Gear list for Elbrus

We had two days right before leaving Berlin to Elbrus. So, we did not have enough time to do good research for better prices, but ordering online tend to be cheaper than buying in a store. However, it is also important to support local, family-run mountaineering stores and price differences are usually not that huge anyways. Vienna had some cool family-owned stores, but we had only one full day there to make quick decisions and buy some basic necessities.

Berlin in contrast is rather an awful shopping city for mountaineers (no wonder: next mountains are miles and miles away). There are one-two good mountaineering stores that are worth visiting in the city of three million. The best deals and equipment are rather to be found online.

So what was on our gear list?

In fact, anyone can rent absolutely everything in rental places in Terskol, a closest village to Elbrus. They have it all: from ice axes to jackets, however, the quality of rented equipment was not the best. So we would recommend to bring it all with you unless you want to travel light. We heard that there are always people who come to Elbrus with no gear/clothes at all and rent or buy everything at Terksol.

In the above-mentioned list we had almost everything except for the items that are marked as rented. If you have a very good warm core jacket (like those huge polar ones that make you feel like a fat ball), take it! My mistake was to underestimate how cold it gets up there on the top. Also, I would suggest to wear two-three layers of wool socks and to buy layered mountaineering shoes (you really need proper ones: normal hiking boots will kill your toes). Even with my good mountaineering shoes,I felt that my toes are freezing and I needed to play an imaginary piano with them to keep them warm all the time.

Conclusion: invest in the best mountaineering shoes possible and take the warmest jacket you can get!

I think that it makes sense also to buy your own hiking poles. They really ease your hike especially under a strong wind and a huge backpack weight. We rented our poles and they were of a bad quality. It took some time to properly adjust them, but even in that condition they helped us to walk faster and safer.

The other important thing: do not rent out the tent. Our guide had his own tent that we used, but it was not the best one with some water coming in from corners. This can absolutely ruin your hiking experience and we had luck that it did not rain that much. Otherwise we would be soaked in wet sleeping bags at night.

In general, I would again repeat that it is better to invest and buy your own high-quality equipment than blaming yourself for bad clothes you wear on the way to the summit.