What is the height of Elbrus above sea level. Russia

Elbrus is the largest mountain in Russia and Europe! One of the “magnificent seven” of the highest peaks of our planet, from which you can even see the Black Sea and the Turkish coast..

Elbrus is located just north of the Main Caucasus Range on the border of the republics Karachay-Cherkessia And Kabardino-Balkaria.

Elbrus(Mount Elbrus) is a two-headed volcano in the north of the Caucasus mountain system.
The height of the Western peak is 5642 m.
The height of the Eastern peak is 5621 m.
The height of the saddle is 5300 m.

The white two-headed volcanic cone of Elbrus is noticeably different from the entire mountain landscape of the Caucasus and can be seen hundreds of kilometers away in good weather. Nearest town - village Terskol (Republic of Kabardino-Balkaria) in the Baksan Gorge at the foot of the mountain itself.

Elbrus coordinates on maps:
43°21’11″ N 42°26’13″ E

Peaks of Elbrus.

Due to its status as the highest point in Europe, climbing to the top of Elbrus is popular among climbers all over the world and is considered one of the “steps” to conquering the “seven peaks”.

Despite the ease of the routes, Mount Elbrus annually takes dozens of human lives. To a greater extent, the lethality of the mountain is determined by the difficult climate with changeable weather, as well as the poor training of climbers without experience. Visually, the peaks of Elbrus seem easily accessible, which instantly excites the hearts and minds of many people to “conquer the mountain” and even those who have never climbed before... In fact, this simplicity is deceptive and in reality a person without preparation finds himself in difficult conditions in which he cannot always manages to survive...

Climbing Elbrus.

The peoples of the Caucasus and the Middle East composed a large number of songs and legends about Elbrus.

One of the legends tells that the mountain used to have one hump. At its top lived the magical bird Simurgh, who bestowed happiness and prosperity on the mountain people who inhabited the valleys of the mountain gorges. This idyll lasted for many centuries, until the desire to seize the bird’s heavenly throne led to its possession by two greedy people. Their fierce struggle was stopped by higher powers: blinding lightning cut the sky, terrible thunder erupted and Elbrus split in two, spewing out streams of fire that incinerated everything in its path. After such a terrible fight, the magical bird Simurgh hid deep underground, upset by the ingratitude and greed of people.

According to research by scientists, Elbrus has not been visible for quite a long time, but despite this, the current level of activity does not give experts a reason to classify it as an extinct volcano; now it has the status of “dormant”. The volcano is indeed quite active in external and internal activities. In its depths there are still hot masses that heat the local “Hot Narzans” - springs saturated with mineral salts and carbon dioxide, the temperature of which reaches +52°C and +60ºC. In the depths of the volcano, life begins for many famous springs in the healing resorts of Kislovodsk, Pyatigorsk and the entire Caucasian Mineral Waters region.

Flowers on the mountain peaks of the Caucasus mountains.

The climate on Elbrus is characterized by severity, making it similar to the Arctic regions. The average temperature in the warmest month of the year does not rise above -1.4°C. There is quite a lot of precipitation here, but it is mainly represented only in the form of snow.

The most beautiful peaks of the Caucasus are located around the two-headed giant: Nakra-Tau, Ushba, Donguz-Orun .

Panorama.

• Made his first ascent Kilar Khashirov - conductor of the Russian scientific expedition, Kabardian by nationality on July 22, 1829 to the Eastern peak of Elbrus.
• The western peak of Elbrus was conquered by a team of climbers led by Florence Grove in 1874.
• The first to reach both peaks was a Balkar hunter and shepherd Ahiya Sottaev . During the period of his long life, he conquered Elbrus nine times: he made his first ascent at the age of over forty, and the last in 1909, when he was 121 years old.

