In the summer of 2016 I was part of a group of eighteen people from thirteen European countries, most of whom geographers, who went on a week-long hiking trip in the region of Arkhyz, Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Russia. The event was organised by EGEA St Petersburg, part of the European Geography Association for students and young geographers.
On the first day we took an easy dirt road, which was also used by many day visitors. At the end of this road are the Sofia waterfalls, a local tourist attraction. We made camp before we reached the waterfalls. On the second day we made a round trip to the Sofia saddle and back via the waterfalls.
The third day consisted of an intense climb of almost 1000m up a side valley close to our camp. After some hours we reached the Sofia lakes where we set up our second camp. The next day we continued in high-mountain terrain to reach Kara-Dzhash pass, the highest point of our hike at around 3050m. From the pass we walked down through an impressive postglacial landscape to reach the next camp on a panoramic ridge above a small lake.
On the fifth day all we had to do was walk down to the river 800m below us. And then cross that wild river without a bridge. We all made it to the other side and we soon arrived at our next camp. The next morning we left our tents and climbed up the Amanauz valley and then into a steep side valley to see the Amanauz glacier from a great view point on a grassy hill. We took the same way down and then had a last campfire in the wild nature. On the last day we had an easy hike along Psysh river to the tourist settlement where we had started our trip six days earlier.
Two years later, we (15 persons from 6 countries this time) were back in the area. This time we explored the mountains around Europe's highest mountain: Elbrus. We crossed several passes above 3000m and spent most of the time high above the treeline.
We set off from the village of Verkhniy Baksan and followed the Syltran Valley for two days up to Lake Syltran. After crossing Syltran Pass we walked down into the Kyrtyk Valley where we crossed the river on a newly rebuilt bridge and continued into Ulluusenchi Valley to set up our third camp.
The next day would be a long day, crossing Kyrtykaush and Islamchat Passes and finishing on the shore of the Karakaya River. This glacial river can only be crossed early in the morning when the glacier feeds less melting water into the river. After crossing early next morning we had an easy day hiking to the Birdzhaly River in the next valley. Now we were really surrounded by dark volcanic rocks, and very close to the giant Elbrus mountain.
After spending the night at a very picturesque site we had only one more day to go before we arrived at the Lakkolit Camp where expeditions to the Elbrus summit start from. This camp was our base for three nights, while we explored the surrounding area and walked up to the Elbrus basecamp.
