July 18, 2012
joeashkar
The Mountain Czars on the Summit of Mt. Elbrus, the roof of Europe!
July 17, 2012
joeashkar
We awoke bright and early at 2:00 AM this morning to the sound of “reveille” via harmonica loudly performed by our esteemed expedition leader Vern Tejas. After a quick breakfast full of carbohydrates, we strapped on our crampons, switched on our head-lamps and began the long journey to the Summit in the cold icy darkness […]
July 16, 2012
joeashkar
We started this morning with some review of crevasse rescue and then lightly hiked to a very steep and rocky slope to practice the all important self arrest techniques. It was a fun morning as we launched our bodies down the slope in each possible way: forward, backwards, head first, and simulating falling unexpectedly. Everyone […]
July 15, 2012
joeashkar
As our fearless leader would say: hello there friends, family and loved ones!!! After getting settled in our huts yesterday, we gobbled a big breakfast to provide us with enough energy and fuel for the day ahead. Under clear blue skies, we departed from our high camp and climbed up to 15,000ft/4572m just above an […]
July 14, 2012
joeashkar
Happy Bastille Day! We packed our gear early this morning and left the friendly confines of our Alpine Hotel in Azau to move into our Elbrus Base Camp at 12,500ft/3810m above sea level. It was beautiful day for acclimatization combined with excellent weather and picturesque views of the Caucasus Mountain Range. On our way up […]
July 14, 2012
joeashkar
You can follow us by GPS tracking http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0nI2J73AQzWADtEd7aqOOYhaOIreMxe8j
July 13, 2012
joeashkar
Happy Friday the 13th!!! The Mountain Czars rocked the mountain today! It was a beautiful perfect weather day. After an early breakfast, we set off on another acclimatization hike. We climbed up to 10,000 ft albeit on a very uphill, steep and rocky path to Cheget Observatory. Along way we were treated to amazing panoramic […]
July 12, 2012
joeashkar
We set out this morning at 9:00 AM for our first acclimatization hike. We hiked down into the village of Cheget crossing the Baksan River and then went up the mountain up to 11,000 feet. Everyone on the Mountain Czars Team did really well. We had a bit of a party at the summit with […]
July 11, 2012
joeashkar
We got off to an early start this morning with a 3:00AM wake up call. We packed and loaded our bags in the cars/vans and headed to the airport to catch a 6:00AM flight to Mineralnye Vody by way of a stopover in Moscow. Four hours later, we landed in Mineralnye Vody and ate lunch […]
July 10, 2012
joeashkar
Greetings everyone, we have a team name and we are the Mountain Czars. After a nice breakfast buffet at our hotel this morning, we set out touring this beautiful and lively city with a wonderfully well informed Russian guide who shared his encyclopedic knowledge of Russian history and art. We first started with the famous […]