WESTTHESUNFROMANOTHERSTAR, Special Chapter 6: West Summits
Daotok
The left shoulder bore some of the weight from the person next to me. He leaned his head on my shoulder to take a nap. I tried to keep as still as possible so as not to wake him. After working together for a long time, when the work was finished, Arthit immediately complained about wanting to go on a trip.
We were at the airport waiting to board a flight to Russia to climb the highest peak in Europe, Mount Elbrus, located in the Caucasus Mountains. It’s a volcano that hasn’t erupted in over two thousand years, standing over 5,600 meters high and covered with snow all year round. With my considerable experience in mountain climbing and hiking, I felt more excited than scared about this. Arthit did what he had promised. After we got married, he took me to many places around the world, both popular tourist spots crowded with visitors and places not many people go to. Mostly the latter. I discovered for myself that traveling teaches me a lot and provides new experiences.
Not long after, it was time to board the plane. Arthit slept through most of the several-hour flight, and when we arrived in Moscow, he woke up after a wellrested nap, looking very lively and bright.
The weather outside was quite cold for me; it wasn’t winter, but summer, with temperatures around 15 degrees Celsius. It wouldn’t be considered cold for the locals since winter temperatures can drop to minus thirty or even lower. Arthit didn’t complain about the cold he dislikes; he just helped me with my luggage and we walked out. We stopped for a meal before heading to our accommodation. The plan was to take a domestic flight to another city the next day and meet two guides who would lead us up the mountain.
Today, we walked around the city to admire the architecture, took some photos, and then returned to the hotel. On the second day, we flew to Mineralnye Vody, which took about two hours, and rested there until the third day to head towards the mountain area.
The guides picked us up at our place. We drove to Terskol, the last stop before reaching the peak. The view changed from the city to the mountain, which had quite an unusual shape. The air got colder as we went along. After checking into our accommodation, we went to buy or rent climbing equipment. We hadn’t brought much because we had researched that it’s best to buy or rent here. The gear for snow climbing was quite extensive. We bought what we thought was the best and then had dinner. The guides went over the travel plan again, and after that, we returned to our lodgings to prepare for tomorrow.
“It looks like Cat went to Norway.” I said while scrolling through Instagram, seeing Cat post a photo with his partner, tagged at Norway. Arthit, who was lying down, leaned in with interest. “Is the kid on vacation?”
“Don’t call Cat ‘kid’, okay?”
“I call Fah that.” He said, “That’s interesting, Norway, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll post a photo to one-up him, the one you took of me is better, it’s cool.” He said, showing me his phone with a photo I had just taken of him in Moscow. I nodded slightly in agreement before a notification appeared that he had posted something new on Instagram, “Everyone’s asking about the concert; even on posts not related to work, there are questions.”
“It’s not surprising, Arthit you have fans all over the world. They want you to have a concert.”
“And Direk hasn’t let me tell anyone yet…”
“Uh-huh. It’s okay.” I said, because the agency already had plans for your world tour after fans worldwide had been demanding it for a long time. But the agency hadn’t announced it yet because they intended it to be a surprise. “Just be careful, Arthit, don’t get injured. Slipping on snow and hitting your head so you can’t sing would be terrible.”
“Yeah. What should we do if that happens?”
“Just write the songs, and let someone else sing them.”
“Who?”
“Someone who sings well, like me.”
“Oh…you should vary your tone before you talk like that.” Arthit teased; it was just playful banter because he was known for singing quite poorly. Even just talking, his tone was monotonous, let alone singing.
“It would be worse if you fell and got a brain injury.” I said. “But anyway, if it’s about the brain, Arthit couldn’t get much worse.”
“Right, spit, this is your husband, you know? If you’re going to insult me like that, you might as well kiss me.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Yeah. If we conquer this mountain, should we go for Everest next?”
“I am not sure about that?”
“Why not?”
“I think it’s a bit too dangerous.” I offered my opinion, “But if my climbing skills improve to a certain point, I might want to conquer Everest.”
“But honestly, I don’t like snowy mountains.”
“There are plenty of mountains without snow.”
“Then why don’t we go there?”
“Arthit you was the one who suggested coming here.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Wasn’t it you?” He frowned in disbelief. I turned back to look at him with an annoyed expression.
“That was you Arthit. you must have been tired from work and said it out loud. So I went to look up the information right then.” I said truthfully, “you must have been so tired you couldn’t remember.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I replied after hearing the concerned question from the person walking behind me.
Snow fell all the way, making visibility poor, which was one of the difficulties I had anticipated when climbing here. I carefully lifted my feet and stepped down, moving cautiously on the snowy ground, slowing our journey due to the surrounding conditions.
When we got back to the accommodation, I collapsed immediately, just like the day before, because the guide said to rest in the afternoon. So I woke up rather late, though not as late as Arthit. He didn’t seem as tired as I was yesterday; he’s never as tired as me, but he woke up late simply because he was lazy.
Looking outside, the view from the bed was of snow-covered mountains. Seeing such a view right after waking up wasn’t bad at all. I didn’t forget to take photos to keep. When I went outside, I found the view was very beautiful. It wasn’t snowing as heavily as it was yesterday.
