5 points beginner must know about Elbrus

Read in Telegram in English
Leer en Telegram en Español

My collection of routes to Elbrus is here

What difficulties novice climber will face in his attempt to climb Mount Elbrus?

For a professional climber, such a question sounds rather strange. After all, the stage when the mountains taught their first lessons has long been passed and forgotten.

But if you look at this question from the point of view of a beginner, you can understand that many of the answers to obvious questions are hidden under a layer of glowing descriptions, boasts and stories of reckless valor.

The awesome Mount Elbrus at dawn seems to soar over the steppes of Stavropol region

To answer this question, I will try to go back 25 years in order to, from the point of view of a person who got into the mountains for the first time, formulate the difficulties that led to failures during the first years of my practicing mountaineering.

By the way, for the first time I was able to climb Mount Elbrus only on the third attempt - the first two attempts were unsuccessful due to completely obvious and ridiculous mistakes, which now seem stupid, but at that moment I considered them as a heroism and courage.

The first difficulty is the transition from desire to decision

The first thing I will start listing is the difficulty of making a decision. Do you like mountains on a monitor screen or the photographs in a magazine? Believe, when you find yourself face to face with them, the impression will be completely different. And your perfect picture can be very spoiled. Are you ready for this?

Mountains are a challenge and hard work. The first meeting with the mountains is not always as romantic as it was appreciated to be

One day, at the beginning of my passion for mountaineering, together with a similarly “newly mountain sick” partner, we decided to set off to conquer the highest mountain in the Altai mountain system – the Mysterious Mount Belukha.

Having looked at the Roerich’s paintings, we prepared for the unforgettable experience of climbing of the incredibly beautiful peak. But, as usual in the mountains, things didn’t go according to our plan from the very beginning.

Three days of slurping my butt in a wet saddle on a wet, but (fortunately) warm horse back. A week in the incessant rain, in wet clothes, wet shoes, and at night in a wet sleeping bag.

These were my first impressions of the beauty of the Altai Mountains

Then - another couple of days in the same rain, but being like horses ourselves - under slurping wet backpacks... Then - icicles on the nose and ears, knife-sharp wind with snow. And absolutely no beautiful views around, just fog, a curtain of rain or blinding blasts of a snow blizzard.

If finally Altai had not taken pity on us, then, most likely, I would have nothing to write about now... However, a miracle happened, and as if by a sign from an invisible conductor, the curtain of the blizzard was raised over the mountains. And then everything went as the famous bard wrote about his heart lost in the mountains...

In the real mountains, beauty never comes easy

Now I want to draw an obvious thesis: any crazy persistence leads to irreversible consequences.

So, the first rule of a novice climber is that the decision to climb the mountain must be firm. In other words, it should be qualitatively different from the whim or caprice, which, most likely, will take you as far as to the nearest to Mount Elbrus restaurant, and leave you there, in the company of a good Balkar kebab and beer.

The treachery character of the Caucasus Mountains

If you will get interested in my vision of the topic “desire-decision-motivation”, as well as delving into the psychological background of the mountaineering, you can satisfy your curiosity by reading my text “Point of Internal Morality”.

The second difficulty: climbing mountains is a team work. Selecting a team to climb Mount Elbrus. Suppose you have made a firm decision and are ready to act.

The next step is choosing a team for the ascent. Let's say you have friends with whom you are ready to go through thick and thin. But for a successful ascent this is not enough - all of you also need to have certain skills and experience. Solving the problem of choosing the right team largely determines the success and (most importantly) safety of the entire climbing plan.

The success of any climb is a team achievement in which everyone contributes to the common victory

My first failure with climbing Mount Elbrus befell me at the very beginning of my climbing career. Together with my desperate but equally inexperienced friend, we decided to ascent Mount Elbrus in winter along the Eastern route. Given how strong and “experienced” we considered ourselves, simpler options were not considered.

We made a bunch of mistakes, almost died in an avalanche, almost froze to death, got caught in a terrible snowstorm for several days and turned around on the approaches, never reaching the beginning of the climbing part of the Elbrus route.

Archival photo of the author during the mentioned crazy Mount Elbrus adventure

Having descended down to the Baksan Valley, as true beginners should, we felt like heroes, attributing our failure to bad weather and unlucky coincidence.

In order to climb the summit, and, which is much more important, to descend safe and sound, you need experience and knowledge of the route. If you lack one or the other, then you should look for a good guide. This is not the easiest task. Every year more and more people want to gain experience and financial resources at the expense of others proposing their low quality services as a "mountain guides".

The popularity of Mount Elbrus makes it a trendy product, convenient for deceiving the gullible customers

Not all that glitters is gold, especially in the area of the commercial offers to climb Mount Elbrus. Practical advice - beware of “pig in a poke” and “pseudo-guides” as well as aggregator touristic companies.

Ideally, you should personally meet the guide who will take responsibility for your life and health while climbing Mount Elbrus.

Many travel companies take large groups for climbing Mount Elbrus, sacrificing, first of all, the safety of their clients

Having found an experienced and qualified guide, you will solve several important issues at once - an adequate choice of a route that matches your physical fitness, a responsible approach to forming a group, choosing the optimal time for climbing, selecting equipment, and so on.

The third difficulty: minimum physical fitness for climbing Mount Elbrus and the necessary training

Mountaineering, even at the most basic level, is an excellent reason to keep yourself in good physical shape.

