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Freddy’s Mt. Elbrus Diaries
Freddy T Bear and the Irish 7 Summits team succeeds on
Europe's
highest mountain, Mt. Elbrus
Freddy July 29th 2005
At last it was Friday morning and we were about to begin
another adventure. I ran around the hotel room checking
under the beds, in drawers and behind curtains to make
sure I had left nothing behind. It was only 5am but Pat,
Clare and I had to be at the airport to meet the rest of
the team at 5.30am.
We had huge bags of climbing gear; my shiny new plastic
boots were packed near the top. I was really excited and
could tell our trip to Russia to climb Mount Elbrus, the
highest mountain in Europe (5642m), would be an exciting
one.
Our flight took us from Dublin to Budapest and from there
on to Moscow.
Moscow is the capital city of Russia. Pat told me there
are 14 million people living in this city. It was frightening
at first; none of the security guards were friendly to
me as I proudly showed them my passport. The language here
is completely different, the letters and alphabet are also
different so it is almost impossible to recognise words
or to read any signs. Still, I 'm going to do my best to
learn one new word each day; today it is 'thank you' 'sposiba'.
Mount Elbrus is the fifth mountain in the our seven summit
challenge that means only two more to go - yippee!
July 30
I couldn't believe it when Pat called us at 5.20am again
this morning. Our hotel was just opposite Red Square, in
the heart of Moscow and I would have loved to have gone
exploring.
Unfortunately we didn't have time and instead
we packed into the bus, went back out to the airport and
caught a flight to Mineralnie ody, this is a small town
in the far south of Russia; from here we took another bus,
heading for a little village called Chetek. Just as we
were leaving the airport, some cross looking guards stopped
our bus; he shouted something at the driver who then looked
for our passports. I slid over to the seat beside Clare
so I could watch everything from the window. Two of the
guards stood with Pat going through all the paperwork.
Eventually they shouted something else and we were allowed
to continue on.
After about 4 hours we arrived in Cheget which is in the
Baksan valley just at the foot of the Caucasus range.
It was a tiring day and everyone crashed for a couple of
hours before dinner. The hotel we are staying in is really
new and pretty posh! I found a pool table downstairs and
Tim, one of the climbers from Kerry, says he will make
a pool shark out of me before the end of the trip!
Pat has a friend from Russia called Natasha. She is going
to climb with us; there will be 2 other russian climbers
called Luda and Sergie. They taught me my word for today
- 'lets go' 'pashlee'.
July 31st
It was so nice to be able to sleep in this morning. Breakfast
was at 9.30am and afterwards we got a bus further up the
valley from where we began the first of our acclimatisation
walks. These walks, over the next few days, will be to
successively higher heights and the idea is to slowly get
our bodies used to the lack of oxygen which we will have
to deal with high up on Elbrus.
Today we walked in the summer sunshine to a lake called
Donguzorun. Above us was a mountain of the same name and
we could also see the ridge forming the border with Georgia.
As I walked along, I wondered what it would be like if
I could run to the top of the mountains and look down in
to Georgia. Would it be like sneaking a peak through a
curtain at a play or would there just be more moubtains
beyond? I was fascinated and asked Pat if we could come
back here before going back home. He smiled and said 'of
course, Freddy'. I was thrilled. We then headed for a café called
Café Ai from where we could see Elbrus, a spectacular
looking mountain looming in the clouds. There are 2 summits
east and west and our aim for this trip is the west summit,
which is 21m higher than the east summit. After our drinks,
we headed back to the hotel for shwers, dinner and my first
pool lesson! My new word for today is 'please' 'pojaluista'
August 01
Our walk today was to a beautiful valley called the Valley
of Flowers. We began from Narzan Glade. This is the site
of a natural spring and at the start of the walk we tasted
the water spurting up from the ground. It tasted a little
like sparkling water - unusual but good. We had to cross
the river twice before getting to the start of our route.
One of my paws slipped on a wet rock and I squirmed as
the icy cold water soaked through my fur! We headed up
and up through a pine forest and then out onto a beautiful
alpine meadow. I looked at the amazing colours of these
flowers, wishing I could bring them all home. We sat on
a rock and relaxed a little before heading up on to a col
- our high point for today. We had lunch and then began
to head down just as the sunshine turned to rain.
