August 11, 2014
Elbrus. West (highest) summit on the left hand side.
Just spoke with Jonathan. The crew pushed hard today. At around 17300’, they started to get some electrical activity in the air. Too uncertain to keep pushing and too dangerous. Good decision to fight another day. Back now at high camp, fed and rehydrated and ready to try again in the morning. No quit in this team. Weather is forecasted to improve somewhat with winds remaining low. They go again in the morning. If they can pull this one off, they will totally have earned the summit. To quote Fred Beckey, famed Northwest climber: “Sometimes you have to outwait, outrun or outfight the weather”. Maybe this team’s doing a bit of all three.
Phil Ershler