Dups, Filmstar: June 19 (Monday)

Morning saw us head off in search of our first acclimatization hike towards the Cheget chairlift about three kilometres away from the hotel. The chairlift would take us up about 600m onto Cheget’s broad shoulders. Oddly, and I suspected there would be many more times like…

“Stop! Stop! Military Polizei!”: June 24 (Saturday)

Well I finally had a good night’s sleep — sleeping at an angle to prevent blood from rushing to my head. I only woke up a couple times, one of which was to see the Barrel filling with light from a nearby lightning strike and the thunder…

Please don’t fall out of the sky: June 18 (Sunday)

Apparently even the simplest things can become complex in Russia. Today Keli and I were to fly from Moscow’s Domodedovo (say that three times fast!) Airport to Mineralye Vody in southern Russia for our climb of Mt. Elbrus. The flight was at…

The Case of the Twelve Pints: June 10 (Saturday)

Suffice it to say Sunday morning was not one of my better days. It involved beating my head against a wall to try and lessen the pain of the remaining alcohol swimming in the bleary recesses of my brain.

Trains, Australians and Sardine Cans: June 16 (Friday), June 17 (Saturday)

My first long distance train ride was one I will never forget. Jason and Michelle dropped me off at Berlin Lichtenburg station. Providence guided me to eat some lunch at the station and grab a bit of…

False Summit Attempt: June 25 (Sunday)

9am

As you can tell by the title of the journal entry, we didn’t try for the summit. I barely got any sleep between 7pm and midnight, though I did formulate a clear plan on how to rule Canada. I’ll have to fill you in on this master…

’Tis a small world after all: June 13 (Tuesday)

The journey to the airport unfolded exactly as planned. By 5:15am I was in the check-in line at EasyJet. As it turned out, however, my departure was not so smooth. The 6:30 departure dragged to 7:30 and finally at 9:00 we were heading through the…