Mount Elbrus

Elbrus is a volcano that stopped short of the main Caucasus ridge. It stands about ten kilometres north of the watershed that marks the border with Georgia, on the line between the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, and it rises higher than anything on that ridge: its western summit reaches 5,642 m, the eastern one 5,621 m. The two domes are separated by a broad saddle at about 5,416 m. By the common convention that draws Europe's southern boundary along the Caucasus crest, it is the highest mountain in Europe and one of the Seven Summits. The volcano is dormant, not dead: old lava flows on its flanks still look fresh, and hot springs and occasional gas vents persist.

From its ice cap spread around two dozen glaciers covering well over a hundred square kilometres, the largest of them the Bolshoi Azau on the south side. They feed three of the region's major rivers, the Kuban, the Malka and the Baksan, and like almost every glacier in the Caucasus they have been shrinking for a century. The first recorded ascent was made in July 1829, when Khillar Khashirov, a local guide with a Russian scientific expedition under General Georgy Emmanuel, reached the eastern summit alone while the academicians turned back below 5,300 m; an inscription carved on a rock near their camp still records the event. The higher western summit fell in 1874 to a British party led by Florence Crauford Grove with the local guide Akhiya Sottaev. In August 1942 German mountain troops raised their flag on the top during the Battle of the Caucasus; Soviet climbers removed it in February 1943.

Today the mountain is climbed mainly from the south, where the road up the Baksan valley ends at the Azau glade at about 2,350 m. A chain of cable cars, the oldest section dating from 1969 and the newest gondola completed in 2015, lifts visitors via the Krugozor and Mir stations to Garabashi at 3,847 m, which makes the upper slopes accessible to non-climbers in an afternoon. Above, the standard route passes the hut camps known as the Barrels and the site of the Priut 11 refuge, which burned in 1998, before a long traverse to the saddle. Commercial ascents usually take a week or more with acclimatisation; weather above 4,000 m can turn to near-zero visibility within hours even in summer, with winds above 100 km/h. The quieter northern route starts near the glade named after Emmanuel and demands far more self-sufficiency. The mountain has been part of Prielbrusye National Park since 1986.

Getting there

The nearest town is Tyrnyauz, about 39 km away in the Baksan valley on the main road to the mountain, and the villages of the upper valley (Terskol, Azau) are the usual bases. The nearest airport is Mineralnye Vody (MRV), about 110 km in a straight line and considerably farther by road via Baksan. The area is close to the Georgian border; check permit rules for the border zone before travelling.