The Caucasus range of mountains lie in the southern part of Russia, stretching for 880 kilometres between the Black Sea in the West and the Caspian Sea in the East. They form a mountainous divide between Europe and Asia although the mountain range lies almost wholly within the former Soviet Union. On the South (Asian) side are the states of Georgia and Azerbyjan and on the North (European) side lie several other republics. The range is divided into three sections: Central, Western and Eastern.

The Western Caucasus begins as a low ridge at the mouth of the Don River and has Mt. Dombay-Ulgen (4046m) as its highest point. Mt. Belalakaja (3861m) the “Matterhorn of the Caucasus” is one of the attractions. The climate here is warmer and climbing less severe than in the other regions of the Caucasus.

The Central Caucasus rises between Mt. Elbrus and Mt. Kazbek (5047m) and is the highest and most glaciated part of the Caucasus. All the five thousanders of the Caucasus are found here. The most popular summits lie in the Elbrus region (Ushba, Shkhelda Towers, Chatyn-Tau, Dongoruzun). Elbrus itself is a massive twin summited volcano; the West summit at 5642m is considered the highest mountain in Europe with the East summit only a little lower at 5621m. Although technically easy (French PD+, Russian 2B), the weather can change very rapidly and whiteouts and high winds are quite common. High winds can be a problem as the summit is 1500 - 2000m higher than the surrounding mountains. The classical route up Elbrus is relatively safe although there are stretches which can be very icy and/or exposed. It is possible to wander off-route to the heavily crevassed South West face during a whiteout.

The Eastern Caucasus stretches from Mt Kazbek eastwards. It is less often visited either Russian or Western climbers.

Most parties will start out between 1 - 3 am and walk up between 2 parallel rocky ridges towards to Eastern summit, passing the Pashtokov Rocks at 4900m along the way. The slopes are about 30° at this point and becomes a little steeper near the Rocks. It usually takes about 2 - 3h from the Priutt to the Rocks. The stretch above the rocks can be very icy and treacherous and many climbers have accidents on the descent. The route from the Rocks to the Saddle between the East and West summits is marked with poles (few and far between). From about 500m, one starts traversing along the slopes of the East summit to reach the saddle at 5200m. It is a very long traverse which seems to go one forever.

At the saddle, there are remains of a small hut at most parties stop and rest here for a quick bite and drink of water. On a good day, the views are fantastic, with views to the Northern plains and south to the rest of the Caucasus. In bad weather, it is a very exposed area with winds sweeping over at 50 - 80kph and it is very easy to descend on to the “wrong” side and end up in Georgia as one British climbing party did in 1993.

From the Saddle, the route goes up 45° snow slopes, usually with firm snow although some sections can again be very icy. The slopes are very exposed with long runouts onto rocks thousands of feet below. Time taken from the saddle to the West summit is approximately 90min - 2h in good climbing conditions. The route goes up the final slopes of the West summit before skirting round the crater rim to finish on a broad summit plateau ( on which on can get lost in a whiteout ). The summit is gained after one puffs up a final steep icy cone of 40 - 50°. The ping pong table-sized summit is now marked with a stainless steel plaque with inscriptions in Cryllic. Total time for the climb ( including descent ) ranges from 7 - 12h.