The study of Elbrus by Russian scientists began actively in the 19th century. Academician V.K. Vishnevsky in 1913 he was the first to determine the height and location of the volcano. In addition to its status as a unique natural attraction, the famous Caucasian peak is also an important scientific base. Even before the war, the first experiments with cosmic rays in the Soviet Union were carried out here, and today it houses the highest geophysical laboratory.

The territory of the Elbrus region is a major center of tourism and skiing. The bulk of the guests are fans of winter sports, including extreme sports, which are very popular in these mountains. In addition to the usual snowboards, sleds and freeride, a new entertainment was organized for thrill seekers, which was an ascent to the top of Elbrus by helicopter and subsequent descent from the mountain on skis. For more conservative skiers, there are cable cars with an average capacity of 2,400 people per hour.

On the slopes of Elbrus.

How to get to Elbrus?

• By plane fly to the nearest airport in Mineralnye Vody. There are many regular flights to Mineralnye Vody from Moscow from airlines: Aeroflot, Sky Express, Kavminvodyavia, S7 Airlines, UTair, Don Avia.

• By train you can get to Pyatigorsk or Nalchik - these are the closest settlements from which it will be faster to get there by minibus or taxi. Already from these places there are beautiful views of the Caucasus Mountains, which you can admire all the way.

It will be most convenient to get from the airport or train station by taxi, it will be cheaper to use the services private cab drivers. The best and cheapest option is to find the phone numbers of private bombers from the village of Terskol on the Internet and arrange a meeting upon arrival and the price in advance. The journey to Elbrus will take about four hours. You need to get to the city of Baksan, then turn into the Baksan Gorge and to the end along the Baksan River, where the road will lead to the very foot of Elbrus.

You can also get there regular buses And minibuses. Only this method is less convenient and will take longer, since there are no direct flights to Terskol. First you will need to get to the city of Baksan and there transfer to a minibus to the village of Terskol. The road in the Baksan Gorge passes through the settlements: Tyrnauz, Upper Baksan, the village of Elbrus and Tegenekli.

• Based on materials from the sites: pro-planet.ru, udivitelno.com

• March 24, 2015

One of the main attractions of the Elbrus region is Mount Elbrus - the highest peak of Russia and Europe, located north of the Greater Caucasus Range on the border of two republics: Karachay-Cherkess and Kabardino-Balkarian.

Elbrus is a two-peaked extinct volcano. The height of the western peak is 5642 m above sea level, the eastern - 5621 m. They are separated by a saddle - 5300 m. The peaks are located at a distance of about 3 thousand m from each other. The main composition of the rocks is granites, gneisses, diabases and tuffs of volcanic origin.

Elbrus with two crater peaks was formed a million years ago during the creation of the Caucasus Range. Huge streams of ash mud rushed along the slopes of Elbrus, sweeping away all the stones and vegetation before them. Layers of lava, ash, and stones were layered on top of each other, thereby expanding the slopes of the volcano and increasing its height.

The scientific study of Mount Elbrus began in the 19th century. Russian researchers. The first person to determine the exact location and height of the mountain in 1913 was Academician V. Vishnevsky. In 1829, Mount Elbrus was visited by the first Russian scientific expedition, which included the famous Russian academician E. Lenz, Pyatigorsk architect Bernardazzi, botanist E. Meyer and others. The expedition was accompanied by General G. Emmanuel, the head of the Caucasian line. The first successful ascent to the western peak was made by a group of English climbers in 1874 under the leadership of F. Grove, its participant was A. Sottaev.

In 2008, Elbrus was recognized as one of the “7 Wonders of Russia”. Today Elbrus is the largest ski mountain in the world, as well as the most promising place for all-Russian and international competitions. Basically, the infrastructure is well developed on the southern slopes of Mount Elbrus, where there is a chairlift and a pendulum cableway leading to a parking lot called “Bochka” (at an altitude of 3750 m), which consists of 12 insulated six-seater residential trailers with a kitchen.

