude. Anyways everyone
did great, we all moved very well in the early predawn hours. A spectacular
sunrise over the Caucuses later. Conditions could noy have been better. This was
the warmest I have seen Elbrus. Very light winds, just a little cold with good
snow! So up to the pass between the two summits and into the sun here. From the
pass it gets a little steep up to the summit ridge. On the ridge the winds
kicked up some, but it was still very nice.
So after 30 mins on top (of the highest mountain in Europe) for photos we
started down. W found some good conditions for glissading lower down so the
descent went fast.
Looking behind us the mountain quickly changed, with a huge lenticular cloud
forming and very dark clouds comming quickly ove the ridge! Nack at the hut we
hurried and packed gear to head down to the village of Chegit. Hiking down to
the top of the tram we were caught by an amazing hail storm with thunder and
lighting. Some very serious weather up high. We are very lucky to get up and
down before this as it has gotten worse this morning!
And now we are here in the hotel after long hard day yesterday. Really an
enjoyable and fun climb, especially when the weather decides to be nice!
Today we are going for a short hike into the Terskol Valley. And we still have
all day tomorrow for rekking. I think we all are feeling very fortunate and
happy to have Elbrus behind us considering what has happened with the weather
now.
Scott Woolums reporting from Chegit, Russia.
Excellent day hiking
in the Terskol Valley!
7/26/05
Short 5 hour hike today (after it
stopped raining!) up into the fantastic Terskol Valley. Beautiful place full of
wildflowers, waterfalls and green meadows. A good day with another trek planned
for tomorrow up the Irikchat Valley. A bit longer hike tomorrow.
Back to Elbrus
Again! Second Expedition!
8/6/05
After a
very good first expedition to Elbrus w are back again here in the Baksan Valley.
We just came out from the Adylsu and another successful ascent of Gumachi.
Yesterday we hiked into the lower Adylsu in questionable weather. Fortunatly
this morning it turned out perfect! Starting early we climbed Gumachi in perfect
conditions. Everyone made it up!
Just a quick update on last trip. After flying back to Moscow, we jumped on a
train to St. Petersburg, spending 4 days there in some good weather seeing the
city. Lots to see and do there. We trшув to take in as much as we could.
Everyone had a good time.
Started our second trip in Moscow with a smaller group. Had a great 2 days there
before flying to the Elbrus area. And now tomorrow we go up onto Elbrus and the
Asau Hotel at 10,000 ft. A good place to acclimitize!
Just down from the
Summit!
8/9/05
What a fantastic day! We all summited this morning in basically
great weather, just a lot of wind early (cold!). Feels good to be down early for
showers, dinner and a holodna piva (cold beer!).
Yesterday we moved up to the High Hut and watched as it snowed over 6 inches and
was very windy both up high and down low. Not to optomistic last night. It
cleared later and started looking good. So plans were made. So far everything
again this trip has gone exactly on schedule. How often does that happen!?
Now we have 3 days to trek in the alpine valleys of the Central Caucauses here.
We have a couple very cool treks planned now. Tonight we deserve some rest!
And the next expeditions to Elbrus, your pictures could be here....!