Pressed for time?

Whilst touring the great cities of Russia is certainly an amazing experience, (which we encourage) we also understand not everyone has the time to visit both St. Petersburg & Moscow, or perhaps they have already seen these great sights on a previous visit, or have a future trip planned and therefore the Elbrus Express expedition which cuts out the city touring to focus exclusively on the climbing, is a better fit.

In which case you will cut short the beginning and end of the trip.

On our Elbrus Express climb you will meet the team at the airport ready for the domestic flight to the Elbrus region. (We ask everyone to book the same domestic flight and will provide flight numbers – please note the airport you arrive at in St. Pete’s may not be the same as the Elbrus flight departs from, and you may need to transfer between airports. This is easy to overcome by taking a cab)

Arriving in the Elbrus region we make our way to the quaint valley of Terskol where we will stage our climb.

First we acclimatise in the valley below the peak with beautiful hikes before moving up to our mountain hut. Here we spend a few days acclimatising with forays up the mountain and learning/refreshing and  mastering mountaineering skills, (Cramponing, harness use, self arrest technique, fixed line climbing etc) before our summit bid.

Depending on snow conditions on summit morning, climbers may elect to take a snow-cat to a previously attained high point (tagged in prior days during acclimatisation) which saves several hours and around 2,000 vertical feet giving people the advantage of reaching the summit earlier in the day and feeling more energised to enjoy their climb.

Following our climb, we celebrate in the valley with a traditional Russian Spa (Banya) and if time allows, enjoy a day to relax and explore the valley.

The following morning the team, including our express climbers will be transported to the local airport (Min Vody) for their onward flights home, while the rest of the team heads to Moscow for their final tours. Please note that it is often easiest to catch the same domestic flight to Moscow with the team and then transit from there as there is a greater availability of connecting international flights from Moscow.