Day 3

On the third day the weather was, if possible, even better than yesterday. While the rest of the group was renting gear I went up with two gondola (10 € return) and one chair (5 € return) up to Barrels Huts (3700m) and skinned up to Diesel Hut (4050m). Almost no wind, unlimited visibility and shorts and t-shirt were more than enough.

I have made some adjustments to the ascent plan based on discussions with people coming down from the mountain. Tomorrow we will sleep at Barrels from where we will move as soon as possible to Diesel Hut. It seems to be the best place where Minna, Jussi and Jukka will eventually make the summit bid from. Tomorrow and the following night will give good indication how acclimatization is proceeding.

I will probably try to camp both at Pastukhov Rocks and at the Saddle later and hopefully will get good runs in most areas of the mountain. Today my skis proved out to be exactly as I expected - fast and easy on ascent but shaky on the descent. The total ascent on this easy day was 351m and descent 588m (down to the second condola). With long breaks the touring lasted 3h 21min. Tomorrow the plan is to the camp at Barrels and hike up to Pastukhov Rocks and ski back down.