Still waiting for weather to clear...

The weather is very cold and windy with snow blizzards. Hopefully it will clear today so that we can make our summit bid tomorrow. We just doing more short climbs to keep the leg muscles going...

Elbrus weather not playing ball with us

The weather changed overnight and it's very windy, cold and lots of snow. We were going to push for the summit on Sunday but our guide has decided to wait it out and use it as our contingent day. 

We all pray that it will blow over soon.

Base Camp -Day1

We all tried to get our gear sorted and our little bed areas as comfy as possible and then lunch was served at 12:30pm in our kitchen container by our expedition cook. The table was covered in food, biscuits and sweeties! Lekker 

After lunch we got our ice boots and crampons on for our first acclimatization hike up to the Priut Ruins-around 4100m!
The wind was howling and it was bitterly cold. 
Oh my....the views!! I cannot describe how amazingly beautiful it is here-I can't stop taking photos! And the landscape changes every few minutes with a little bit of sun, cloud, mist........the mist became very thick and its felt like we were gorillas in the mist...lo

We got back to the base camp and we freshed up... Camp style...& then we all jumped into our sleeping bags for some rest and relaxation before dinner at 7pm! 

I will try to upload pics later. At this attitude, there is hardly network coverage.

More pics of Mount Cheget

The views are breathtaking beautiful 

Acclimatisation Hike- Mt Cheget

The weather keeps changing...it was a bit warm when we started off but got extremely cold as we climbed higher. The hike-it's mainly loose scree, boulders and rocks with some patches of ice/ snow. You need to concentrate as you can fall quite easily if you don't!
We got amazing pics and saw the barrels - our Elbrus base camp - from across the valley for the first time! Oh my word-the views!!! I was in awe from the get go! The most awesome mountains, ELBRUS ...❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

We all live in the Yellow submarine...lol

The drive to Cheget was interesting to say the least....we had so much fun...scenery was beautiful. 

Our bright yellow bus was awesome, no seatbelts though! Also no aircom, open windows all the way!

We bought some ice creams, chips and goodies and were off again! The driving is insane-overtaking on corners etc! 
It's very rural mostly countryside, small villages where the babushkas sit together on benches and the men gather under trees! Gorgeous views though! The river along the road runs strongly and is something to see.
The trip took about 4hours in total and we reached the little village of Cheget in one piece!

Off the main road onto gravel, pass a few stalls and there we are! Huge blocks of hotels (some look unfinished) and we arrived at Hotel. After a fresh up we off for a small mountain air walk...lovely fresh air.
Early start tomorrow with the acclimation hike...

Domestic flight to the Elbrus Region

We had an early morning start for the domestic flight to the Elbrus region.

It was well organized... My luggage was 5Kg over the weight limit, but i was only charged R500 for everything....loving Russia!!!!

Now for the final security clearance....da da da dum....oh yes please, shoes off, get into a standing MRI type scanner and wait!! 

Once through we grabbed some juices, free wifi and boarded - Elbrus here we come