LEOŠ KRATOCHVÍL: TO ELBRUS ACROSS AN ICE WALL #2
24. 09. 2019
Day 4
It had been raining all night. The people in the camp were dealing with an interrupted water supply. We had gone to see it the previous evening already. The water ran in a thin plastic pipe over a flooded river that had torn it down. It did not supply any water and the remaining reserve was about 5 cubic metres. The torrent was really strong, making it impossible to wade across. We were above the confluence and the river flowed into another one, bigger and even more swollen. Osman came in the evening and gave us mutton broth, garlic and bread. By the way, the local garlic is fantastic. I got one garlic head to plant it at home. We could not go without a vodka and beer. So, we went to bed at 5 A.M.… You just cannot refuse a treat. The Russians take it very personally. The arrangement was that we would be outside at 6 A.M. and go to repair the water supply. Surprisingly, we gathered in front of the house at 6:15 A.M. and we set off to the river.
The day before, I had had an idea to fell a pine and get to the other bank using the trunk as a bridge. Skilfully, we began chopping the tree with axes and in a moment the work was finished. However, it fell too close to the water, so the torrent took it away. A few meters downstream, the water had eroded the bank, and there were trees in it that still held firmly in the bank by their roots. We lay an old ladder over them. At first, Míra had been supposed to cross the water, but Honza's climbing harness was too big for him, so it was up to me to go. Hasak secured me from the bank to prevent me from floating away. The torrent was really strong. Everything turned out well in the end and we successfully joined the pipes together again.
Then, we had breakfast: eggs and vegetables, garlic, vodka and beer. What an interesting start. Finally, we ended up playing guitar in the afternoon and having a party. Outside, it started pouring with rain and it rained all day with short breaks. For lunch, we went to the local restaurant called "The Garage", which, surprisingly, was in a garage. A selected company from the local pubs, who drink and fight a lot, gathers there every morning. It was about 2 km of a comfortable walk to the restaurant. The meal was excellent. We arrived at around 2 P.M. and, naturally, we arrived among the regular guests who were already as drunk as a skunk. The afternoon passed peacefully. I went to sleep early. We were scheduled to finally set off towards Irikchat and Elbrus.
Day 5
We woke up at 8 o'clock in the morning and started packing. As I have written before, we had heavy backpacks. We divided the things equally among each other so that we all had backpacks of approximately the same weight. It was quite a "task" to organize all the rock-climbing mess scattered all over the room into something as cultivated as the backpack. Of course, I managed it perfectly well. Then I rushed for dinner. Strangely enough, we had eggs, vegetables... but also patties, melon and sausages. It was a filling meal. We left the camp at 11:30 A.M. We passed the "Garage" on the way and we had to go to the shop to buy bread, sausages and baklava. The route from the village of Elbrus towards Irikchat is quite steep with a few climbs. The first was just above the village and it ended with earthwork pyramids. These were weathered clay towers with huge stones in the walls. The stones kept falling out. The walkway was just under them. When we had climbed above the village, my pole got stuck. I could not take it out. Well, another trouble, because I didn't even want to imagine a trip without the poles. Fortunately, Nyvlt had small pliers and we managed to persuade the pole after a while. It started working again.
We climbed higher and higher, passed a drinking water source, the earthwork pyramids and saw a torrential mountain river roaring down the valley. It seems all the rivers are the same there. As we climbed higher, the main Caucasus ridge appeared in front of us. Beautiful jagged peaks with sharp ridges. We rested and replenished our water reserves along the way. We also passed great sleeping spots. But they were too close. We needed to get further. At the end of the valley, there awaited another steep climb. It ended in another valley. We were lucky and saw a herd of wild horses. Elbrus also showed itself. It was pretty far and pretty much up the hill. Picturesque white peak. Honza started feeling sick after the climb. We looked for a place where we could bivouac. We found it in one and half hour :-) A beautiful spot by the river directly under the "Free private" peak. The valley was beautiful, grassy with an incredible amount of various kinds of flowers. It was nice to see the garden of nature. We met 2 climbers whose tent was about a kilometre downstream. We did not understand each other much but in the end, we somehow got the message. They were there for acclimatization.
We erected tents, cooked sausages and drank tea (even the sausage one). It started getting dark and the cold crept down the valley. We went to bed. I was in a tent with Nývlt and it was pretty tight. Not even a mosquito would fit between us. The night was peaceful, calm and there was no rain. It was clear in the morning and I had time to finish my diary. Then, I closed my eyes for a while. I was really looking forward to what was ahead of us.