Price of climbing Mount Elbrus
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How much will it cost to climb with a guide to the highest mountain of the Caucasus - Mount Elbrus?
At the moment, in the market of extreme tourism services, climbing Mount Elbrus is in quite high demand; numerous travel companies offer a variety of programs that include this extreme event.
What should you consider when choosing a Mount Elbrus ascent organizer? Especially if you don’t have your own team nor climbing experience, but you really want to climb to the summit of Elbrus - the highest mountain of Europe?
For an inexperienced client, it is sometimes difficult to understand the kaleidoscope of prices and offers. However, the key point affecting the success and safety of the Elbrus or whatever expedition is the choice of a team to climb with. Not only your ability to take a selfie on the top of Mount Elbrus, but, to a much greater extent, the level of safety of the entire ascent route will depend on the quality of your provider choice.
Let's figure out how the price of climbing Mount Elbrus is determined by different companies.
Lowest price: attention! Danger
The lowest prices are often offered by aggregator companies, which sometimes effectively disguise themselves as travel companies. The task of such organizations is to find the maximum number of clients and connect them with any, the cheapest “guides” not depending on their experience or qualification.
As a rule, students or low experienced tourists are involved as guides, regardless of whether they have even minimal experience in mountaineering. Such a company can be located outside the Russian Federation, providing itself with the necessary legal security. In this case, the connection between the client and the guide happens exclusively via the Internet. This option is not worthy of trust!
The highest price
As a rule, high prices are announced by private guides with extensive experience and reputation in mountain climbing. Such professional never works with the aggregators, as they have their own customer base and can afford to set a price that is adequate to their qualifications even for such a “simple” route as Mount Elbrus.
Collaboration with a professional individual guide is the most reliable and safe option for organizing an ascent or mountain route. From the very beginning of the preparation of the mountaineering program, you know the guide with whom you will go climbing - to which person you will entrust your life and safety.
Average price for Mount Elbrus climbing program
This option is offered by numerous travel companies with their own guides. As a rule, such companies employ guides of medium and low qualifications who do not have their own client base nor experience sufficient for independent work. In addition, working with clients “from the company”, the guides, as a rule, do not have direct motivation for the success of the climb. Receiving a daily salary from a travel company, these workers will find any formal reason not to strain themselves, to change plans or routes, or even refuse to climb for unimportant reasons.
By concluding an agreement with such a company, you receive a guarantee of service provision. However, the presence of an intermediary between the client and the contractor - which is travel company - that does not guarantee the maximum quality of the service. Do not forget that an employee never works as well as he could independently work for himself.
A beautiful picture with a large white mountain and the happy faces of people who reached its summit should not be misleading about the ease and simplicity of the Mount Elbrus route.
There are no simple mountains, and ones that seem easily accessible are the most insidious and dangerous traps for simpletons.
Despite its outward simplicity and accessibility, Mount Elbrus is an evil and very treacherous mountain that does not forgive mistakes or excessive self-confidence. Do not forget that most part of the accidents and disappearances of people occur on this well-known and seemingly safe mountain.
Mount Elbrus is very dangerous in its apparent simplicity and accessibility - the Internet is flooded with offers to climb Mount Elbrus at a cost that does not require from the “guide” to have even basic qualifications. Many travel companies and “aggregators” recruit students and low experienced climbers to work with commercial groups on Mount Elbrus.
This situation should not confuse you - with a sensible approach to choosing a climbing team or a guide, you should not focus on choosing the cheap programs. A low price is always a sign of low quality service. In case with choosing an organizer for climbing Mount Elbrus, this principle is unacceptable - as on the quality of this service depend your life and health.
And the most important thing that should never be forgotten. You are guided in the mountains not by the tourist company from which you bought the tour, but by a Guide. If you don’t know the guide personally, you’re buying a pig in a poke. And you can get in trouble then. Do not make hasty decisions when preparing to climb Mount Elbrus or any other peak. Don't forget - MOUNTAINS ARE DANGEROUS ELEMENT. Beyond the control of man.
The approach to determining the cost of the Mount Elbrus climbing program in the MCS AlexClimb team is based on the following theses:
Safety - for 20 years of climbing all the existing routes Elbrus, we did not have any accident on Mount Elbrus
Success – 90% of our Mount Elbrus expeditions end successfully
Professionalism – we work all over the world on the mountaineering routes of medium and high difficulty level.
1. Groups are led only by professional guides - no student or tourists are allowed to work with the clients.
2. The number of participants in a group for climbing Mount Elbrus depends on the physical fitness and qualifications of the participants; for 1 guide there are from 2 to 5 participants.
3. The Mount Elbrus climbing program always includes acclimatization part - in order to minimize the risk to health and to increase the probability of the success of the whole climbing program
4. Only the highest quality climbing equipment of the leading brands is used on the climbing routes.
The author of the texts and photographs Alex Trubachev
Your professional mountain guide for Mount Elbrus and other mountain climbing routes in Caucasus
MCS EDIT 2024