Day 1 - Moscow to Baksan Valley

After a terrible night's sleep (Moscow was hot, noisy and full of smog) we wake early to catch breakfast before our flight to Mineralnye Vody. I decide to forego breakfast when I realise I will have to walk for 15 minutes just to get to the queue - there's a lot to be said for staying in a small hotel! We meet our Moscow contact, Natasha, and Randy, a Colorado Physics Lecturer with quite a bit of climbing experience over the years. We drive to Moscow's domestic airport and Matasha checks our bags in for us, shows us the way to the departure lounge and heads back to town. It's at this point we realise we can't actually read the timetable and we're not entirely sure where and when we are going! Luckily, Randy has been living in Moscow for several months now and can speak some Russian. He's also a bit of a charmer and gets talking to some random blonde chick who happens to be going to Mineralnye Vody.

The queue's in the airport are quite frantic. It seems that although you have booked a seat on the plane, people in Russia seem to think that if you don't get in quick enough you won't get a seat so once boarding time comes there is a mad dash for the door and an organised queue turns into a shambles. An announcement is made over the airport PA saying that the flight is delayed (at least we think that's what it said) and the queue disperses. But where is the blonde girl? When will we be leaving? Ah crap, we're going to miss the flight, or worse still, get on a flight to Siberia by mistake!

Eventually the problem is resolved and we change departure gate. Please let it be the right one! Trying to understand the Russian alphabet is a bit like being dyslexic - it just doesn't make sense to us. And most of the people here can't speak English. Hang on a second, Blondie's back - let's ask her. She points us to the right gate and at last we're ready to go. After a short delay we board the plane. Contrary to what we had been led to believe the service on the plane is quite good. It's a comfortable flight and the staff are quite polite. What's disturbing is the fact that EVERYBODY is using their mobile phone in mid-flight. What's more some people are still walking around the plane when we land. Jonathan looks towards the front of the plane - there's is a stewardess sitting on a box, she hasn't even got a seat. Nobody seems to bother with the seat belts either...

We land safely in Mineralnye Vody and drive for 4 hours to Azau, at the end of the scenic Baksan Valley. Our lodge is at roughly 2100 metres above sea level. We have dinner, stroll around with our guide Marina and then it's off to bed at 9pm.