All news: June 2014

Today our group (all members) has reched the top of Mount Elbrus.  The weather was quite good. The climbers managed to edscent down the valley. Now they are in Terskol, in the Povorot Hotel preparing for sauna and victory celebration. Good job!

Our Mt. Elbrus programmes

http://7summits-club.com/programs/all/region_3/country_169/object_5/

The first our group reached the summit of Mont Blanc with our leader  well-known skyrunner Artem Rostovtsev. It was beginning of our Alpen season. We expect to send several group in Europa to climb Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa and some other peaks.

It was may be the best our meeting. Despite not convenient time, many our friends came to meet our Everest Team, to see the greatest Russian climber Valery Babanov who lives now in Canada and Chamonix. He was our main speaker, main attraction. But we just joy all atmosphere of the party. So many beautiful people! Great time for talking and for making nice pictures.

We arranged an auction where an ice ax Babanov was sold for 100,000 rubles

Vladimir Kotlyar transmits from the slopes of Mount Elbrus. Today we climbed to the top of Western Peak of Mount. We started at 2 am from a shelter on foot, without any snowcat. And we got to the top in eight half hours. Now we have a deserved rest in our alpine hotel (Leaprus). Tomorrow we plan to go down in Terskol to celebrate this momentous event. Everyone, thank you for your attention!

On the Russia Day holiday (from 12 to 15 June), the group of 7 Summits Club of 8 people attempted to climb Mount Ararat by our program BLITZ. Initially it was heavy task but lots of snow made it more difficult. Too early yet, summer came only recently. Climbers had to start from a height of 3800 m, not from 4100 m as usual. However, six of the eight members of group achieved the summit of Ararat. Well done! Congratulations!

Sergei Dudko and Dmitry Krasnov, few days ago, have climbed the highest point in North America - Mount McKinley (Denali). Thus, they have successfully completed the 7 Summits project!

We heartily congratulate the guys on this achievement!

It should be noted that the harsh Alaskan mountains had given the guys a hard time. Almost a week they were forced to wait in Talkeetna for Flight glacier because of the prolonged bad weather. But when they still managed to be on the Kahiltna Glacier, guys rushed up and in record time. For 7 days the literally ran up to the top.

We are waiting for heroes on 7 Summit Club evening of June 26, where we presented them with honorary diplomas. We invite all to listen to their story of the project completion of the 7 Summits.

Left to right: Dmitry Krasnov, Sergei Dudko, Maxut Zhumaev (went solo McKinley) and Vladimir Doronin.

Guide 7 Summits Club Alexandra Sak reports:

Hi! June 11 at 9:30 am, we were standing on the top of Mount Elbrus. The Gigant was in surprisingly good mood - probably the first such day since the beginning of the season: clear, bright moon, the stars, the beautiful sunrise, almost no wind. There is too much snow, but we managed. And as soon as we went down again all sucked. I'm Writing now from Leaprus refuge - outside we can not see anything, strong winds and snowing again. Overall, we were very fortunate that slipped. Can congratulate us :)

5 people were in the team:

Gulnara Talipova;

Andrei Polyakov with her daughter;

Alexei Kolesnikov;

Charles Nuzum (USA).

Seven Summits, hello! This is Dima Ermakov from Tanzania. Today, we all climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. The weather was beautiful, now we're going down. Everything is fine. Particularly it pleased that all this happened in my son's birthday. What all together we are sending him our congratulations! In general, all is well with us. Hopefully tomorrow we will be at the hotel.

Group members: Philip Lerman, Irina Bykhovskaya and Mikhail Okolokulak.

Our guide Sasha Sak from the slopes of Elbrus: We are at a new refuge: reached it, settled ... We had lunch today, then almost reached Pastukhov rocks, the wind prevented. Went down, waiting for dinner.

In general, all good, feeling great, the mood is too great.

Tomorrow we learn to walk with crampons and ice axes, relax and wait for the weather.

NEW REFUGE

LEAPfactory places LEAPrus alpine station on russia’s highest mountain

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/leapfactory-leaprus-alpine-station-russia-06-06-2014/

The ‘s1′ eco-pod, developed by torino-based LEAPfactory, is a modular refuge structure designed specifically for extreme and remote environments. the building system is prefabricated and transported to any given location, and has been realized on many sites throughout Europe. The LEAPrus documentary takes viewers through the construction and assembly process of three shelters to create an alpine station (elevation 4,000 m) on the southern slope of mount Elbrus, located in the Caucasus range in Russia.

A trailer for the documentary: LEAPrus

http://vimeo.com/86043011

The alpine station is located at an elevation of 4,000 m on the southern side of Russia’s highest peak, mount Elbrus

The s1 shelters are able to withstand harsh weather conditions, and as a result allow adventurers to inhabit more extreme locations. Completely detached from any power grid, a photovoltaic film is incorporated into the outer shell, and is able to provide all necessary energy for the building’s equipment. The shape, materials, and construction of the units help to optimize its performance, while interior fittings provide a high level of comfort. By lifting the structures off of the terrain, minimal impact is created on the otherwise undeveloped landscape.

This season Mount Everest gave only to days for climb. We were lucky to manage to reach the top by all climbers and guides except two that got ill when acclimaizing.