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Elbrus questions
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How to get to Mount Elbrus?
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My collection of routes to Elbrus is here
View of Elbrus from the north - from the plains of Stavropol Krai
To get to the foot of the most popular mountain in Russia - Mount Elbrus, from Moscow or St. Petersburg, you can use any means of public or private transportation. The most convenient way is by air to one of the airports closest to Mount Elbrus. The airports of Nalchik, Mineralnye Vody, and Beslan are conveniently located.
View of the summit of Elbrus from the Adyl-Su gorge
The most convenient airport is Mineralnye Vody, which receives direct flights not only from Moscow and St. Petersburg but also from 15 other cities in Russia and abroad. Although Nalchik airport is located 100 km closer to Elbrus, it is not as versatile - only 4 flights from Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Istanbul arrive here, and often flights to this city are more expensive than a flight to Mineralnye Vody.
Ruins of the famous Priyut 11 - burned down due to mismanagement in August 1998.
Another option is to fly to Beslan (Vladikavkaz) airport, which is 270 km from the foot of Elbrus, comparable to the distance from Mineralnye Vody. Beslan receives 9 Russian and international flights, of which 5 arrive from Moscow and one from St. Petersburg.
Often, the cost of tickets to Beslan airport is significantly lower than the cost of tickets to Nalchik or Mineralnye Vody. Regardless of the destination airport, the flight time from Moscow will be approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, and from St. Petersburg - 3 hours and 10 minutes (until the beginning of the war in February 2022).
Base camp on the Emmanuel meadow at the foot of Elbrus
In addition to the air travel, you should not forget about the existence of such a classicway of transportation as railways. This traditional method is used by those who, for a number of reasons, cannot use airways. For example, in the case of a large amount of equipment for an expedition - in this case, the choice of railways is obvious. The distance from Moscow to Nalchik by rail is 1887 km, the travel time is 36 hours (46 hours from St. Petersburg).
In one and a half days, you can reach Nalchik from Moscow by train.
It should be noted that with standard baggage weight, choosing train travel may result in a higher ticket price compared to a flight. However, with a large selection of flights, the average price for a flight remains relatively low and can even compete with train fares.
The double-headed Elbrus soars above the clouds.
Getting to the foot of Mount Elbrus from Nalchik, Mineralnye Vody, or Beslan is not difficult, with a wide selection of official taxi services available (the cost of a car ride from Nalchik is 1500 rubles, from Mineralnye Vody - from 2500 rubles, and from Beslan - from 3000 rubles as of 2022). It is not worth paying attention to taxi offers directly at the airport - as everywhere in the world, such offers are several times higher in price and do not guarantee a safe ride.
The footprints of those who could not afford a taxi to Mount Elbrus.
If you are critically limited in your budget, you can save some money by using public transport. However, there is no direct bus service between Nalchik and Azau, but you can take a regular bus to Tyrnyauz or Terskol. Then, you will still need to use taxi services, which can be more expensive near Elbrus than if you start from Nalchik.
The third option is a personal car. The distance from Moscow to Nalchik on the M4 highway is 1657 km, with almost half of the road being a modern toll highway.
A trip by car to the foot of Elbrus can bring a lot of unforgettable impressions.
Overall, the road is very comfortable and takes no more than two leisurely days. Of course, it's not as fast as flying, but a personal car provides you with complete freedom of movement and significantly saves on associated transportation costs.
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
Other related questions:
- How much does it cost to climb Elbrus?
- In what mountains is Elbrus located?
- Which city is next to Elbrus? Transport logistics of the Mount Elbrus routes.
- How to prepare for the ascent of Elbrus?
- Is it possible to climb alone the highest mountain of the Caucasus and Europe - Elbrus?
- At what time of the year is it better to climb Elbrus?
- How long does climbing Elbrus last?
- What clothes and shoes do you need to climb Elbrus?
- What is the atmospheric pressure at the top of Elbrus?
- What is the atmospheric pressure at the top of Elbrus?
- What sights are there on Elbrus on the way to the top?
Our Principles
AlexClimb Rule #1 - Safety First
From the very beginning of our activity, here nearly 16 years, the first Principle of work of School of mountaineering and rock-climbing of MCS AlexClimb is the Safety Priority. On the basis of this Principle all process of training is based, all programs and rounds are developed and carried out only within this main principle. We consider that at professional approach to development of programs, at personal discipline and correctly put motivation - occupations by mountaineering and rock-climbing are COMPLETELY safe. And from the return - all troubles and accidents in our sport come from nonprofessionalism, from ignorance or neglect by elementary standards of safety, from irrational motivation, from revaluation of own forces and opportunities. All these prerequisites we COMPLETELY EXCLUDE in our work - ours Rock-climbing, Ice climbing and Mountaineering are based on one Principle - the Safety Priority. In rock-climbing, mountaineering and ice climbing, the Priority of Safety of MCS AlexClimb-is your personal security and comfort irrespective of, than we are engaged - we train muscles and we work technology of the movement in the sports hall and on the rock climbing wall, we make the way through snowstorm to top or we relax on golden sand of the Caribbean beach after hot day of trainings on rocks. The Safety priority - the main credo of School of mountaineering and rock-climbing of MCS AlexClimb.
AlexClimb Rule #2 - Leave No Trace
Closely interacting with Nature, working with the active programs in mountains, woods, lakes and rivers, we perfectly understand the importance of carefull and respectfull bahavior towards the Nature, for its resources. From the very beginning of our outdoor-activity we adopted rules of Leave No Trace technique - the standard of behavior of the person accepted in all the civilized world in relation to environment and especially - to the wild nature. After all on the relation of people to the nature near which they exist, itself can draw dalekoidushchy conclusions on the relation of these people to... Where and as we didn't travel - we don't reserve any garbage, we try to reduce whenever possible our influence on environment to a minimum. We clear earlier zagryazyonny tourist parking of the left garbage, we take out and we take out to utilization places that to us other people left there. We consider that only thus, at personal individual consciousness of each citizen, each tourist, climber or autotraveller, we will be able to keep the nature surrounding us in its state, natural, suitable for life, - in it pledge of the healthy future for ourselves and our children.
