Trip Description:
This trip was a climbing expedition to raise money for the British Columbia Children's Hospital (BCCH). Summits of Hope is a non-profit charity organisation that raises funds for the sick kids of BCCH. Summits of Hope has been in existence for four years now and has sumitted four of he world's highest peaks (Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt. Mckinley, Mt Aconcagua, and Mt Elbrus.) raising over $250,000 along the way! I became involved with this organization this year (2004) and am looking forward to continuing to climb the highest peaks of the world for kids. This organization provides the opportunity to do something I/we love, while giving back to the community. I personally became involved because of a young girl with Leukemia (still living and winning her battle) who has touched my life in many ways, and whom has inspired me to do many things.
Our trip began with a flight from Seattle for Moscow, one night stay in Moscow then another flight (a mighty sketchy flight I might add, with Siberian Airlines) to Minerlayne Vody. After that we endured a 4.5 hr van ride up the winding and beautiful Baksan Valley to the base of Mt Elbrus in Cheget. After settling into our valley accommodation we began to acclimatize to the altitude by exploring nearby peaks and mountains. The scenery was breathtaking and we could smell the adventure ahead of us. After 2 days in the valley bottom we moved up to our base camp on the mountain itself. The Elbrus basecamp consists of a bunch of old diesel oil barrels on their sides wired up the basic electricity and a small space heater each (for drying the mitts and socks!) These barrels were used by the Russian military during the second world war to guard the pass between Russia and Georgia. Quite luxurious as base camps go! The following 4 days were spent doing acclimatization climbs to increasing altitudes. When we arrived at the 'summit' of our final acclimatization day, I stood for the first time in my life at 15000ft, very exhilarating. Our next day was a 'rest' day that involved climbing to 14,500 ft and practicing self arresting techniques, and crevasse rescue techniques for a final time (in the 80-90km/hr winds that accompanied the storm that day) before heading back to base camp to get as much sleep and food into our bodies before summit day.
Summit day began at 1am in the dark, cold, blowing storm that was still raging outside. Our guide said that we would start and climb to 15,000ft and see if we could get above the storm and continue. We had 4 days aside for summit day in case of bad weather. So we started up the mountain in a single file line... one foot after the other. At dawn, which came when we reached about 15,000ft, the skies broke clear with a glorious sunrise and almost calm winds... the storm was below us. We watered and fed ourselves for 10 minutes and then continued to plod ever upward. We traversed and climbed the ice-fields, and came closer and closer to the elusive saddle. About 16500ft is where I began to feel sick. I had a headache coming on and knew that this wasn't good. I informed my climbing partner and close friend Leanne, who provided me with encouragement and support, but also demanded that I report any changes to her.
When we reached the saddle, I was "drunk" with altitude sickness and could no longer walk or see straight, I also could not count to 10 without missing a number. I collapsed in a heap and sobbed... I'm done. After about ½ hr of contemplation and discussion I chose to take 24mg of Dexamethasone (altitude medication) and continue on-not the recommended plan of action! I was roped on a short rope to our guide and placed at the front of the group. I gained a rhythm to my steps and thought of all the people that helped me get there to give me the energy to take the next step. The other members of the team plodded on as well, with one other person getting sick along the way.
After 11 gruelling hours, we all stood together on the summit of Mt Elbrus with the rest of Europe below our feet. What a feeling! We had tears, photos, flag flying (our main fundraiser was the sale of "flags of hope" which are along the same idea as Tibetan prayer flags, each flag has a message, that by flying the flag on the summit, hopefully made it into the heavens. The flags where returned to their purchaser with a photo upon our return) and a satellite phone call to our website announcing our arrival on the summit. The first time in Summits of Hope history that all members of the team had stood on the summit. We tried to absorb as much of the experience as we could then our guide announced "storm coming, it is time to go now." We descended into the fierce winds and oncoming storm back to base camp. Our route down took 7 hours and involved post-holing all the way down, while following mountaineering wands in whiteout conditions. Once back at base a full 18 hours later...soup and sleep was the recipe of the day. Sweet, sweet sleep.
After our climbing adventure we took about 5 days to enjoy as much of Russia as possible, exploring Moscow and St Petersburg before flying back to Seattle and bussing it home to Vancouver. Fantastic, and life changing. Wow... thanks for the support G3!
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