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Russia: July 29 - August 17, 2002 The main focus of my trip to Russia will be to try to climb Mt. Elbrus. The trip is organized by Berg Adventures in Canada and begins August 3rd in St. Petersburg. We have a couple days of sightseeing in St. Petersburg and one in Moscow before flying south to the mountain. Ive never been to Moscow so I decided to spend five extra days there before meeting the group in St. Petersburg. |
Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Wednesday, July 31, 2002 At 5:00 AM I went jogging in Moscow. I crossed the Moscow River near my hotel, headed up and around the Moscow Zoo, then back to the river, up towards the Kremlin and was back at the hotel by 6:00 AM.
Thursday, August 1, 2002
Friday, August 2, 2002 Today is Dad and Carolyns birthday. It is my last day at The Hotel Ukraine in Moscow and I must check out by noon. My train to St. Petersburg doesnt leave until midnight so Ill have to plan things to do all day. Im hoping to learn the Moscow subway system. I set off from the hotel after breakfast and walked to the nearest Metro station - about 10 minutes away. I bought a ticket for 5 rubles (about 15 cents) and joined the throngs of people descending an escalator that was so long; I could not see the bottom. After a few minutes I got to the ground and continued to follow the crowd looking for the brown line which forms a loop around the city. The subway was packed and it was difficult to read the names of the stations in Russian (my guidebook is printed in English and the English translation of the Russian words are not even close to how they actually appear - although they are not as difficult as Chinese). I ended up doing the easiest possible thing, one complete loop of the city and I got off exactly where I started. I got back to the hotel and after learning it would be 'impossible' to extend my checkout time; I packed my stuff and took it to the luggage storage room. I'm planning on just taking a few things to St. Petersburg, as I'll be returning to Moscow with the group the next day. I'll leave most of my things at The Hotel Savoy in Moscow where we'll be staying Monday night. Once I checked out, I had ten hours to kill so I headed back out to continue my exploration of Moscow. I thought I'd check out the Hotel Savoy and since I knew it was within walking distance of Red Square, I headed there first. Wally Berg had mentioned in an email that 'everybody knows where The Hotel Savoy is', however, I can report that there at least 22 people in Moscow who have no clue as to where it is. (I later learned it was formerly known as The Berlin Hotel). After a couple hours, I found it myself - just around the corner from the former infamous Lublinka prison (headquarters of the KGB). It is a very nice hotel. I did not see the rooms, but the lounge and business center where I spent a couple hours was very comfortable. At 5:30 PM I took a taxi back to The Hotel Ukraine because it had started to rain, and had dinner at a small elegant restaurant in the hotel. After dinner, I sat in the lounge for an hour listening to an excellent pianist, until my driver picked me up at 10:30 PM. We took two of my bags over to The Savoy, and then continued on to the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) train station. Train stations have the name of the final destination of the line, so in St. Petersburg, I will arrive at The Moscow station. My driver got me to my correct train and car then departed. I boarded and found my berth - a lower bed in a 4-berth compartment. I was pleased to find that two of the three other occupants of my compartment spoke English, but was forced to stay up conversing longer than I would have liked. The train left exactly on time - 11:55 PM and we all finally went to sleep. I slept well on the eight-hour ride to St. Petersburg. I was the first one awake in our compartment and walked up a couple of cars to the dining car for coffee, but was told it was closed. We got into the station at 8:00 AM and one of my compartment-mates showed me how to walk from the station to my hotel - The Corinthian Newsy Palace - only about 10 minutes away. The hotel is on Newsy Prospect, the 5th Avenue of St. Petersburg. I was able to check in at 8:15 AM, called Wally in his room and arranged to meet in the restaurant where three other members of the group (Jack, Jim and Cindy) had assembled for breakfast. We were all anxious to see St. Petersburg and Wally suggested that we drive out to Peterhoff - The Grand Palace, used by the Romanovs as a summer retreat. Jack negotiated a private tour for us and we agreed to meet in the lobby at 1:00 PM. Jim is my roommate and had arrived without his luggage. Air France had no record of it, but when I learned he had started with Delta from Atlanta, I emailed Mike from my McKinley trip who works at Delta, and he quickly emailed back that luggage was backing up at the Paris airport, but he would do whatever he could. The luggage finally showed up at 10:30 that night - so thanks Mike for your efforts!
Sunday, August 4, 2002 This morning I went jogging for an hour then spent a half-hour in the hotel's fitness center on the 8th floor. After breakfast we had our first team meeting discussing logistics of the trip to Moscow tonight, and the flight down to The Caucasus on Tuesday. Mt. Elbrus is near Georgia, just north of the Chechnya border, between the Black and Caspian Seas. I spent a couple hours at an Internet café typing this journal. At 1:00 PM we all checked out of the hotel and went for a tour of the city with a guide. We walked down the Naves Prospect to the Hermitage where we spent several hours touring one of the best museums in the world.