I went to the bathroom outside the house, a small wooden structure. After using the bathroom and washing up, I went back inside to see that Arthit was awake, sitting and yawning with his eyes half-open, his hair as messy as a bird’s nest. Suddenly, an image of him presenting for a famous watch brand popped into my head. He looked so different then compared to now.
“You need to get a haircut when we get back.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it long again?” He grumbled while gently touching his hair. I walked over, picked up a comb from the bag, and combed his messy hair for him.
“You look like a kingfisher.” I said after seeing the hair in the middle standing up, refusing to lie flat no matter how I combed it, “Once you put on your hat, no one will see it.” Then I picked up the hat that had fallen off while he was sleeping and put it back on him.
“Do I need to maintain my image? Seriously, I’m a celebrity, the guide knows me.” He raised his eyebrows to ask. The guide indeed knew him as he claimed, and seemed very excited to find out that one of his clients this time was a famous artist. “Yeah, because I remember the next day I woke up, you were packing and said you were going to Russia, and I was like, ‘What? are you going?’ ‘Yeah, yeah.’“ “Sigh, well, we’re here now.” I said, “Go back to sleep; we need to acclimate tomorrow.” I ended the conversation and got up to turn off the light in the room. Tomorrow morning we would have to start acclimatizing as the guide had instructed, because the human body can’t immediately handle high altitudes. The body might suffer from severe altitude sickness that could be fatal, so we need to gradually ascend over several days to get used to the height and the decreasing oxygen levels.
This means we won’t be able to reach the top in one go. We’ll gradually climb up according to the altitude, stopping at various points along the way, and each point has its own designated rest area with different names.
We walked up to a spot not too far from where we were staying, which is at an altitude of about 2,500 meters from the village. This place is at 3,800 meters; the air was still as cold as before. The path was beautiful and quite steep, but overall, it was still manageable because the natural scenery around made it feel refreshing, indescribably so. There was a river flowing through our path. When we reached one point, we got a full view of Mount Elbrus, which was slightly exciting due to its grandeur.
Now, there was our guide and another group of tourists. We took just a few photos before heading back to our accommodation, which took about six hours in total, not considered too difficult. The next day, we had to move up to sleep at the “Huge Refuge” at an altitude of 3,600 meters. We hiked again in the afternoon with the goal of reaching an altitude of about 4,000 meters.
At this point, there was snow. We equipped ourselves properly before starting to walk uphill. Walking on snow wasn’t too hard for me since I was somewhat used to it, and Arthit was no different. He seemed very eager and energetic, but when we reached our destination, we turned back.
I was quite tired from walking on snow plus the biting cold; I almost collapsed into bed as soon as we got to the rest area, unlike Arthit who seemed like he could climb up and down three more times.
“Don’t you exercise much?”
“I exercise every day.” I replied softly, my eyelids too heavy to keep open, “Arthit you are the one who’s been working non-stop. Lately, you’ve hardly exercised at all, how are you still so strong?”
“Don’t you know I do push-ups and write songs at the same time?”
“Your co-workers must be annoyed, plus anyone would get tired.” I said. Arthit seemed to want to say something more, but I didn’t hear it; I had already fallen asleep. The next morning, we found out the weather wasn’t very good. We walked to the “Upper Pastukhov Rock” at an altitude of about 4,800 meters. Today, there was heavy snowfall and strong winds.
“It’s up to you, but really, Arthit has never cared about his image anyway.” I answered.
“Right, a handsome guy is always handsome. No need to worry about appearances.”
“Hmm, let’s go wash our faces and brush our teeth outside.”
“Why wash your face again, it’s so cold, let’s sleep some more.” He said groggily, pulling me back down to sleep with him. He then sat up, pushing himself out of bed, trying to get me to sit up too.
“It’s really dirty.”
“I need to pee, can I do it here?” He asked without opening his eyes. I helped him get up.
“No way. If you pee in your pants, you’ll get wet and even colder.”
“Yeah, then bring me the bottle.”
“Sigh, the bathroom is outside, don’t burden me, or we’ll both fall.” I said, helping him outside to the bathroom. After a while, he came out after washing his face and brushing his teeth, looking more awake.
“Hey, you’re up, where are we going next?”
“We’ll practice using the equipment, like the ice axe or the fixed rope.”
“I already know how to use them, so I’ll sleep some more.”
“We need to practice for safety.”
“Okay, okay.”
In the afternoon, we had a session to practice using various climbing tools with our guide, including how to behave if we slipped into a crevasse. The guide took us to a real crevasse for practice, which initially made us nervous, but once we got used to it, it was fun. After the practice, we went to bed early, and at midnight, we would actually start climbing Mount Elbrus. The distance from here to the peak was nearly a thousand meters.
I woke up groggily to the sound of the alarm clock, finding it was 5:45 PM, just fifteen minutes until our scheduled time. It was pitch black outside, with some noise from other climbers. I shook the person next to me to wake up; Arthit was curled up under the thick blanket, looking adorable due to the cold.
