Having stepped off the plane the first thing that hit me was the heat.  It was 05:30 and already 24° - it was going to be hot today!

Sheremetyevo Airport looked just as dilapidated as it did the last time I was there.  However, unlike last time I didn’t fall out with any of the officials.  I boarded a bus bound for Terminal 1 which would take me to my connecting flight to Mineralnye Vody.  I was greeted with the most incredible reminder that this used to be the capital of the USSR.  Terminal 1 was a monstrosity of concrete and boarded up windows!

Nevermind, I thought, at least it’s not the World’s worst airport.  In fact it is the second worst behind Mineralnye Vody!

After clearing the ridiculously over strict security checks I went to the waiting room, which was just that – a waiting room and nothing else except the dulcet tones of ABBA in the background.  It did have a huge redeeming feature though, namely the view (through the few remaining windows) of the glorious big red sun rising in front of me.  Beautiful.

Unfortunately our flight to Mineralnye Vody was delayed by one and a half hours meaning everyone slowly started baking in the waiting room.  I befriended a Russian couple, Larisa and Georgeni, who helped to pass the time and the company stopped us thinking about the water we couldn’t drink as there were no shops available.

Anyway, we finally boarded the flight, which passed by pretty quickly.  Apart from an exceptionally rough landing (the relief was tangible as we disembarked the plane) everything went smoothly.

Mineralnye Vody Airport.  Let’s keep this quick.  Sheremetyevo Airport is the second worst in the world!!

I was delighted to be reunited with all my equipment and the long painful process of making it to our lodgings began.  Unfortunately an administration error at a transit hotel meant that one of our crew, who had come all the way from Brazil for the climb, was stopped by the police.  No matter what we tried the police would not budge and we reached an impasse as negotiations stalled.  Ronald, a German climber who I quickly befriended, and myself were okay and just had to wait.  And wait and wait and wait…

Eventually, after three hours, our final climber was allowed to officially enter Russia – for a €200 fine with no receipt!!

Without further delay we hit the road bound for the Baksan Valley.  The roads were just as chaotic as ever with cattle, donkeys and wild horses providing regular amazing road blockages.  The scenery was breathtaking and we got our first glimpse of Mount Elbrus.  The only sad point of the journey was seeing all the derelict old Soviet factories.  This part of Russia has definitely declined since the fall of Communism and we got the feeling from the authorities that they weren’t too keen to have us there.  But despite everything there we were.

After arriving at our lodge we quickly ran to our showers and coasted on down to the restaurant for a typically heavy Russian tea.  The group of climbers was mixing well.  In particular Ron and I were building up the all important rapport you need when preparing to take on a challenge such as this.

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