Hey everyone,

I am interested in climbing Elbrus next summer with a guide company. I have climbed Kili and Rainier twice (all of these have been done with a guide service), and am looking for a guide service for Elbrus. All the US based companies (AAI, IMG, RMI) are way to expensive so I am looking at companies from Russia and other places. So far I have found Pilgrim Tours ($650 USD) and 7 summits club ($1200 USD), both of which seem relatively reasonably priced compared to the $5000+ price the US companies charge. I was wondering if anybody here has experience with any Elbrus guide services that are reputable or have any info on Pilgrim Tours or 7 summits club (reputation, professionalism, etc.). Thanks a lot

I did it with Pilgrim in August 2013 and have no complaints whatsoever. Such great value for the price. I would have no hesitation recommending them.

Back then Pilgrim was rated pretty well from what I could tell, not sure if its changed.

Hello, I heard very good feedback from Ivan, local certified mountain guide - https://goo.gl/QhkvfV. A french guy who I know summited with skis Mt Elbrus in June this year. He had a fantastic time and was really happy about Ivan. Good luck !

I did with pilgrims last year.. good guiding company. no complaints..and much cheaper than any other guiding companies. Most of US companies end up hiring a guide from them anyways..

Good luck.

I just did Elbrus two weeks ago with Pilgrim and would highly recommend them. I did the 8 day and 7/8 of our group members summited. I think that the 10 day has a better chance of summiting so if I were to go again (doubtful) I might do that. The hotel was nice, the food was good in town and on the mountain (and most importantly, portions were big), the guides were good. The trip was inexpensive too. If you go with a western outfitter they will just be sub contracting a local guide service, and Pilgrim is probably the biggest company on the mountain so it will could very well be them. I don't know anything about 7 Summits Club except for I saw a couple people with 7 Summits Club t-shirts on my flight from Min Vody after the climb. On the 7 Summits Club site, they use some nicer, newer huts. That's nice as Pilgrim's huts were not that nice, and saves 30-45 minutes on summit day. Still hard to justify the difference in price though.

I used Pilgrim Tours as well, and they were great. You can't beat the price, and as a solo female traveler I felt safe, well-fed, and comfortable the entire trip. I wrote an extensive trip report if you would like to get an idea of what the experience is like. You can view it at http://www.greenadrenaline.com/blog/off-to-russia.