Adventure Diplomacy

Mount Elbrus – Summit Morning – 2009.08.10

Climbers usually leave Priut or Garabashi first time in the morning, at about 1-2 am. Our day started at 3:30. Sleeping at 5000m gave us the opportunity to leave at about 4 am, and still climb very fast. Our bodies were much more in shape, acclimatized by the 2 days at high altitude. Tibi still didn’t feel excellent, but he was eager to climb it. As the sky was full of stars we knew the weather would remain very good that day.
Tibi was already at least 30 minutes behind, and we couldn’t stay to wait for him there. It was cold, and Lucian couldn’t feel 3 of his toes. We had to climb fast to the summit, to bath in the hot sun up there.

It seemed to be all right, at least everybody felt better. But for Tibi, who slept a lot in the morning, and then said he had equilibrium problems. I first thought it was a joke, but after midday, we knew it was for real. He had to rest, eat and drink. So, that day, we stayed at 5000m, in or around the tents, admiring the landscape and doing other “housework”. And of course, taking pictures.

We left late from 4000m. Felling good, we decided to climb slowly, not to stress our lungs and brains in low pressure, low oxygen atmosphere.

The first break was above Diesel, at about 4300. Photos, chocolate, some water from the mountain rescuers and we were ready to go further.

We decided to go no further than Pashtukova Rocks, because of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). Our bodies felt good, but the first night at about 4800m would have been crucial. As we will know back home, that night we camped at 5000m, not at 4800. That’s why we were all sick, one by one, more or less.

We felt tired, but the team’s moral was excellent. We digged to make the platform straight, then we built a stone to protect the tents from storms and winds.

Because of the altitude and the tiredness, Tibi’s sleeping bag managed to slip from his hands and rolled 1200 meters lower, on a glacier full of crevasses. Lucian and him went ASAP after it, with only their harnesses, water, sugar and flashlights. 4 people with 3 sleeping bags at 5000m would have been very… unpleasant. As they left, it soon became dusky, so I shot a few more pictures and entered the red tent with Ileana, preparing water for the boys’ return.

Melting snow at 5000, with severe headache and puking spasms, was quite an effort. 2 persons in the small tent, me shivering like hell because of the lack of food in the last day, combined with high altitude, would have become pure danger. I don’t know how we moved inside the tent, with all the gear inside, when we managed to pour 1.2 liters of melted snow from the pot inside my sleeping bag, all over me. I was dressed with 3 pairs of trousers, 4 layers of jackets, gloves and a beanie. All my lower part of the body was wet, fortunately the old Marmot jacket protected the inside top layers from getting too wet. I instantly forgot that our boys were out there, in the cold wind, or that I felt very sick, and I got out of the tent instantly. I wasn’t wearing socks, but I didn’t feel the freezing snow outside. The boys confirmed there were about -20 -25 degrees outside. I pulled the sleeping bag, with all the water inside, and it instantly froze on it. This way I cleaned it like it was full of snow powder. Fortunately, it was a synthetic sleeping bag, so the filling didn’t absorb water. With only 2 sleeping bags left, it would have been a long night.

We were seconds away from disaster, but after getting back in, I felt better quickly. Adrenaline works. My feet and internal organs felt warm again, and we were even able to eat half a slice of bread. After another half hour, we went outside to put a flashlight on a rock, so that the boys see us. We saw them climbing fast a few hundred meters below.

They arrived in about an hour, with the sleeping bag. Unbelievable, they recognized it on the glacier, among all the rocks, and it didn’t fall in a crevasse. We were lucky this time, at least we had the gear back, and we were ok.

Or so we thought… The first crucial night was about to begin. Will we sleep or will we puke all night?

Caucasus. 4000m – 2009.08.07

We were at Garabashi, fresh, with our big backpacks. We decided to climb slowly, breathing slowly and deeply. 4000m in one day is a lot, maybe too much. We had some training that we hoped to be enough, but acclimatization has to be done properly every time.

After one hour, we decided to place the tents just before the slope of Priut. At about 4000m, it was quite warm, and we finished digging in the snow fast.

At that height, you can’t find any liquid water. So you have to melt a lot of snow. For a few liters, I spent an hour. Me melting, Lucian filling the pot with snow, Ileana pouring it in other bottles. Melted snow is not drinkable, so we had to pour Isostar in it: this powder contains a lot of carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and are very good for recovering after intense effort. You can buy them in any Cora supermarket in Bucharest. They are very cheap, 1 Leu/sachet.

Even though Ileana felt quite bad that night, the next morning we all were fine. No altitude problems, the weather was nice, it was warm and pleasant outside. We packed everything and decided to continue climbing somewhere near Pashtukova rocks, at about 4600-4800m. There, we would have stayed 2 days, and after that, we would have tried to reach the summit.

For 100-150 Dollars, the ratrack can take you to 5200m. From there, you can ski back to Garabashi (3800) or climb the summit. We chose the hard way, on foot. It was much cheaper (no money involved) and our bodies had more time to get used to high altitude. 300 meters a day recommends the doctor, but we thought we can overpass that. In 2 day, the weather would become very bad, and we were now hurrying for the summit. But all speed comes with it’s costs…