Friday 5th July 2019

‘Life begins at the end of our comfort zone’,

Neale Donald Walsch

Today was ‘a day of rest and preparation’.

We so needed rest as it had been full on since the day we were picked up in Mineralyne Vody.

The day of rest was all lies though. It was not a day of rest. We were trekked out up that mountain again in full hiking gear.

The route we are taking to summit Elbrus includes glacier crossings where crevasses are a risk.

Our acclimatisation day will involve training in walking in crampons and gaining experiences with crevasse rescues to make sure we are all comfortable using short-rope techniques.

Once back at camp we hang around the rocks chatting and chilling out taking as much rest as possible as tomorrow was going to be a tough day.

Final preparation’s are made for Summit Day and we try to settle in early in anticipation of tomorrows summit attempt.

We are making our way up the mountain at 12.30pm….so really our day of rest is no day of rest.

We lie about in our bunk beds just waiting…some nod off, I don’t. My stomach churns until Anna shouts…”wake up guys it’s time to summit Elbrus…breakfast is ready”!