Monday, August 5, 2002 Our train arrived in Moscow at about 7:00 AM and we were met by our local guide with a large bus to transport us to our hotel. The guide informed us that Donna had been found and was actually on a train that would arrive an hour behind ours. Leila would fly to Moscow later in the morning.
I couldnt find anywhere that would guarantee to develop my pictures before we left early tomorrow morning so Ill have to wait until I get to Finland later this month. Were scheduled to have dinner together tonight than take an early flight south. This is the last chance Ill have to write anything that will get uploaded before the end of the month, however, Wally will cybercast our activities each day on his website. Click here to be connected to the cybercast. Tuesday, August 6, 2002
We got up early, had coffee at a local coffee shop, packed and checked out of the hotel by 7:00 AM. The bus ride to the airport was one hour where we unloaded our gear and hung out until our 11:00 AM flight south to Mineralniye Vody. There was an Internet café at the airport and I was able to spend an hour online sending email.
We had a great dinner together in the dining room and Wally discussed our plans for tomorrow. After dinner we went downstairs and checked out the bar, although no one stayed. We seem to be the only people in the lodge. I watched TV for an hour before going to bed at 9:30 PM. Wednesday, August 7, 2002
Dinner is at 7:30 PM in the hotels dining room. After dinner, Hynek, Ryan and I played cards for awhile before going to bed. Thursday, August 8, 2002 Today after breakfast we boarded the bus for a short ride to another trailhead in the same valley for another acclimatization climb. Julies knee was bothering her so she elected to stay behind.
Friday, August 9, 2002 After breakfast we packed our gear for a two-day climb. We didnt leave the lodge until 10:30 AM and took the bus to the same drop off place as the previous two days. Uri had arranged for a half dozen porters to carry our group gear (tents, food & kitchen equipment). Julie, whose knee had improved a little, hired a porter for $10 to carry her pack and give her knee one more day of rest. We started hiking at 11:15 and within fifteen minutes encountered the boarder guards between Russia and Georgia. These were Russian guards and although the boarder is several kilometers away, this was the official checkpoint where our passports were examined. There is a possibility that we may walk along the ridge that separates Russia from Georgia tomorrow, but it is too high for anyone to bother us at that point. It took about an hour to get through the checkpoint, which is located in the middle of the woods. Our Russian guides warned us against photographing Border Guards.
Saturday, August 10, 2002 We were woken up at 4:00 AM, had a light breakfast, and set off for Gumachi Peak at 5:30 AM. We walked along the lateral moraine and reached the glacier by 7:00 AM where we put on crampons and continued up.
The climb down was slower than I expected. We continued with the rope teams until we reached the bottom of the glacier. By 7:00 PM we had reached camp where we packed up and continued another two hours to the valley where we got on the bus and headed back to the lodge. Most of us carried our heavy packs down the rest of the valley, the only exceptions being Julie who was still nursing her knee, Leila and an unnamed Canadian Advocate who each hired porters. After unpacking and a shower we had dinner at 10:00 PM then went to bed. Saturday, August 11, 2002 We checked out of our lodge after breakfast and took the bus to Treks, where we would start our climb of Mt. Elbrus. There, we boarded the first of two gondolas that took us from 9,000 feet to 11,000 feet. At the top of the second gondola, there is a memorial to the hundreds of Russians that died trying to retake Mt. Elbrus from the Germans in WWII. Uri explained that Russian troops were ascending the glacier using clouds for cover when a sudden wind blew the clouds away, exposing the Russian troops to German machine gun nests hidden in the rocks above.
Dinner was at 7:30 PM and consisted of pasta, beef, cheese and peas. Wally has been hounding the Russians to provide us with more drinking water but it seems to be very slow in coming. Russians apparently dont believe in drinking large quantities of water at altitude, preferring, in some cases, vodka. Im glad I brought a couple bottles of water from the hotel. We went to bed early at 8:30 PM. Monday, August 12, 2002 We woke up at 6:00 AM and had breakfast at 8:00 AM. Leila is feeling better this morning, but still decided to take a day off to further recuperate.
