lefty wrote:If you stay in one of the huts, the toilets are no worse than on Kilimanjaro. I suppose if you are camping you will find more crap on the mountain. On my summit day, 95% of the people were just using trekking poles for the whole route. I used an axe and one pole, which I think is a safer way to go.

One other piece of advise, if you are going to be in Russia for three or more days before traveling to Mineralye Vody, make sure you have proof of registration stamped on your landing card from where ever you stayed (or you can get it from a post office). The officials at Mineralye Vody airport when you arrive and depart, are looking for foreign climbers without proper registration. Not having proper registration will result in having to pay off the officials, possible multiple times before you can leave Russia.

Pilgrim Tours provided excellent service and even helped us sort out registration problems with the local registration office.

Hey now you have me worried!!!!.....I am arriving in Moscow then transferring the same night to another airport to go straight to Min Vody........Pilgrim organise all that stuff right???

Wouter, sorry to hear you had such bad weather on the mountain and couldn't summit.
-35c is really bad and with 1m visibility there is no way you can go on. I was on Elbrus exactly one year ago today and had the most beautiful weather so it is all about luck and good timing. But I know your frustration - I turned around on Cotopaxi some years ago. very depressing.
Besides, Oz: Pilgrims Tours - excellent service, very reliable. Make them arrange your transport to/from Azau. My driver met me upon arrival and dropped me off again without any hassel what so ever.
Da'svidanja. André

Thanks Andre, yeah they have arranged everything, got 4 weeks to go just hope my fitness is good enough to get me across the line so to speak, hahahahahah. i think i will be fine.

still curious about the stamp thing at the airport now though....

In total, I ended up paying about € 250 in bribes. I did travel around quite a bit though! About € 70 - 90 has been spent on bribes for trains. On my drive up from Mineralye to Azau, we got stopped about 12 times. Every time our passports got checked, our car got checked and a couple of times we had to bribe the police to pass (€ 15 - 25). Other people had no problems. It's all about luck... . Another Belgian couple were on their way to summit Elbrus. It was their 6th summit (only Karstenz to go). Their friends were on Elbrus last year and got stopped and ALL their equipment was taken by "police". They could keep the clothes they were wearing and their passport. This Belgian couple paid a total of € 300 in bribes, mostly because their OVIR wasn't ok.

For those , who don't want to see toilets everywhere - I suggest you go to the north side. There are not so many people there , but there are not any hotels , barrels , cables either. And i didn' t see any police on our way from Kislovodsk. All the local police must be looking for foreigners on the way from Min Vodi:))

We were unfortunate. In the week we drove up, they had problems in the border area. That week, they cut of the road between 22h00 and 06h00. During the other hours traffic was heavily regulated/controlled.

I hate reading about all this bad stuff just before I go coz its freaking me out a bit on the other hand its great info that I can use.....AARRRGGGH. Stuff it I am just gonna say "sorry got no money at the moment to pay you a bribe"....."how about you give me your address and I will post the bribe to you when I return to oz"

Of course you need to have luck and maybe I was extremely lucky with the weather AND the police but I did not experience one SINGLE harassementl during my week in the Caucasus.
I climbed Cheget close to the Georgian border - not any military/police officer in sight, nor on Elbrus or on the way to/from Min Vody. In all honesty I must claim that the people I met were all very friendly. I think I only saw one military guy who was overweight and obviosuly was in charge of the barrier letting cars into Azau. He did not even carry his AK47.
One thing to cater for is of course to make sure that you have all your necessary docs 110% in order. I made tons of paper copies with all the docs, including my passport, page of the RU-visa, the OVIR, the letter from Pilgrim - everything, and stoved in various pockets and copies in my backpack as well as in my hotel. Also I scanned all my docs as JPEG's to my hotmail. This is my advice. Cheers, André

The two times I have been in the Baksan valley it has not been any trouble whatsoever with the police. Lots of speed controls on the main roads outside Baksan (that is to ensure their "salary")?
I experienced the military as "more honest" than the police. Although not a smoker I wish I had a package of cigarettes with me, they were well sought after by the younger guys in green uniform.

..btw, I still have no partner for Elbrus in September 12-20. I might have to resort to another option (or a guide? *shudder*) soon if not successful... Prefer to not do it solo (hi mom!).

andre hangaard wrote:Of course you need to have luck and maybe I was extremely lucky with the weather AND the police but I did not experience one SINGLE harassementl during my week in the Caucasus.
I climbed Cheget close to the Georgian border - not any military/police officer in sight, nor on Elbrus or on the way to/from Min Vody. In all honesty I must claim that the people I met were all very friendly. I think I only saw one military guy who was overweight and obviosuly was in charge of the barrier letting cars into Azau. He did not even carry his AK47.
One thing to cater for is of course to make sure that you have all your necessary docs 110% in order. I made tons of paper copies with all the docs, including my passport, page of the RU-visa, the OVIR, the letter from Pilgrim - everything, and stoved in various pockets and copies in my backpack as well as in my hotel. Also I scanned all my docs as JPEG's to my hotmail. This is my advice. Cheers, André

Love the scanning idea will most likely do this! hey which one is the OVIR?...is that the one Pilgrim organises once you are there???

As far as I recall the OVIR was one of the papercopies I got from Pilgrim by email. I believe the borderzone doc was the one I was given in Azau...
Also, I perhaps should add to my previous post, it is worth mentioning that I travelled to/from Elbrus all alone and did not speak one singel word of Russian despite hello and goodbye. So don't worry too much!

Obviously I got unlucky and even so, it wasn't THAT big a problem. It's just money, right?

IslandTraveller if you pay for my plane ticket I'll hapilly climb with you. Düsseldorf - Minvodny, I'll handle the rest.

I think I have everything now!......just gotta buy an Aussie flag to carry to the summit has anyone used video on Elbrus? batteries go flat real quick in the cold I hear. When i did Kili they were okay inside my jacket so im planning on doing the same......

I made a couple of videos on my summitday. It won't get much colder than that and my batteries were fine. Just keep them close to your body. The couple of minutes they are out while you use them don't seem to bother them too much.