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After a leisurely breakfast prepared by Mike, we headed out for an acclimatization hike up to Pashtukhov Rocks. That’s about 1000′ of elevation gain, and it took us about two hours to get there. Complicating things was the weather. Strong winds up to 30 mph made for cold going. Mike called the hike just before we got to the Rocks, due to weather. Heading back down, we began to get worried about what this means for our summit chances. It seems no team has summitted in the past week due to weather, with winds on the summit being as high as 75 mph. We’re seriously hoping for a lucky break.

After getting back, we had lunch and hit the sack, as tonight could be the start of our big day. At 1 AM, Mike will make the final decision on whether we attempt the summit or not. If he feels that conditions are safe enough, we leave at 2 AM to hopefully summit before the afternoon Electrical Storms roll in.

Mike described what it was like being in one on Elbrus once before. There was so much static that he told that team to throw away their hiking poles while they quickly descended since they acted as lightning rods. Scary – between the high winds and Electrical Storm activity, sounds like things can get pretty hairy up there. We may only be on the upper mountain for a day, but this is legitimately a big mountain and we’re glad to be climbing with the best guides in the world!

Continue to Day 7 – Summit Attempt