The highest peak in Russia belongs to the mountain system of the Caucasus Mountains. This is the double-headed Elbrus, located on the border of two Caucasian republics - Karachay-Cherkessia and Kabardino-Balkaria. The highest mountain in Russia has a height of 5642 meters. Some researchers have awarded it the title of the highest in Europe, but this is not entirely true. The Alpine Mont Blanc (4807) is indeed inferior in height to Elbrus. But Elbrus is located north of the Main Caucasus Ridge, along which the border of Europe and Asia passes. The side ridge, to which Mount Elbrus belongs, clearly belongs to Asia.

Mount Elbrus - photo

The first mentions of the highest peak of Russia in historical literature can be found in the “Book of Victories”. In the descriptions of Tamerlane’s military campaigns there is information that the “great lame man” climbed Elbrus in order to pray there.

At the top of Elbrus

Mount Elbrus - photo

The Caucasus also attracted conquerors at a later time. During the Great Patriotic War, the German special service Ahnenerbe, which was engaged in the study of paranormal phenomena and occult forces, showed great interest in the Elbrus region. During the battle for the Caucasus, a special group was allocated from the mountain riflemen of the Edelweiss division, who in 1942 planted German flags on both peaks of Elbrus. Soviet troops removed them in February 1943, and the Battle of Shelter of Eleven went down in history as the highest altitude battle of the Second World War. To this day, frozen bodies of the dead and various ammunition are found in Caucasian glaciers.

Elbrus is an extinct volcano with two peaks. They are connected by a saddle at an altitude of approximately 5300 meters. The lower peak, which has a height of 5621 meters, is considered by geologists to be younger in age. It has retained a clear crater and the shape of a regular cone. The older peak of Mount Elbrus, which lies to the trap, has been significantly destroyed.

Two peaks of Elbrus - photo

The greatest peak of the Caucasus last erupted around 50 AD. This does not allow us to call the volcano extinct, since volcanoes that have not erupted in human memory are called extinct. Volcanologists prefer to call it dormant and believe that the peaks of its activity occurred during periods of 30, 100 and 220 thousand years ago. The structure is made of volcanic ash, cooled lava and tuff, arranged in layers.

Mount Elbrus - photo

Mount Elbrus - photo

The slopes of Elbrus, relatively flat at the bottom, above 4000 meters acquire a steepness of up to 35 degrees. It is easier to climb from the east or south, since on the northern and western slopes there are a lot of steep sections with elevation differences of up to 700 meters.

Scheme of the route for climbing Elbrus

All of the Caucasus is characterized by altitudinal zonation, expressed in the alternation of natural zones as it rises from the foot to the top. On Elbrus the snow line is located at an altitude of 3500 meters. Here the alpine meadows end and above there are only rocks, snow and glaciers. Since the snow does not melt above this line, the mountain always has a snow-white cap, which allows it to be called Little Antarctica. This cap is clearly visible in the photo of Mount Elbrus.

Mount Elbrus - photo

The total area of ​​glaciers is 135 square kilometers. Among the largest are Big and Small Azau, as well as Terskop. They serve as the basis for the nutrition of the Caucasus, including Kuban. Numerous tongues of glaciers descend into valleys, where they melt, leaving sediments.
The first documented ascent of the eastern, lower peak took place in 1829. Kabardian Kilar Khashirov, who served as a guide for the Russian expedition, climbed it on July 22.

The height of Mount Elbrus was a great irritant for climbers, and in 1874 the highest point of the Caucasus was conquered by the team of Florence Grove. The true record holder for ascents was a simple hunter Ahiya Sottaev. He was not only the first to visit both peaks, but also made nine ascents, the last one at a more advanced age. At that time he was 121 years old!

The Elbrus region is a popular tourist area. Thanks to volcanic heat, hot mineral springs were formed. Their temperature reaches 60 degrees. Bathing in the springs is used in the prevention and treatment of many types of diseases.