We decided to have a snack at the bottom, funny, there
are no shops in these little villages, just stalls selling
drinks and snacks- the snacks are mainly kebabs or 'shasliks'
which they cook out the front. There are no chocolate bars,
pots of honey or fresh scones!
We watched the local children queue up to get a ride on
a pony - up and down a wet and mucky open space at walking
pace only. I'd have loved a go, but we didn't
have time
to wait.
We went out for dinner tonight - to a little restaurant
in Cheget. Natasha and Luda came with us but still it was
very confusing ordering food for nine people in a different
language! I had soup and lamb with chips. The waitress
was very patient. My word for today is 'good night' 'spokoinoi
nochi'
August 2
It was wet and miserable today but we headed out anyway.
Our walk took us to a place called the observatory. Unfortunately
the weather was so bad we couldn't see anything, but at
the top Katie, one of the climbers, showed us a cool trick.
She tied the wrists of 2 other climbers with loops made
from her laces. She then crossed the laces at one point
and told the two to untangle themselves. They got into
all sorts of twists and turns but couldn't release themselves.
We all had a great laugh.
We relaxed in the hotel for the afternoon and then had
dinner. We'll be moving on to the mountain tomorrow so
had to re-pack all our climbing gear in preparation. I
can't wait to get started on Elbrus. Whoopee!
I was dying to play pool this evening - I've been practising
hard and beat Clare in my first game tonight - yes!
My word for today is 'hello' 'privet'.
August 03
Everyone was buzzing with enthusiasm this morning at breakfast.
We all did our best to pack as much gear as possible into
one rucksack - having to carry more than one bag would
become a nightmare higher on the mountain.
We got a bus to a small village called Terskol; from here,
an ancient looking cablecar carried us, our packs and all
our food to our lodgings for the night. After dropping
our gear off, we walked up to a place called 'The Barrels'.
What a cool spot! Someone had painted and converted these
huge barrels into huts for climbers - they looked really
impressive and I even got a look inside one. I'd love to
have one of these at home!
As the weather was good, we continued upward to the next
hut - called the 'Priut 11' (4157m). We spent just a short
time there before coming back to our lodge- which is much
nicer!
The rain came in for the night and so we watched a Russian
music channel for the night! Crazy frog is a big hit here
too!
My word for today is 'slowly, slowly' - 'xxxxxx' to remind
me to climb slowly until my body gets used to this altitude.
August 04
We began to move all our gear up the mountain today; we
carried it to the cablecar station for the first stage,
then transferred it to chair lifts. As I watched my pack
being loaded on to the seat and then take off at speed
with nothing securing it (!) a shudder of terror went through
me. What if it slipped? My warm clothes, boots, climbing
gear would all disappear miles below..I crossed all my
fingers and toes, hoping it would make it to the next station
safely.
At the top of the chairlift, Pat unloaded all the bags
and together we transferred them on to the back of an impressive
looking machine called a snow cat. This is like a huge
steam roller made specially to comb ski slopes for skiers.
I was dying to get a spin and so Pat agreed that I could
meet the team at the Priut hut - where we would be spending
the night. I jumped in the driver's seat with a Russian
called Viktor. He was really nice to me and even let me
steer for a while!
We had lunch at the Priut and sorted out our beds. We had
2 rooms with 5 people sleeping side by side in each. Once
our beds were sorted, it was time to head out again: We
moved on to our high point for the day - the Pastukhova
rocks - a landmark on the route towards the summit of Elbrus.
The sky cleared as we headed back down and suddenly across
the valley we could see the main Caucasus ridge. Wow! What
a view. We raced eachother downhill through the wet snow
and settled down to a hearty dinner. Today's word is 'goodbye',
'dosvidánya'.
August 05
Today was our rest (and eat!) day - if the weather is ok,
the plan is to head for the summit tomorrow - yippee! Although
it was hard to sleep last night because of all the shuffling
as other teams headed out climbing, I managed to nap for
a few hours and was dying to get back out on the snow.
We walked back down to 'the Barrels' and got to watch the
junior skiing and snowboarding team in training. They were
absolutely brilliant. As they whooshed down the slopes
at speed, I gaped with my mouth open. I really want to
learn how to ski..
We headed back to the Priut hut around lunch time and relaxed
there for the afternoon. We all had a game of charades
which was great fun!