My favorite test is for the amount of remaining energy - if you can do this on the summit of Mount Elbrus - so you can move to the next level of climbing difficulty

The peculiarity of the load on your body in the mountains is such that you will be required to be resilient, strong, and dexterous. The combination of these qualities opens up the possibility of climbing mountains even more difficult than Mount Elbrus, and also significantly improves the quality of your daily life.

Agree, agility and activity are needed not only for climbing mountains! Climbing the summit is a beautiful goal and a serious reason to lead a healthy lifestyle and practice a variety of sports. It is in the variety of activities that lies the secret of high-quality preparation for mountaineering.

Taking the issue of physical fitness seriously is not only a necessity, but also a form of respect for the mountain and one’s own goal

I can say that, at the beginning of my mountain passion, I thought that it would be easy to climb Mount Elbrus if I start to run 10 km every day a month before the planned climb. But after a month of constant running, it turned out that the summit of Mount Elbrus was just as distant and difficult as my previous unsuccessful attempt.

My body just did not have enough plasticity to adapt from my running trainings on the plain to the different and various load in low oxygen conditions it faced in the mountains.

Running as a preparation for climbing mountains is not always the optimal solution

Subsequently, I realized that daily exercise in various sports - running, rock climbing, swimming, doing gymnastics - has a much better effect on the speed of altitude acclimatization, stability and confidence when moving over difficult terrain than focusing on one type of sports activity.

Climbing Mount Gestola in the Bezengi Wall - Mount Elbrus is barely visible on the dawn horizon

After spending more than half of my life in the mountains, I have the possibility to share an important observation. At the beginning of your passion for the mountains, in order to climb beautiful summits, you spend a lot of time and effort on the preparation and maintaining your physical fitness...

Years later, the mountains return your investment to you - in the form of good health, strong immunity and prolongation of the active phase of your youth!

Forth difficulty: choosing correct equipment for climbing Mount Elbrus

The difficulty of this stage of preparation lies in the variety that you will encounter in specialized stores offering climbing equipment, clothing and shoes for mountaineering.

Choosing the optimal equipment for a climbing program in the mountains is a very important stage of general preparation

It is almost impossible to make a right choice without special experience. However, the issue of the optimal choice of clothing and equipment is critically important - I repeat once again that not only the success and comfort of the climb depends on this, but most importantly - on this depend your life and health.

As mentioned above, if you have a professional team and an experienced mentor-guide, you can always get competent advice and support.

For my part, I can invite you to read my article on choosing clothes and equipment for climbing Mount Elbrus. In that text I share my experience based on more than a hundred successful ascents of Mount Elbrus along different routes.

The fifth difficulty is adaptation to altitude and the need for acclimatization.

And finally, the long-awaited moment has arrived. The plane touched the ground with its wheels, ran along the runway and stopped in front of the Mineralnye Vody airport building. It seems like it is almost here, Mount Elbrus, just a stone’s throw away, as we saw it from the plane!

His Highness - Mount Elbrus, warms his eastern side at dawn

It seems that only a few days separate us from the completing the desired goal. Many people at this hour are concerned with the question: is it time to book a sauna and a banquet for celebrating the successful climb of Mount Elbrus?

Here I will have to disappoint you - the sauna and the banquet will have to wait. And ahead of us is the most difficult and may be even painful part of the program - the acclimatization. It would seem, what's wrong with that? If we are so strong and brave to challenge Mount Elbrus, what difficult can be in scrambling the small surrounding mountains?

During a training ascent before climbing Mount Elbrus, on the summit of Mount Kurmychi

However, a lot of failures befall to the novice climbers during acclimatization, when the body urgently adjusts from its usual rhythm to completely new high-altitude conditions.

Just one of the unpleasant surprises can be that the small surrounding mountains suddenly turn out to be not so small at all. They turn out to be so huge that your decision to continue your Mount Elbrus climbing plan may be seriously endangered.

Acclimatization before climbing Mount Elbrus at an altitude of 3500 m

Ascending to the altitude 3000-3500 meters in the first days of your acclimatization, you fully understand the seriousness of the whole task. Here comes the next challenge - to grit your teeth and continue, no matter how strong your "couch nostalgia" may be.

If at this moment you succumb to your craving for your soft pillows, everything is lost, the embryo of mountain climber inside you will die without being born.

At the top of Mount Koruldi - an easy acclimatization mountain in Georgia

The need to pass the high-quality acclimatization before climbing at the altitudes of 5-6000 meters is outlined in the thematic article in this section.

Here I just want to remind you once again that the first week of being in the mountains is the most dangerous for your health and unpredictable period when, regardless of your preparation, the body can fail functionally. This can happen to anyone due to a violation of the acclimatization schedule, an excessively altitude gain, or physically overload the body in the first days of the program.

The author guides the group of climbers along a route in the Caucasus Mountains (Svaneti)

Having repeatedly been convinced from my own experience of the importance of smooth and consistent acclimatization, I categorically do not recommend forcing the acclimatization schedule, or abandoning it (in the format of “blitz” ascents - totally without acclimatization). Such actions can cause serious and irreparable damage to your health.

In conclusion to the theme of the main difficulties of Mount Elbrus, I want to say: the task that you set for yourself is not just a whim or a caprice - it is a very difficult, but worthy Goal.

If you cope with the listed difficulties, then the door to a new dimension will open for you - the door to the vertical world of mountain peaks, each of which is worthy of being a dream and a desired goal.

A priceless moment - a happy moment of summit victory

Such a reward is truly worth investing all the resources and effort for achieving it.

The author of the texts and photographs Alex Trubachev
Your professional mountain guide for Mount Elbrus and other mountain climbing routes in Caucasus

MCS EDIT 2024