The Land of Oz

Azau is a village being built around the gondola house at the base of Mt Elbrus. If there is a master plan for its development no has bothered looking at it. Structures have been started then abandoned, their concrete and dangling rebar telling the sad tale of a dream greater than the fortunes of the dreamer. Other buildings are done and have rolled out a plywood carpet to beckon customers across the unpaved street, over rivlets of muddy runoff.Work continues on a few structures. Men hoist buckets of gritty stucco up pulleys as others apply the face of an odd narrow hotel. This might be a boom if it did not appear so interrupted, and it might be a town if there was any order to it. But the placement of these structures suggests a "ready , shoot, aim" process where men and materials somehow arrived at the worksite before it had been chosen. Our own hotel sits apart from all of this on a table of land a short distance below the gondola house. It is a modern looking structure featuring emerald green glass set into its white three story facade. Daylight is transformed into an eery hugh that falls heavy upon the simple furnishings within, a space left otherwise dark but for the proprietors efforts to conserve electricty. We are living in Oz. Today we hiked up Chegett mountain. Though we had prepared for rain, the weather was quite nice. We climbed from 9,000 to 12,000 feet. All team members performed well and we enjoyed a relaxing lunch with magnificent views of the rugged snowy giants rising up all around us. We will take another acclimatization hike tomorrow, returning afterwards to Oz. By the way: I mentioned the name Vern Tejas in an earlier Blog about training. He is here. We met in the hallway and chatted for awhile. Small world. He sends his regards to my mountain-climbing brother in-law in Anchorage, Ty Hardt.