Snowboarding Elbrus, borders?

[Ben Sweet]

Hi,

is it possible to do a ski/snowboard descent of mt. elbrus in september? is there enough snow that time of year?
what are the temeratures like that time of year in celcius?
thank you for yourhelp.

sincerly ben sweet

[Harry]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your post; it's hard to say as it's depending on the weather and your abilities, but mostly the skiing season is only in late winter and spring.
If you can board on not too steep icy snow than you can board down all year, in summer at least from the summit (5642m) to Mir (3500m).

When there is much snow like there is now you can board all the way down the valley (2100m), but september can go either way. Unless you are very skilled and can stand the cold wind we advise against skiing until January.

Temperature: slopes higher than the Barrels (average): Daytime - up to +10C, at night -10C.
There is normally not much snow as winter is coming, the wind blows away snow powder.

Not really snow storms, but cold strong winds.

How many people climb Mt. Elbrus in the second half of September?

Not so many, but climbing season is not finished yet (untill mid October). There will be some weeks of perfect weather in September-October (it is always so) but nobody knows the exact dates of this Indian summer..

Hope this helps,
best regards,

Harry

[Ben Sweet]

harry thank you very much for your information. it is very helpful.
so basically you can climb the mtn all year but the best time to do a ski/snowboard descent is in the winter/spring?
and the best time for climbing is in the summer/early fall?
i am assuming there has been snowboard descents of elbrus before? i have been talking to people about the dividing line of europe and asia. exactly where is it to the east? and north?

different people say different things. when i say russia they say its part of asia.

thanks again for your info.
sincerly.
ben sweet

[Harry]

Hi Ben,

You are right with your conclusions about what to do when. Are you interested in booking a climbing or snowboard trip? 7summits.com can organise any trip you like and has scheduled snowboard trips in late spring 2003 as well.

There have been snowboard descents before, I think the first was actually done by Dutchmen (Steven Rottier & Hank Snel) who boarded down Elbrus in summer 1989, about a day before the official 'first snowboard descent of the summit or Europe' by a few Austians teh day after  

There is no strict line between Europe and Asia, normally the border is drawn between Georgia (Asia) and Russia (Europe) on the south and the Eastern border is normally the Ural mountains, which divide Russia into an Asian and an European part.

Geographically Eurasia is sometimes considered to be one large continent, but most of the time it's divided as above.

best regards,

Harry