Mt. Elbrus, Russia 18,510 feet, 5642m

We just returned from a wonderful two week trip to Russia. The group met in St. Petersburg where we took some time to tour the sites and see some of the many historical places in this beautiful city. We then flew south to Mineralnye Vody then drove into the Caucasas mountains only a stones throw from the border with Georgia. Here we spent some time doing acclimatization hikes in the picturesque Baksan Valley. We then moved up to a hut at approximately 14,000 feet where we continued acclimatizing while we took hikes as high as 15,800 feet.

On our first summit attempt we came up short stopping at 17,150 feet just before the saddle between the east and west summits of Mt. Elbrus. Weather turned stormy with increasing snow accumulation and fierce winds.

The following day was clear though and we managed to climb to the highest point on the European continent on a warm and windless day.

A few pictures showing some of the highlights of the trip are below. The entire photo gallery can be viewed here: http://kurtwedberg.smugmug.com/gallery/8678076_8HFF9/1/573243990_vrdww

L to R: Chuck Raper, Jim Wood, Debbie Wood, Connie Self, Kurt Wedberg

Peterhof Palace, St Petersburg

Church at Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg

Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

The most famous painting in the Hermitage Museum is Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son

Knight armor on display at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. The Hermitage Museum has so many artifacts that if a person viewed each piece for one minute it would take seven years to see everything. Furthermore, only 10% of everything in the museum's possession is on display!