We headed to bed around 9pm; the plan is to get up at 3.00am,
have breakfast at 3.30am and leave at 4.00am. I was excited
and at the same time a little anxious. It took me ages
to get to sleep as I lay there thinking about what a lucky
bear I am - travelling all over the world climbing the
Seven Summits with Pat, Clare and the support team.
August 06
Freddy T Bear reaches The Summit of Elbrus.
I awoke with a start, Clare was shaking me 'Freddy, get
moving - we're going for it.' My mouth was dry and I had
a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I pulled on my
climbing gear and went outside to see what kind of night
it was. It was cold but the wind wasn't too bad and the
sky was clear; I could even see a few stars. I knew th
is was a good sign. I drank 3 cups of hot tea (with honey
in it of course) and ate some plain biscuits. At 4.00am
the
team were out on the snow and ready to move.
We began the slow upward plod towards the Pastukhova Rocks.
One paw in front of the other, breathe in....breathe out....breathe
in....breathe out. It took us just over 2 hours to make
it to the rocks. We rested for a few minutes and had a
drink. One of the climbers got sick; everyone was finding
the going tough. We started to move again, the sun was
rising now and we switched off our headlamps. I could see
some other teams ahead. As we traversed towards the col,
I felt wrecked. I saw a climber sprawled on the snow, trying
to somehow rest so that he could continue. I thought it
was a great idea but Pat frowned at me 'no, Freddie, its
too dangerous. What if you don't wake up?'
My little legs were struggling to keep moving, I was gasping
for breath, I felt dizzy from the altitude and my paws
were numb with the cold. I felt close to tears but didn't
want the others to know how much I was suffering.
Just then, Clare came up behind me.
'Hey, Freddy, are you ok?' 'Yup', I lied. 'Here, have
some hot lemon.' I was delighted to be able to take a break
and thirstily drank the hot drink. At 10.00am we finally
made it to the col where we could rest for 15 minutes.
What a relief. I badly needed to take my rucksack off my
aching shoulders. We were all very tired. Pat told us it
was another 2 hours to the summit.
I somehow felt revived after a sandwich and water. We began
to climb upwards again; the ground was steeper now - about
30-40 degrees and the snow was fresh powder. It was enjoyable
climbing. As the ground levelled out, we could see more
people; those coming against us looked happy but tired.
After about an hour, someone shouted 'look ahead!' There
it was; my fifth summit lay in front of me. I stopped for
a second, then continued on proudly with my team. At 12
midday, Pat, Clare, myself, our 7 strong Irish support
team and 3 Russian friends stood together on the summit
of Elbrus. There was great excitement as we punched the
air with our fists, flew the tricolour high and posed with
thumbs up for the photos. What a moment. I gazed at the
beautiful mountains, glaciers and valleys around me. I
wished I could stay there forever, but my daydream was
broken by Pat shouting at us to get moving. We were only
half way there, we still had to all get down safely. We
moved more quickly downhill, but still very cautiously.
It took us about 3 hours to get back to the Priut hut where
a hearty and well earned dinner awaited us.
August 07-13
After a well earned rest, we descended the rest of the
mountain the following day. It was a relief to get back
to our hotel, have a shower, brush my fur, put on clean
clothes and sleep in a proper bed.
We had a great celebratory dinner that evening, followed
by a sing-song of Irish and Russian songs. It was sad saying
goodbye to our Russian friends, but hopefully we will return
to climb and explore in this beautiful country again soon.
Before leaving Southern Russia, we had a couple of days
to trek in the amazing valleys close to our base. We then
returned to Moscow where we did a city tour, visiting Red
Square and The Kremlin followed by a boat trip along the
Moscow river.
The Russian children I met remind me alot of all my Irish
friends - happy, vibrant, energetic and eager to learn.
Apart from the language difference, Moscow and Russia are
now rapidly becoming just like any modern city - but it
will never lose its fascinating history, the story of which
is as exciting as any adventure book!
I'm on the flight home now, but have a busy time ahead.
I'm going to be on Den TV next week, then start preparations
for my next trip. To finish the Seven Summits, Pat, Clare
and I have just two more mountains to climb - Kosciousko
in Australia and Mt Vinson in Antarctica . We plan on climbing
both of these before the end of the year - Yyeëss!
Talk to all of you very soon,
Next on my seven summits challenge I'm off to Australia
and the coldest place on earth the Antarctica
Freddy
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