“Arthit, it’s time.” I said softly, and as soon as I spoke, his eyes shot open, and he sprang up.
“Let’s go!”
He seemed very excited and eager. I was excited too. We got ourselves ready and walked out of our accommodation, finding our guide waiting nearby. At about midnight, with only the light from the accommodations illuminating the area, it was quite bright around.
The guide checked our equipment and attire to make sure everything was correct. Then he told us we had to go up in a snowcat to Pastukhov Rocks and then continue on foot. The snowcat is a small, fully enclosed truck designed for easy travel over snow. Once we reached our point, we would get off and continue climbing.
Initially, we used trekking poles to help us walk. Headlamps provided light in this snowy, dark environment. When we reached an altitude of about 5,000 meters, we could start to see the horizon.
The light around us was beginning to fade, signaling that dawn was near. Soon, the sun would rise. Turning back, I saw the surroundings from this high vantage point, feeling like I was in heaven. It might sound exaggerated, but the view from here was truly beautiful, with other peaks lined up and covered in snow. This was the Caucasus range, with the sky changing colors behind, showing a clear contrast between blue and brick red.
Even though it was exhausting, it was totally worth it to see such a beautiful view.
I suddenly stopped walking, causing Arthit to stop as well. The guide turned to look at us and waited for us to enjoy the sunrise without saying anything. I took out my camera to take pictures, not forgetting to capture Arthit too.
“Beautiful, huh?”
“Beautiful, indeed, you.”
“I meant the view.”
“What view? Who are you complimenting?”
“Sigh, let’s keep walking.”
“Just kidding, yeah, it’s beautiful. You won’t get a view like this down there.”
Arthit said, satisfied with the sight before him. “Let’s keep going.”
“Uh-huh.”
We continued on. Before long, the sunlight hit the snow below not blocked by the mountains, including some smaller peaks. I stopped again to take more photos of the scenery. After a while, the sunlight reached us as well, and we started to take a break along with other climbing teams who were also resting.
The guide kept the conversation going cheerfully, probably to keep us from getting bored. Plus, he and another guide were fans of Arthit. They said Arthit looked much better in person than in the photos they saw online, even without makeup or just after waking up. His easy-going nature made him get along well with people, which made these two fans like their artist even more.
I glanced out to see a range of mountains stretching as far as the eye could see. It was another moment where I felt myself to be so small compared to this vast world. The sky began to clear and brighten, with clouds drifting by. After resting until we felt refreshed, we continued our journey.
We arrived at the “Saddle.” which is the midpoint between the two peaks, the West Summit and the East Summit. The peak we were aiming for was the West, which was higher than the Saddle. It resembled a horse’s saddle, curving down in the middle because it was between two mountains. We rested there for a bit before turning to climb further.
From here, we used ice axes and fixed ropes because the incline and danger increased. I increased my caution and tried to focus on the task at hand. It was challenging to pass through, but I found it quite fun.
I looked up and saw there was still more to climb.
“How is it?”
“It’s fun, how about you, Arthit?”
“Yeah, it’s fun for me too.”
We continued walking, getting closer to the summit with each step. The path was visibly narrowing, and beside the trail was a steep slope that would be disastrous if one were to slip and roll down. Finally, we reached the highest point of Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Europe.
I smiled broadly because I was happy, my heart beating fast from both excitement and exhaustion. I looked around to see the scenery of the Caucasus range. We didn’t forget to take photos as a memento of conquering this peak. Realizing we had reached the top, I felt an indescribable sense of pride, forgetting the cold, the tiredness, and all the hardships we had endured.
I turned to look at the person standing next to me.
“Really happy.” He said with a smile, gently patting my head.
“Aren’t you happy? This is the highest peak in Europe.”
“I am happy, it’s fun.”
“Yeah. I wonder what the view would be like from other mountain tops.”
“If you want me to take you to climb other mountains, just say so.”
“I want to.” I nodded quickly, “Take me again.”
“Will do, definitely.”
“Mmm.”
Not long after, we started descending the same way we came up. The joy after coming down was being able to walk around in comfortable weather, breathing freely, and bringing our bodies back to normal. I sat down to look through the photos on the camera that we had taken, feeling happy. It was another great adventure and experience in life, a memory between the two of us that we had been here, gone through hardships, and had fun together.
Moreover, no matter how beautiful the view here is, it wouldn’t be as beautiful without him. That’s what I thought, which is why I love every place where he is with me.
I put down the camera and looked back at the person who had just come out of the bathroom. We were back at our base accommodation at the foot of the mountain, preparing to return to Moscow.
“My nose is peeling, it stings like hell.”
“Let me see.” I stood up and looked up; he bent down a bit to make it easier for me to see, “It really is peeling.” I found that his nose was peeling off in flakes. I touched my own nose lightly to check if it was the same.
“Mine isn’t peeling.”
“What the heck, why isn’t your nose peeling too? That’s not fair.”
“I don’t know.”
“Then I’ll pick your nose for you. Give me your nose.”
“Are you crazy? Hurry up and get dressed.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
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