August 10, 2014
Elbrus. West (highest) summit on the left hand side.
Good news is that the winds are low. Bad news is that it’s been snowing with poor visibility. Faced with those conditions on the team’s first possible summit attempt, the guides decided to sit tight. They’ve got 3 days to attempt to summit. The trick, the art, is to hopefully find that window where they can get up with acceptable margins of risk. Forecast is for the winds to remain low but snow showers to continue. Keeping our fingers crossed for that little seam when the mountain potentially says yes. Members up high are feeling good and anxious to go, but smart enough to know that patience is often a virtue.
Phil Ershler