Tuesday 16 July 2013

Day 7 - Move to Barrels

The morning is meant to be easy - we have agreed that we can keep our rooms and so leave everything that we are not taking onto Elbrus in them and so all we need to do is shower and breakfast. However, just as we are about to leave the hotel, they decide that in fact we can't keep our rooms and need to clear them which leads to a rush to sort that out and still leave the hotel on time. We need to meet the logistics chaps to pick up our food and some gear for the mountain so timing is important!

The bottom of Elbrus is a ski resort and when the snow clears in the Summer you are just left with moraine which makes for pretty boring walking. As a result (and combined with the food you need to take up which is not the standard light weight climbing fare) everyone uses the ski lifts to get up to base camp which is (affectionately) known as the Barrels. The weather is pretty miserable but we do get a bit of a view in a brief break in the clouds.

View back down to the midway station
 
There are a number of locals as well as climbers using the cable car and a rather nice moment when a young girl, who is too embarrassed to ask, takes surreptitious photos of me and Gus with her iPhone whilst giggling with her friends about it.
It turns out that the chairlift is a decrepit, single-seater which is a bit of a worry as is the fact the weather worsens and it is now windy and raining. The metal creeks whenever the chair moves which is pretty frequent given the wind and the number of pylons and without much of a view to take your mind off that or the weather it is a pretty hair-raising ride!

 
Unfortunately and perhaps not to surprisingly, this is not to be the end of our travails. There is some sort of mix up when we arrive in that although the organisers knew we were coming, our barrel is not available. It is not clear quite why but we end up being distributed amongst the other barrels. The ladies end up sharing with the cooks who make little effort to hide their own displeasure at the arrangements and a few of us chaps get what appears to be the guides' overflow cabin. The ceiling is pretty warped and when the rain starts a good few leaks are triggered and the whole thing is on a tilt so there are concerns about falling out of bed! Luckily we all manage to take this with a good sense of humour and no one is that upset and in fact our cabin isn't that bad - especially when compared to the tent of a couple of nights ago.

The rest of the day is pretty easy - basically resting, eating, getting ready for our acclimatisation walk tomorrow and watching the world go by. The weather also clears so we get some good pictures of the camp and its surroundings including our first glimpses of the summit up close.
The food up here is pretty good with soup, pasta and meat with sausage and cheese for most meals.


The Barrels
The wonderful view back down the mountain

The twin peaks of Elbrus - the summit is the one on the left

 
 

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