Located in the Caucasus Mountains bordering Russia and Georgia and reaching 5642m of altitude, Mt Elbrus is the highest peak in Europe and the tenth highest in the world. Although it started life as a volcano its flanks are now covered in glaciers, not lava flows… 22 two glaciers to be exact. And because splitboarders these days are searching for remote mountains and terrain to discover, it’s hardly surprising that Elbrus is now on the hit list.
Last month Amplid Ambush rider Alex Kuzmitsky ran a camp on the north side of Elbrus. The guests spent a week based at the 2600m accessing new lines daily. The period between April and May is the perfect time to discover this area, although the high snowline made accessing the mountain a little trickier than other, more snow abundant years. Elbrus attracts strong winds which means the conditions can be either perfect pow filled gullies or glacial ice fields, which really tested the group of adventurers. Touring in these conditions is even more tricky than riding and crampons were essential. The crew moved their base to a small camp at around 4000m to summit the mountain and acclimatise to the thin oxygen, but it was at the lower altitudes where the best terrain, without the danger of crevasses, and better snow conditions could be found.
Overall Alex and his band of adventurers had a fantastic week riding one of Europe’s most challenging peaks and certainly the highest. Visit snowsense.ru to find out more about Snow Sense guiding services and Elbrus splitboard camps… word of warning, you’ll need to speak Russian or have Google Translate handy.
