I went to Russia twice in 2010. Both times to climb Elbrus, the highest point of the European Continent. It's also the highest volcano in Europe. That puts it on the list for the Seven Summits, as well as the Volcanic Seven Summits. Training on Mount Rainier for Elbrus Race 2010 In May of 2010 I went with a group and sadly, on our acclimatization day the weather was perfect, and at 15,300' at Pastukhova Rocks I felt just amazing and wanted to continue on to the top. This tactic actually worked quite well for me on Orizaba in May of 2013. I topped out on the highest volcano in North America on May 5 2013. On Elbrus though, for our summit day, the weather was horrible, blowing high winds and I was quite underdressed, not being very familiar with the European (at least Russian) way of doing things. Slog slog slog as slowly as possible to the summit wearing every single item of clothing you own. Quite a bit different from Rainier. So I ended up with stiff frozen finger