Day 1: Fly from Dublin to Moscow

Day 2: Depart Moscow

Fly to Mineralnye Vody and drive to Terskol. Overnight at hotel.

Day 3: Hike to Cheget, 3,600m

Overnight at hotel.

Day 4: Hike to Terskol

Overnight at hotel.

Day 5: Hike to Adsul Valley

Overnight at hotel.

Day 6: Cable-car to Mir Station. Hike to the Barrels

Overnight at the Barrels.

Day 7: Hike to Priut Hut or higher

Overnight at the Barrels. 

Day 8: Technical training/weather/acclimatisation day

Day 9: Technical training/weather/acclimatisation day

Day 10: Summit attempt

This is the last potential summit night. Overnight at Priut Hut.

Day 11: Descend to Terskol

Overnight at hotel.

Day 12: Leave Terskol – Mineralnye Vody – Moscow

Overnight at city hotel.

Day 13: Depart Moscow

Fly from Moscow to Dublin unless you have opted for the Moscow city tour extension.

Day 14:  Moscow, free day

Explore the city and overnight in city hotel. 

Day 15: Fly from Moscow to Dublin (night flight)

Day 16: Arrive Dublin

This itinerary is for adventure travel and is subject to change

Note: optional extras: Moscow: extra two nights, including city guided tour; St Petersburg: extra two nights, including one-way train and one-way flight. Can add or take away days as needed. Please phone for further details.

Tours are cancelled until further notice.

We stand with Ukraine.

June – August (contact us for exact dates of departure)

Full price from: €3,850

Land-only: €2,850 (contact us for details of inclusions and exclusions)

Deposit: €500 due at time of booking

Inclusions:

• All transfers at destination
• Hotel accommodation B&B 4 nights (min. 3*). Prices are based on shared rooms/tents. If single accommodation is required, a supplement applies
• Camping and all meals on mountain
• Fully escorted with experienced guides and on-site training
• Guides, tents, stoves and communal equipment
• Transportation of equipment
• Permanent VHF radio communication

Exclusions:

• Visa fees
• Meals en route
• Bar bills, tips, laundry and room service
• Travel insurance
• Extra porterage taken on
• Extra baggage costs
• Additional costs incurred if you choose to leave the mountain early or if we summit on the first attempt
• Personal gear
• Medication
• Ground or air evacuations
• Phone communications and items of personal nature
• Independent flights: Pick up and drop off costs to the airport not included
• Our trips are designed to avoid any extra cost to the client. If you choose to leave the trip early, There will be additional expenses
• Insurance liability and hospital costs

If you wish to arrange and pay for your own flight to Russia we will meet you at the airport in Moscow. Full refund applies only if cancellation is received and acknowledged 20 weeks or more prior to departure. For bookings where flights have to be paid for in advance, the flight cost is non-refundable once paid.

Clothing:

• Lightweight long thermal underwear – tops and bottoms
• Short and long-sleeved t-shirts
• Expedition-weight long underwear – tops and bottoms, cotton blends are not acceptable
• Fleece jacket – mid-weight to heavy-weight; wind stopper an advantage
• Fleece trousers – light-weight/heavy pile recommended with full separating side zippers to allow for easy accessibility and effective ventilation
• Parka jacket – down or synthetic parka with hood; expedition-type, needs to fit over all insulation layers (it can get as cold as -25 degrees Celsius
• Jacket – waterproof and breathable; good storm-proof mountain jacket with attached hood.
• Over-trousers, waterproof and breathable

Headwear:

• Sun hat with good visor and white bandana or buff for protecting your neck
• Balaclava/facemask – 1, lightweight
• Wool or pile ski hat
• Head torch (inc. spare bulbs & spare batteries); suggested: Petzl LED
• Glacier glasses and ski goggles – 100% UV Cat. 4 preferred, must have side covers; if you wear contacts or glasses, we recommend packing a spare pair of glasses
• Goggles are very useful in bad weather
• Sunglasses x 2 – specific to high altitude mountaineering, UV & IR protection

Handwear:

• Liner gloves
• Synthetic gloves – 2 pairs, lightweight, pile or polypropylene
• Waterproof mittens – 1 pair, pile or wool
• Gore-Tex over-mitts, possible down also
• Wind-stopper fleece gloves

Footwear:

• Light hiking boots or trekking shoes
• Climbing boots – double plastic or high-altitude/insulated boots required
• Sandals
• Gaiters – O.R. Crocs or similar
• Socks – lightweight (2-3 pairs), sock liners, warm trekking socks (2-3 pairs)
• Foot powder

Climbing equipment:

