free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Well another situation finds me stuck in the house unable to leave so time to continue with my Elbrus T.R.
After our previous weeks aclimatisation camps we returned to Terskol and our brothel hotel for a nights stay before we would start on Elbrus the next day. The Baksan valley is a very poor place and the nearest phone was 11km away. I wanted to phone home but Max had tried to talk me out of it due to the hassle and it being very unlikely to work. In the end he decided if I wanted to do it I was on my own but he would arrange as best as possible a safe means of trying.
That afternoon a beat up old Lada turned up to drive me (my taxi) I was given a note to give to the phone operator on arrival and off I went. This guy like all the rest drove the road like his life depended on getting there as soon as possible. We eventually and pretty much relieved stopped. After the dust settled we could see we were parked outside what looked like a concrete shed complete with cattle lying about round it. Phone lines attached gave it away but still I felt the need to ask in disbelief.
I stepped through the doorway and over the counter I could see this was a pharmacist but handed over my note. The women signaled with her hand 5 fingers or 10 I took this as minutes and did the 10 and she wrote the price down. Money passed over she pointed behind me where there were 4 wooden and glass booths with one the light inside was going on and off. I looked and could see she was switching it on and off as if her pointing finger wasnt enough for us dumb ass westerners.
Inside the booth was the old style bakalite black phone complete with cloth covered cable. I lifted the phone and could hear Russians talking and this went on for an age before out the blue I heard a familiar voice. Even going through this old fashioned switchboard I got through.
The next day we made our way up the valley to the ski centre chair lifts. Its really run down and the chair lifts do have a bad safety record. Once you see the place you understand why. I guess it still has folks travel from the cities to use but it has little to offer than just a means up the hill. We did three chair lifts until you start walking to Pruit. Its easy enough through well trodden snow and Pruit itself was home to the worlds highest hotel at 13780ft if you could call it that. It consists of a bunch of containers the ones you stay in are just shelves just low enough to almost sit up in. There is room for three people to stand up at the side but stand is all they can do. We were to spend 3 days stuck in this!
The toilet was a wooden structure strapped to the cliff face with cables and a hole in the floor to drop everything through in to the abyss. Reaching it in bad weather was an expedition in itself.
The kitchen dining area could sit one container load of folks at a time then you were sent back. We were lucky when we arrived the weather was good and we could sit out but after this we were stuck in our tin hut.
Pruit huts on arrival.
The next day the weather was bad, high winds and with the propect of worse to come so we made a start on our acclimatization trip to the Pastukhov rocks 15748ft. A number of people died here the previous month from avalanche but it was pretty safe now. It took a couple of hours but the weather really stank and just got worse.
Q with your loo roll on the mountain
On reaching the rocks we didnt stay long but found a couple of nutters trying to camp!
e at altitude. Fluids in, fluids out constantly.
a good place for a picnic.
When back down the weather really started to hammer and going to the toilet was now a case of clipping into the cable. Opening the door was something else. Felt like I was opening the passenger door on a plane mid flight. Once I followed the cable with my small pool of light I reached the sanctuary of the loo shed. When I looked at the hole in the floor with my head torch the updraft spindrift blasting through resembled a jet engine. I **** in the corner and tried to get out before it reached the hole and turned the place into a car wash!
The next couple of days we spent in the hut with just dinner time to look forward to. At night we would wake with that wretching gasp for air you get haunted by at altitude. In the darkness we would all giggle while the latest victim sat up going "f###ing hell"
It didnt look good but just when it looked all hope was lost Max said there was a weather window and we would leave at 5am! Not much sleeping was done that night.
