Welcome to the first day of the blog for this trip! I apologize for the lack of pictures…I didn’t think to take any this day. I hope the collage above is a decent substitute. Fear not, the other days will be much more interesting!
Visiting Russia isn’t as straightforward as it is for most other countries, for an American. You need to have someone within the country invite you, to obtain a Visa. Thankfully Pirjo at CTT Destinations handled everything so this was a really easy process.
Portland to Seattle to Frankfurt to St Petersburg. I was actually on the same flight from Seattle to Frankfurt as our legendary guide, Mike Hamill(though I didn’t see him until we were at the gate for our next flight in Frankfurt). This trip is Mike’s 100th guided expedition, and Mike just finished another summit of Everest & Denali earlier this year. The guy is a legend, and it’s an honor to be able to climb with him, and the International Mountain Guides.
Randy & Anders were the first to arrive at the gate – a father & son duo who have climbed more of the Seven Summits than anyone I know. Elbrus would be #5 for Anders, who only has Kosciuszko and Everest left! They’ve set a high bar for the fitness level – we’ll have to see if the rest of the team can keep up!
Gina and Kristin arrived at the gate soon after. Both are avid mountaineers, and apparently Gina had a personal trainer to help her get ready for this climb. Both of them are super fit, so I’m starting to feel like I may have slacked off with my preparation. It’s definitely bugging me that I didn’t do as much training as I’d have liked.
Mike and Aaron are the last to show up. Aaron had to convince Mike that he was really part of the IMG team, since apparently Mike forgot about him. I’m glad Aaron was aboard – in addition to being a super strong climber, he was an awesome roommate!
We met Danijela and Jo at the St Petersburg airport. This is Danijela’s second time on Elbrus, after a knee injury last year prevented her from summitting. Jo, amazingly currently resides in Peoria, Illinois, and works at the U of I, my alma mater! Small world.
Getting into St Petersburg, we checked into our rooms and had dinner in the hotel. Turns out it’d be the last pizza I’d have for two weeks. Had I known that at the time, I’d have relished it just a bit more. For some reason it took two hours to get our food, but it was really good. Tired after the journey, we crashed after eating.
Planetary Muffin Expeditions 