• Backpack – at least 75+20 litre; must have ice axe haul loops and crampon attachment point
• Daypack – 25-35 litre (optional)
• Waterproof pack cover
• Ice axe – general mountaineering tool; sizing is important: under 57cm to 70cm tool depending on your height, available for hire
• Crampons – step-in Petzl or Grivel; make sure these fit your climbing boots, available for hire
• Ski poles – 1 pair collapsible spring bound ski poles
• Harness – lightweight web waist with all leg loops opening, Alpine Bod or similar
• Carabiners – 2 crabs screw gates, 2 snap gates

Camping:

• Sleeping bag – expedition quality to at least -25ºC down preferred, must pack small
• Sleeping mat – Ridge Rest or lightweight Thermarest
• Pocket-knife – Swiss Army knife or Leatherman tool
• Water bottles – 1 or 2 x 1-litre wide-mouth water bottle, Nalgene
• Pee bottle – 1 x litre-wide mouth water bottle
• Pee funnel – for women (optional)
• Sunscreen – SPF 30-40
• Lipscreen – SPF 20-40, at least 2 sticks
• Sunblock
• Personal First Aid kit

Travelling:

• Large duffel bag with lock
• Smaller duffel with lock to store excess gear in hotel
• Plastic bags to line stuff sacks to keep gear dry or a dry bag
• Padlocks for bags while in transport
• Travel clothes
• Travel towel
• Toiletry bag
• Camera gear

Miscellaneous items:

• Travel insurance certificate
• Passport, visa and copies of all travel and insurance documents
• Money in Euro or US Dollars
• Ear plugs and nail clippers
• Spare boot laces, bulbs, batteries, memory cards, etc
• Cold water detergent and some toiletries
• Small sewing kit
• Penknife and small scissors
• Diary or notebook and book for down time
• Camera
• Insect repellent
• Toilet paper – it is good practice to bring your own, but it is provided to anyone if needed
• Baby wipes/hand wipes
• Hand gel
• Water purification tablets
• Personal medication

Climbing Mount Elbrus is, among other things, a significant personal and team achievement that you should enjoy undertaking. To do it, it is necessary to bear in mind some recommendations when starting to prepare for your climb. The chances of success and the safety margin are greatly improved with proper preparation and acclimatisation to ensure the necessary strength to avoid exhaustion during your journey, to avoid accidents and to decrease the likelihood of mountain sickness.

The challenge of climbing Elbrus and aiming for its summit is worth the effort involved in pre-expedition training. Although hillwalking is best and specific to the challenge, any type of cardiovascular training will help you prepare for this expedition. Focus your training on building endurance by completing long, slow and low to mid-intensity training sessions along with a few fast and short sessions to build up your anaerobic capacity. Build the distance and duration of your training sessions slowly as overtraining often leads to injury.

Our pre-expedition meetings are part of the preparation process. All team members are invited to partake and it is a good idea to attend sessions once you have made up your mind to take on an expedition. The meetings include a thorough briefing on all aspects of the trip and provide an ideal opportunity to clear up any final questions you may have.

Passport/Visas:
You will need a valid full passport. Please ensure it has six months before expiry prior your departure date. Visa application must be made before departure to your nearest Russian Embassy. Prior to applying for your visa, please check dates on your passport. To acquire a visa you will need four passport photos, travel insurance certificate and a tourist voucher (available from us upon request).

Money:
It is advisable to bring some money in cash for the trip. ATMs are not always reliable or might have a low daily withdrawal limit.

Our passion for your adventure treks and expedition is one of the defining characteristics of Pat Falvey Irish & Worldwide Adventures. We love what we do, the places we travel to and the people we work with in each destination. After 25 years of worldwide travel, we remain curious about learning more and retain our delight in sharing what we know with you. We are a hands-on company whose staff are available to answer your queries both inside and outside usual office hours.

Our staff and partners in Nepal, Russia, Africa, Argentina, Peru and Antarctica are as close to us as family members and share our enthusiasm for your trips. We see their work as a vital part of each adventure and have always ensured that local staff, most of whom have worked with Pat for many years, are fairly and honourably treated. The experience and expertise of everyone who works with us is guaranteed and makes for adventures that are high on safety, support and good fun.

Our company is one of the world’s leading experts in high-altitude trekking in remote regions and we pride ourselves in putting together trips that give you the best possibility of success on your adventure. To ensure this, we have a comprehensive acclimatisation formula, designed to maximise each person’s chances of completing their trek without falling prey to the effects of high altitude or acute mountain sickness (AMS). Our guides closely monitor the group at all times for symptoms of the effects of high altitude and are always ready to take the necessary precautions when necessary.

We are not only willing to go the extra mile to make your trip our priority, we are happy to do so.

Accident & General has been providing travel insurance to the Travel Agent trade in Ireland and the UK since 1969 and was one of the first companies in Ireland to introduce the concept of travel insurance.