Alpine hotel "Shelter of Eleven"

These places are popular among ski lovers. They offer numerous trails equipped with ski lifts. On most of them the season lasts from October to May, but on peaks above 3800 meters skiing is possible all year round. There are many fans of extreme sports. They get to the very tops of the mountains using helicopters and descend on skis or snowboards. Often such extreme athletes become the culprits of avalanches.

Shelter "barrels"

The tourist attractiveness of Elbrus increased after the Olympics in Sochi. It was used to attract not only Russian, but also foreign tourists and winter sports enthusiasts to the region. This was partially successful, and for foreigners Mount Elbrus is now associated not only with the highest point in Russia, but also with high-quality ski slopes.

Thus, the height of Mount Elbrus, which is more than five and a half kilometers, can become not only part of geographical statistics, but also the starting point for the development of an entire region.

Views from the top of Elbrus

The mountain is a cone of an extinct volcano that last erupted at the beginning of our era. The height of the western peak of Elbrus is 5642 meters, the eastern one is 5621 meters, the peaks are separated by a deep saddle (5325 meters). According to legend, it was here that the Argonauts' search for the Golden Fleece led them, and here the titan Prometheus was chained for daring to bring fire to people.

Legendary mountain

The mountain, formed about a million years ago, consists of alternating layers of lava, ash and tuff. The slopes of Elbrus are mostly gentle, but starting from a height of 4000 meters, the average angle of inclination reaches 35 degrees, and the peaks are covered with a dense cap of perennial snow - firn and eternal ice. Several dozen glaciers with a total area of ​​134 square meters descend from them in all directions. km.

The most famous are Big and Small Azau, Irik, Terskol. The powerful glaciers of Elbrus give rise to the rivers Kyukyurtlyu, Ullu-Khurzuk, Ullu-Kam, which, merging, form the Kuban, the largest river in the North Caucasus. Kuban can be called the daughter of Elbrus.

The legendary mountain has always attracted people with its mysterious beauty. The northern and western slopes are strewn with steep rocky areas up to 700 meters high. The eastern and southern ones are more gentle and even. The sparkling glaciers of the southern side of the Elbrus region have been chosen by skiers and climbers since Soviet times. The longest trails on the mountain: Azau - Stary Kruzor - 2.5 km, Stary Kruzor - Mir - 2 km. The season in the Elbrus region lasts from December to March.

Up to an altitude of 4000 meters, the slopes of Elbrus are relatively gentle, but above that they become steep.

The Adyl-Su, Adyr-Su and Shkheldy gorges are especially popular among climbers in Russia and the former USSR republics.

Conquest of Elbrus

The history of the conquest of Elbrus goes back almost 200 years. The first to determine its height was the Russian academician Vikenty Vishnevsky in 1813.

And the first recorded ascent of Elbrus, the eastern peak, was made in 1829 by an expedition of the Russian Geographical Society led by the hero of the Napoleonic War and conqueror of the Caucasus, General George Emmanuel. The expedition's auxiliary service consisted of 650 soldiers and 350 line Cossacks, as well as local guides.

The expedition included geophysicist and founder of the Main Physical Observatory in St. Petersburg, academician Adolf Kupfer, physicist Emilius Lenz, founder of the Russian Entomological Society, zoologist Eduard Menetrier, botanist Karl Meyer, who later became director of the Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences, artist-architect Joseph Bernardazzi and Hungarian scientist Janos Besse.

Kupfer, Lenz, Meyer, Menetrier, Bernardazzi, 20 Cossacks and guides took part directly in the ascent. However, lack of experience and poor quality of climbing equipment forced most of the participants to turn back.

According to some sources, the first to climb the eastern peak at about 11 a.m. was the Karachai guide Kilar Khachirov, according to others, it was a Kabardian guide.