Lunch was ready when we returned (chicken or duck pate sandwiches with tomatoes and cucumbers and chicken soup). We are planning to go to bed early & wake up at 2:00 AM for our first summit attempt tomorrow. Thursday, August 13, 2002 Wally had convinced me to start taking 125 mg of Diamox every 12 hours starting yesterday. I had not used Diamox on Denali and had hoped to avoid it this time, however, our rapid mechanical ascent meant that our acclimatization was not as reliable as I had experienced in Alaska when we had hiked the entire route over two weeks. Our snow-cat was rescheduled from 3:00 AM to 4:00 AM so we got up at 2:45 AM, ate breakfast and got dressed. The snow-cat will take us just short of where we hiked up to yesterday, the base of Poshnikov Rocks. Ryan, Hyena & Donna decided to hike to the Poshnikov Rocks so they left the Refugio at 2:00 AM. Our snow-cat passed them about 500 meters short of the Rocks, so we started climbing without them, knowing they would catch up soon. There were probably 200 people on the mountain at 4:00 AM all going for the summit. Everyone had headlamps and it was difficult to tell the headlamps from the stars in the sky. The weather was perfect (for the second day in a row), except for some wind that forced us to hike in down jackets for the first few hours. The sun came up at 5:30 AM and we stopped to put on sunglasses and sun tan lotion. We reached the saddle between the east and west summits at 9:45 AM and took a break before heading up the west summit, the highest point in Europe at 5642 meters. The east summit is 18 meters lower than the west summit. As we started up the west peak, the sun was blazing and we had to stop to strip down to a single layer of clothing. I think Ryan would have peeled away his skin if he could.
Thursday, August 15, 2002 Last night it rained heavily and there was thunder and lightning. I got up early and went for a run up the road to a little village where people were walking their cows and feeding their chickens. The village looked like the set from Fiddler on the Roof. Every house was either under construction, under repair or should have been under repair. I got back to the lodge at 7:45 AM and had breakfast. Wally covered the tipping guidelines for our Russian staff, which he will pass out at our farewell dinner tonight. The news is full of pictures of the flooding in Eastern Europe, particularly Prague and Germany where I was hoping to visit in the next few weeks. I may have to alter my itinerary to avoid distressed areas or areas that are closed due to flooding. Wally has encouraged me to climb Mt. Blanc in southern France and I need to investigate that possibility as soon as I get to Helsinki on Saturday. At noon we boarded a bus which took us to a local market where we browsed the various stalls for woolen goods. It started raining so we abandoned the shopping and went to a local karaoke bar for lunch. Nadia, our cook from Mt. Elbrus, was there entertaining another group of local tourists on the karaoke system, and it didnt take too many drinks for many of our group to join in the fun. After watching Alex & Jack sing Stand by your Man and Larry, Hynek, Ryan & Alex attempt YMCA I began thinking that I should investigate a different sport. Lunch was chicken, potatoes & salad. We finished at 3:30 PM and waited ½ hour for the bus to take us back to the lodge where we played cards in the bar downstairs for a couple of hours, Jim being the big winner. We had a farewell dinner at the lodge with Vladimir, his wife Laurisa, Yuri and Nadia. Wally passed out the gratuities and our thanks & compliments to all those who helped us during the trip. After dinner I went upstairs to begin organizing my gear for the flight back to St. Petersburg tomorrow. Friday, August 16, 2002 Breakfast was at 8:00 AM and we finished packing afterward. The bus arrived early and we were loaded and on our way back to the airport in Mineralniye Vody before 11:00 AM. We stopped half-way at the same roadside stand which we visited on the way down. I bought some bread and bananas, but many people ordered lamb. We arrived at the airport, checked the baggage and went to the VIP lounge, formerly the Intourist Lounge. We played cards for an hour or two until our flight was called. The bus which took us from the gate to the plane delivered us to the wrong plane, but someone discovered the error before we boarded & flew off to who knows where. The flight left on time and we arrived at St. Petersburg's domestic airport before 10:00 PM. A bus picked us up and took us back to the Nevesky Palace Hotel well before sunset. Many people went upstairs to what was billed as 'the best restaurant in St. Petersburg', but I was exhausted so I went to sleep. Saturday, August 17, 2002 I was up and showered by 7:00 AM and anxious to get down to the hotel's excellent buffet breakfast. All of us were present by 8:00 AM, except Jack who had an early flight and had left at 5:00 AM. By 9:00 AM people were saying their good-byes and leaving for the airport or to do some last minute shopping or sightseeing. I went to the Internet café down the street to type up my journal and send & receive some email. At 1:00 PM I went back to pack and checked out of the hotel by 2:00 PM. I spent 1 ½ hours walking the streets of St. Petersburg waiting for my scheduled cab ride to the Helsinki train station which was at 3:45 PM. When the cab dropped me off at the station, I only had to wait a few minutes before boarding the train and was delighted to find that the conductor spoke English - although by that time, I was sure I was in the correct place. My reservation is for a seat, as opposed to the berths available on the Moscow train, but the ride is a few hours shorter and with daylight now extending past 11:00 PM, I should be able to find my hotel in Helsinki before dark. Russian Boarder Patrol came aboard as we approached the boarder with Finland to check passports and customs declarations. An officer made me open one of my duffel bags, but lost interest when she got to my dirty laundry. At the next station the Russians got off and the Finnish customs people got on to stamp our passports. We lost an hour traveling west and arrived in Helsinki at 9:30 PM. After getting my bearings, and changing some money into Euros, I walked to the Raddison SAS Hotel and checked-in. | Back | Itinerary | Maps | General Info | Home | |