Again it was an early morning, but what a view we had from the tents. The weather forecast was not so good for the first 2 days with rain and a lot of clouds, but in the morning there were never clouds and you could clearly see the beautiful mountain.
The night had been cold and I had to put on my fleece to keep warm.

After breaking up our camp we left for a steep climb through very rocky terrain which became a morene field later. The landscape was gorgeous and I though the moon must look alike. We also saw some nice waterfalls on this way. There source was meling glacier water and we noticed the glacier in the distance.

After a strenuous walk with our heavy packs we soon reached the glacier. I asked Dmitry if I should put on the crampons but he said no, as the glacier was not that steep. It doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. We had a few crevasses to cross or jump over. Also there was some fresh snow, so we were very carefull as this could cover hidden crevasses.

We finally crossed this glacier, now there was just a steep climb to Betlemi hut or the meteo hut. We reached the hut and noticed an Ukranian flag near some tents. This was a Ukranian and Russian camp with very friendly people. They gave us some food right away and Dmitry asked some question about the further walk.

Inside the hut we went to the command post where we got some sweet tea. We had reached an altitude of 3700m now. We put our names on the list. This is needed because when going to the top at a certain point the border with Russia is crossed.

Now we had a big decision to make. Stay here at 3700m, which is ok for an altitude but leaving a very heavy climb of 1300 vertical meters in the night and early morning. Or alternative climb higher to 3900m at the black cross where there was a small last camp as well. We decided to go for the latter.

During the walk to the black cross I realised the altitude was getting serious and the dangers as well.
The campspot was not the easiest. We had to pitch our tents on rocks now.
We were now at about 3900m, and had no idea how cold it would for the next night.
Before going to bed, I wanted to have a big meal and get a lot calories for the climb of tomorrow.
I also took a vanilla rice pudding desert this time, which turned out to be a big mistake.