August 12, 2014

Here’s the early morning email from Jonathan and our Elbrus team:

We got our weather window and summited at 8:15am this morning in pristine conditions. Everyone did great breaking trail ahead of all the other teams making their push this morning. Lots of stacked up demand for summits after the recent bout of poor weather. We’re back in Terskol for some R&R. Dinner and a few drinks are on the agenda for the evening.

Jonathan

And that’s the way it’s done.  Nice job, Jonathan, Igor, Sasha and team.  Patience is, indeed, a virtue.  We’re super proud of these guys.

Phil Ershler

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

August 8, 2014

Spectacular view from our high hut (Viki Tracey)

Jonathan, Igor, Sasha and team are up at our hut.  VERY nice weather today.  Let’s see if their luck holds.

Tomorrow’s an acclimatization day to the Pastohov Rocks.  Get the last details sorted out, pack, make a few more red blood cells – you get the idea.  Then it’ll be time to ‘pick the shot’. With the Black Sea on one side and the Caspian Sea on the other, weather tends to be a bit unstable in the Caucasus.  They’ve got a couple of days so we’ll wish them the best.

Phil Ershler

August 6, 2014

First full day in the Valley is complete.  It was spent doing their first acclimatization hike up to the Observatory.  It’s about a 3000 vertical foot gain, which is about perfect.  About 2 hours up.  Terskol is at just over 7000 feet so that helps a lot, too.  In bed now with the plan being to head up to the lower slopes of Elbrus tomorrow for a training/review day.  It, of course, also provides additional acclimatization.  ‘Climb high, sleep low’ is still a pretty good mantra to follow when it comes to adapting to altitude.  Team will be back in the Valley again tomorrow night.  All’s good, so far.  Weather is a bit unsettle now but forecast show clearing early next week.  May work out just fine for their summit bid.

Phil Ershler