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  Today was the first day we did anything that could be considered mountaineering-related. The village of Terskol sits at around 7,000′. Our hike today took us up to an observatory at around 9,500′. 2,500 feet of gain isn’t a small amount, but we went at a very leisurely pace and the elevation was low so it made for easy going. None of the team had any trouble with it and we struck up interesting conversations along the way. It was a beautiful day, with only a bit of rain right as we got up to the observatory. This too quickly passed and we were back down by mid afternoon.

After having a predictably bad lunch at the hotel(hey I wasn’t the only one complaining – the omnivores didn’t like their food either, which often consisted “mystery meat”), we had the rest of the day to ourselves to explore or relax.

Terskol is in a very interesting area – it is the home to two groups of people, known as the Kabardinos and the Balkarians. One lives in the valley & the other in the mountains – and apparently they have a long history of disliking each other. The region is unique in that it is a predominantly Muslim area, while Russia is officially Roman Catholic. Seems the locals don’t really consider themselves to be Russian.

I walked around Terskol for a bit before reading a bit of Rama II – the sequel to Rendezvous with Rama for any of you SF fans(it was great). We were served dinner, where we got the agenda for tomorrow, and then we hit the sack. Tomorrow we’ll be on Elbrus for the first time, so we’re all pretty excited!

Continue to Day 4 – Mountaineering Skills Review