From the memoirs of Adolf Kupfer: “Only the next day - July 23 - at noon, the Hungarian traveler de Bess noticed through a telescope on the sparkling covers of Elbrus four people who were trying to reach the top of the mountain. Three of them soon disappeared from sight, the fourth rose higher and higher - and suddenly his figure was outlined in relief above the very crown of Elbrus. He was, as it turned out later, a Kabardian Kilyar, a native of Nalchik.”.

This event was marked by a rifle salute in the camp.

By order of General Emmanuel, in memory of this outstanding event, the following text was carved on the rock: “During the reign of All-Russian Emperor Nicholas I, cavalry general Georgy Emmanuel, commander of the troops on the Caucasian line, camped here from July 20 to July 23, 1829. With him were his son Georgy, fourteen years old, academicians sent by the Russian Government: Kupfer, Lenz, Menetrier, Meyer, an official of the mining corps Vansovich, the architect of Mineralnye Vody Joseph Bernardazzi and the Hungarian traveler Ivan de Bess. The Academicians and Bernardazzi, leaving the camp located eight thousand feet (1143 fathoms) above the sea surface, climbed Elbrus to fifteen and a half thousand feet (2223 fathoms) on the twenty-second. Only the Kabardian Kilyar reached the top. Let this modest stone pass on to posterity the names of those who first paved the way to reach Elbrus, which until now was considered impregnable.”.

The information that Emmanuel's expedition conquered Elbrus was not known abroad, therefore, when the Englishman Douglas Freshfield climbed the mountain in 1868, it was regarded as a first ascent. The highest peak of Elbrus (western) was conquered by a team of climbers led by Florence Grove in 1874.

The first geographical map of Elbrus was compiled in 1890 by Russian military topographer Andrei Pastukhov, who made the first ascent without guides. Rocks at an altitude of 4800 meters now bear his name.

It is believed that the first person to reach both peaks was the Balkar hunter and shepherd Ahiya Sottaev. He climbed Elbrus nine times, the last time in 1909, when he was 121 years old.

During Soviet times, mountaineering became widespread. According to the Society of Proletarian Tourism, from 1829 to 1914, 59 ascents of Elbrus were made, 47 of them by foreigners. And in one year, 1935, Soviet climbers climbed Elbrus 2016 times.

Elbrus was the center of attention during the Great Patriotic War - it became the scene of fierce confrontation. Units of the German mountain rifle division "Edelweiss" also took part in the battles. During the Battle of the Caucasus on August 21, 1942, after occupying the Krugozor and Shelter of the Eleven mountain bases, German alpine riflemen managed to install German banners on the western peak of Elbrus. But by the middle of the winter of 1942–1943, German troops were driven out from the slopes of Elbrus, and on February 13 and 17, 1943, our climbers climbed both peaks, where Soviet flags were hoisted.

Elbrus today

Today Elbrus is one of the most popular Russian ski resorts, a Mecca for snowboarders, freeriders and climbers.

The Elbrus region is also interesting for nature lovers. One of the most striking representatives of the animal world of this region is the Caucasian tur, which lives at altitudes from 1200 to 3400 meters above sea level. Turs come at night to graze in the alpine meadows, where bluegrass, foxtail, fescue, and buckwheat grow. In winter, aurochs feed on mosses, lichens, and tree bark. In the most inaccessible places, along with aurochs, chamois are found. In the lowlands of mountain forests you can find roe deer, which belongs to the deer family. In the Elbrus region, an attempt was made to adapt a herd of Central Asian yaks, but the experiment failed. Wolves also live here, but there is no need to be afraid of them; there have been no cases of wolves attacking either skiers or climbers.

Although the Elbrus volcano has not been visible for almost two thousand years, scientists consider it not extinct, but dormant. In its depths there are still hot masses that heat the local “hot narzans” - springs saturated with mineral salts and carbon dioxide, the temperature of which reaches +52 and +60 ºС. In the depths of Elbrus, the life of many famous springs of the healing resorts of Kislovodsk, Pyatigorsk and the entire Caucasian Mineral Waters region originated.