Day 2, June 4th, 2012: Base Camp to Mushroom Rocks Acclimatization Hike
Today was our first real
acclimatization hike, since the previous day’s hike actually was a decrease in
altitude. We went up along the path towards High Camp before veering off to
visit the mountain’s famed “Mushroom Rocks.” This is basically a collection of
rocks that resemble mushrooms for their convection shape. We hopped up one and
ate our lunch looking over the northern Caucuses. It is certainly a beautiful
sight! The only unfortunate part of the day was the last 50m of the ascent,
when the rocky path turned into a dangerous scree slope very similar to the one
that nearly took out my friend Pearl Going on Aconcagua. Somehow we all made it
up (and down) safely. It was a good lesson in mountain safety though.
I’m excited (and kind of nervous) for tomorrow…it’s the
first time I’ll have to carry 20+ kg on my back on a real mountain. I’ve been
training for this (as it will become even more of an issue when I get to
Denali…) but have yet to be tested “in the field.” I hope it goes well!
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| Our first real acclimatization hike, with Elbrus in the background. |
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