I woke up around 07:00 with a strange feeling on my face.  During the night my sunburnt lips and chin had started to peel and bleed leaving horrible looking marks all over my face.  It hurt a lot too!

Fortunately today was to be our last on the mountain meaning that I could at least have a shower and clean up my face.  Whilst packing away equipment at The Barrels I saw Vincent who had terrible sunburn all over his head.  Perhaps I wasn’t so unlucky after all!

We headed for our breakfast at 09:00 and looked out onto the mountain at the group of five Brazilian climbers who had been making their summit bid since 03:00.  They were making very slow progress but they were still moving upwards.

After breakfast we collected our bags and waited for the cable cars to take us back down to Azau.  As is always the case in Russia we were kept waiting without any real indicator of why they weren’t running or how long the delay would be.

Eventually just after 11:00 the cable cars burst into life, which was greeted by a large ironic cheer from all the climbers who had been waiting in the cold.  We were on our way back to Azau.

The further down the mountain we descended in our cable cars the hotter it became.  The jam-packed cable cars didn’t help the situation ether.  When leaving the last cable car I flattened to girls whilst trying to turn around with my huge backpack on.  I made my apologies and left quickly!

Arriving back at the lodge, and with two hours until lunch, I went up to my room for a much needed shower.  What a great feeling that was!  I tried to do the best I could with my sunburnt face and rang the folks back home.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Ron and Ryan sharing war stories about previous climbing expeditions.  I was indeed in very experienced company!  Plans were already being discussed for future climbs together, with Peak Lenin being the most preferred choice.  The true sign of a climber is when they are planning the next trip having just completed a successful summit bid!

Before long it was time to get ready for our ‘summit party’ so we made our way to our rooms to prepare – in my case to try and improve my horrendous sunburn.

Our celebratory evening in the town of Cheget was very well received.  We all received our certificates for reaching the summit and enjoyed a fantastic meal with our new found friends.  The professional photographer, who captured the important moments brilliantly, also gave us some photos of our summit bid.

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