7 killed on Elbrus

[MoT]

Just saw a report on explorersweb about 7 climbers killed on Elbrus. 4 others still missing. I definitely don't feel so bad about my turnaround in a storm 2002 now - they got slammed by bad weather 300m below the top and froze to death.

It would seem the seven bodies were found quite low on the mountain too - 4300m. Just to give an idea - the Diesel Hut is at around 4150m and the barrels are at around 3750m. I'm not sure how near they were laterally to the area but that's gotta be severe conditions. On a good day it would be less than 20 minutes to the barrels after a long summit day

Some links:

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20060515/48101496.html

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11515366

http://www.superclimb.co.za/default.asp?id=178946&des=article&scat=superclimb/expedition

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1695837,00050003.htm

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=8076039&PageNum=0

[MoT]

More recent reports suggest the bodies were found higher up (5200m) and some were carried. They're taking them down by helicpoter once the weather allows