After some additional sight-seeing for a couple of hours this morning, we left for the airport to continue our travels. It was a 3 hour flight from St. Petersburg to a very small town in the southwestern-most point in Russia called Mineralnye Vody, which means "mineral waters". The airport was teeny with only one baggage claim carrousel, and I could see from the air that the area was rather flat topographically. We were now officially in the country.
From the small airport, it was another 3 hours in a van ride to Elbrus. Not one word of English was spoken. The countryside was very pretty, with initially gently rolling hills gradually increasing in size and height.
We were met at the airport by Gia, our local guide, who will be climbing with us on Elbrus. It was raining so we asked the obvious question of Gia… namely “What is the forecast Comrade?” Gia, who is a friendly but serious sort of fellow with a surprisingly slight build, replied "2 days rain, 3 days sun, lots of snow conditions - good". That is good news if he is right… which I am not about to question!
It’s about 9:15 pm on Thursday night and we have arrived at the hotel, which is about 20 minutes away from the base of the mountain. It is getting dark, and we have now left civilization behind or so it feels and seems. There are very few houses and lights and no paved roads - this is rustic to the third or fourth power! Really Russian, really neat. Never seen anything like this before, like being on a different planet. Will report in later when it gets light…The adventure begins!!
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