Tetnuldi – part 2

DSCN1269zMy stroll around the tents ended in unexpected fall into a small crevasse. A snow bridge, weakened by afternoon sun, covering dangerous cavity broke under my weight. It all happened in a split of a second. Much to my surprise I did not even scream. I reacted instinctively outstretching my arms which luckily held me above ground level. Sudden adrenaline rush multiplied my strength. Like a cat I dug my fingers into snow and got back up. In order to split my weight more evenly I crawled away for a few metres. Shaken by this experience I went back to our camp to warn others. Rest of the afternoon I was recovering my energy and composure. The following day we had to cancel our summit bid due to bad weather. Not wanting to waste the day entirely we decided to climb a short rocky section of the ridge. The rocks were loose forcing us to carefully select holds. This short climb allowed me to regain my confidence. Weather forecast for the next day was good so we set our alarm clocks for 3 am.

We_DSC0494z woke up as planned. Perfect condition – clear sky and no wind. After many windy days omnipresent silence was surprising and a bit eerie. We quickly covered familiar rocky part. Frozen snow made for a good hold for crampons and ice axes. The route lead through an exposed ridge – 1 km drop on the left and over 2 on the right while we had to balance on the tips of our crampons. Higher up we bypassed snow cornices by moving to the right across steep snowy slope. We were not the only ones trying to use the weather window to scale the mountain that day. In the morning light we could see many alpinists down below. Around 10 am we reached the summit. Clear sky and breathtaking views were ourDSCN1267z reward. We hastened back down as warmer snow was turning to slush increasing the difficulty. Carefully we reached our tents where we could take some rest. We decided not to cross the glacier during the day for safety reasons. We broke camp in the middle of the night and began our descend. During the few days we were up new crevasses had formed forcing us to search for a safe way down. At dawn we left the glacier behind and continued the trek to reach the dirt road where we started this adventure. After 6 days we were back in Mestia.

 

Despite being lower compared to Elbrus (4858 m vs 5642 m) Tetnuldi is an interesting and much less popular peak. According to Russian guidebook it is classified as a trekking peak, however I would not recommend it for people without previous alpine and climbing experience. It is definitely more difficult than Elbrus, Kazbek or Mont Blanc.

 

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