The Trips
There are so many different types of trips up Mt. Elbrus that the easiest way to summarize is to simply list possible scenarios, keeping in mind that weather, snow conditions, group dynamics, mechanical failures, scheduling, and the decisions of your guide can all change your plans at the last minute.
Moscow vs. St. Petersburg
Most trips begin and end in Moscow (with a tour of the city). However, you can find trips that either begin or end in St. Petersburg, for variation and more sightseeing.
The Normal Route (From the South)
This is the most popular route and sees around 1000 attempts every year. The route utilizes a hut system, as well as cable cars, ski lifts, and snowcats. The Barrels huts, at 12,870 feet, will be your first camp on the mountain. They are huge metal boilers transformed into rustic living spaces, and each sleep six with room for clothes and supplies. There is a separate kitchen hut. The Barrels are warm, dry, and lit, but cleanliness is an issue and in years past, the outhouse has been called “the nastiest outhouse in the world.”
The average guided tour spends about seven days on the mountain itself. The two cable cars and a chairlift take you to the Garabashi lift station and the Barrels huts, where you’ll spend two nights. Days will be spent acclimating and honing skills. Summit day is long (at least 10-12 hours) and hard, with a 5,260-foot gain. Some tours give you a snowcat ride for the earliest section, but the steep hiking is on foot and crampons are needed. Once you return to the Barrels Huts, you can ride the lifts and cable cars back down.
Mountaineer’s Route (From the North)
For people looking for a less “civilized” experience, there are guided trips on the more pristine northern side of the mountain. Trips start from a tent Base Camp at 7,000 feet, and, over the course of four or five days, climbers ferry their own gear and group gear to higher camps. Camp 1 is at 12,300 feet, and High Camp at Lenz Rocks is at 15,200 feet. Climbers wear crampons and rope up due to crevasse danger. Summit Day, you’ll gain 3,310 feet in elevation on harder climbing than the Normal Route, and then descend back the way you came.
Northern Route Variations
The previous trip description avoided using ski lifts and huts entirely. There are other trips that take advantage of the quieter north side, but still spend nights in huts. A traverse of the mountain involves a midnight departure on Summit day, followed by an 8- to 12-hour ascent to the summit, and then a descent onto the south side of the mountain to the cable car station at 12,500 feet.. At this point, climbers can opt to ride the rest of the way down, or continue to hike.
Ride, Climb and/or Ski to Summit (Ski down)
Cable cars, chair lifts, and snowcat rides get you to about 15,000 feet. Acclimatization days are spent skiing/snowboarding the spring corn in the Baksan Valley. Summit day, you climb or ski (on skins) from 15,400 feet to summit and then, if snow conditions cooperate, you descend on skis/snowboard for more than 6,000 vertical feet on mostly moderate slopes of less than 30 degrees, encountering powder snow, ice, breakable crust, and spring corn.
Ride Up – Climb to the Summit – Ride down
There are companies, particularly in Russia, that will rent expedition clothing and gear to you (including ice axe and crampons). They claim that no prior mountaineering 
experience is necessary, and that your responsibility on the mountain will be to participate (usually over the course of a week) in acclimatizing training hikes, where they teach you how to use your gear. As much as possible, however, elevation will be gained and lost using cable cars, chair lifts, and snowcats. Summit day, you will take a snowcat ride to Pastukhova Rocks (15,400 feet) climb to the West Summit (18,510 feet), and then descend to Diesel Hut, where you can take the tram back to the valley. This sounds easier than it actually is, however, because the altitude is extreme and weather, snow and ice conditions, your physical fitness, your health, your guides and teammates, and mechanical failure are all part of the equation.
Heli-ski $3800 to $4500 (8 days/7 nights January to April)
The Caucasus Range and Mt. Elbrus region are ski vacation destinations. There are a number of heli-ski companies that service Mt. Elbrus, but only one claims to take people to either the Western or Eastern summit. They further claim that from the top, you can ski all the way to the bottom in winter, and descend to an altitude of about 13,123 feet in the summer.
Landing a helicopter on the summit would be problematic due to weather and wind, and once there, you would likely find windblown ice and the steepest sections of the mountain. Other heli-ski tours routinely land in the Saddle between the two summits, however, as well as other gorgeous locations in the area.
Tips and Gratuities: $250+
- $100+ per guide is typical for Western guides.
- $150 total is typical for all your Russian guides.