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Elbrus. Days 5-8

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On the morning of May 10, 2016, we woke up, packed our things, and set off. We had to cover 500 km from Elista to Terskol near the foot of Elbrus.

At first the road led through steppe, and only later did the terrain begin to turn mountainous. We drove through Mineralnye Vody and were surprised to see expensive cars on the roads there and Mercedes and other premium car dealerships in the city itself. Then we continued on. Before reaching Nalchik, we turned into the Baksan Gorge. As I wrote earlier, we had been worried about going to that area, but in reality there was nothing dangerous there. The people were friendly, and no danger was waiting for travelers around every corner. The road through the Baksan Gorge is quite winding, but not dangerous. We did see one accident on the way, where a car had gone off the road into the gorge at a place without a barrier. I think there were potholes here and there, but you could see them from far away and they were not too annoying. By the end of our stay, I was already driving those roads at the same speed as the locals.

We arrived around 4 p.m., so after checking in we simply walked around the area and made a short reconnaissance drive toward the foot of Elbrus.

The next day it rained heavily. I kept an eye on the weather through a forecast site and the webcams on Elbrus, but it was already clear there was no point in going up that day. We drove to Tyrnyauz for groceries and spent the rest of the day at the hotel. By the way, the village where our hotel was located lies at 1,850 meters above sea level, and even climbing the stairs to the third floor felt strangely difficult, as if we suddenly weighed much more than usual. We got used to that altitude by the next day.

Elbrus. Days 5-8 - photo 50

Early the following morning I started checking the weather again and realized that we had to leave for Elbrus right away if we wanted to make it in time. We got ready, put on sunscreen, and drove off. The ascent cost about 1,000 rubles per person, as far as I remember. It was done in three stages, and we stopped at each one to take pictures.

Elbrus. Days 5-8 - photo 51

At the end of the cable car ride, at an altitude of 3,850 meters, a man approached us immediately and offered to take us by snowmobile up to 4,100 meters for an extra fee. We agreed, because in our clothes we would never have made it there on our own.

Elbrus. Days 5-8 - photo 52

We stayed at the top until people started shouting that the cable car was closing. In the middle of the final section, the cable car stopped, which reminded me of that movie where skiers got stuck overnight because everyone forgot about them. After a while, though, the cabins started moving again.

After walking around the valley, we returned to the hotel. The next morning we set off toward Krasnodar. In a straight line, the distance between our hotel and Adler is only about 230 km, but in reality we had to make a huge detour, almost 900 km. We decided to split that drive into two days, and that turned out to be the right call. As we later found out, the road to Adler along the coast is difficult, with endless winding sections, so the average speed there is very low.