Elbrus Day Adventures

July 19th, 2017

Let’s get everyone caught up with IMG Senior Guide,  Mike Hamill, and team in the Caucasus mountains of Russia.  Obviously, they’re there to climb Elbrus, first and foremost.  However, an Elbrus trip needs more than just the summit to be a really great adventure.

The team met in St. Petersburg and spent their first two nights there.  Remarkably, all members and all luggage arrived, more or less, at the same time.  That’s a good thing.  A day and a half touring St. Petersburg is also a good thing.  Would be a shame to travel that far and not get a taste of both St. Petersburg and of Moscow.  A morning visit to St. Isaac’s Cathedral was followed by an afternoon flight to Mineralnye Vody and about a 4 hr drive to the village of Terskol, in the Baksan Valley.  Now it’s a couple of days of acclimatization/training prior to going up onto the mountain itself.  Then it will be more acclimatizing and more training before taking their summit shot.

Mike doesn’t guide alone on Elbrus.  He is joined by two great Russian friends/guides – Igor Tsaruk and Sasha Sak.  People like this make trips special.  Check out their resumes here.

As we often say – so far, so good.

Phil Ershler