Student climbers summit mountain before war

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By Brian Fontenot

Brendan Batt, 23, a LSU pre-veterinary senior, and Andrew Hillery, 23, a University of Alabama graduate, flew into Moscow on June 20, and then due to a lack of cash, stayed overnight at the airport while waiting to fly out to Mineralnye Vody. The spa town, located in Stavropol Krai, sits on the northern edge of the Caucasus Mountains, the range where Europe’s highest mountain, Elbrus, stands at 18,510 feet, on the Georgian-Russian border.

They were going to climb it, the first of the Seven Summits, the highest mountains on each of the continents, to raise awareness about the devastation Katrina wrought in their hometown, New Orleans

They had to drive another four to five hours from Mineralnye Vody to meet their guide, Max, an Uzbekistan native, and head to the mountain’s base camp.

Neither really understood the situation on the border at the time, but both said they could feel a real tension. Soldiers walked around with machine guns, in uniform and plain clothes, even while barbecuing or tearing up donuts in military vehicles.

Max explained the situation to them as best as he could. The rule was simple, always keep your passport with you to prove you’re American or either the Georgian or Russian soldiers will kidnap you.

They also returned stateside just a month or so before Russian forces invaded Georgia.

“Now that I’m seeing all these stories, I’m like, ‘Shit, dude.’” Hillery said.

At the bottom of the mountain, the pair met people from a variety of nations, many of whom were professional climbers with their sights set on Elbrus’ summit.

They scoffed when they saw Batt and Hillery carrying snowboards, telling them there was too much wind on the mountain to climb with those sail-like boards strapped to their backs.

“We were the only people not considered professionals climbing this mountain,” Hillery said.

They decided to drag their boards behind them, strapping them to their harnesses, and spent the next three days climbing up to base camp, a trek to an elevation of nearly 15,000 feet, where snow begins to become glacier.

Once they reached base camp, Max took them out the next few days to get used to the high altitude, something for which the New Orleans natives couldn’t really prepare themselves.

“That high you’re kind of just deteriorating. Your body is just dying on you up there,” Hillery said “It’s just the most brutal thing ever what you’re feeling up there, especially being from below sea level.”

After a few days, they made it to the high camp on the mountain, about 16,500 feet in the sky. Those they met at the camp were skeptical the pair would make the summit.

Max had only made it to the summit five times himself and unusually strong storms continued to slam the mountain top on a daily basis.

They set out to climb to the summit before dawn. Seven hours into it, the wind picked up – a new storm was brewing. Max advised them to turn back, but they decided to keep going.

The temperature, which was already freezing, dropped even further, reaching 25 degrees Fahrenheit below zero with an even more frigid wind chill.

“You’ll never be so close to heaven and feel like straight up hell,” Hillery said. “My face was like taken off by the wind.”

The climb to the summit was also especially steep.

“It was so steep that if someone fell, there was a good chance we were all going,” Batt said. “If you fall there, it’s not looking good.”

They stopped at the saddle between the east and west summits to rest for a bit.

“At that point, it wasn’t fun anymore,” Batt said. “I never knew high-altitude climbing would be like this. Your head would throb with your pulse until you stopped to rest.”

The climb to the summit took 13 hours, and required them to dig into the mountain with an ice axe in each hand. Reaching the summit was a life-changing event for them.

“It was the most beautiful thing I had seen in my life, being up there,” Hillery said. “It was like you’re in space. It’s a real dark blue sky.”

They hung flag in memory of their late friend Nick Ferran on the summit and spread out their Hill Batt New Orleans banner.

“Getting to the summit was probably the most significant thing in my life,” Batt said.

Despite a lecture from Max about still being young and the mountain still being around in 20 years, they put their snowboarding skills to the test, rushing down the same summit they used ice axes and rope to scale.

“When I was strapping on my board it was the heaviest thing that occurred to me: Am I really going to carry this board back down?” Batt said.

Batt told Max to climb down about 500 meters and just film whatever happens. What followed was an “epic” run down sheer ice to a stopping point some 1,000 feet below -- truly an “epic run.”

“It was the first of the seven. It was just a big step in the direction we’re trying to go,” Hillery said.

The next of the seven summits on their agenda is the 5,200 foot taller Aconcagua in South America. Hillery said they hope to climb this in February. The trip will cost them about $8,000.

The Elbrus climb cost them $9,000, but the Backpacker in Baton Rouge donated climbing gear to them. And Batt’s older brother, David, also dipped into his wallet to help out.

They support the Muscular Dystrophy Association of New Orleans in memory of their friend Nick through their charity, Climb for New Orleans.

For more information on Hill and Batt and their charity check out their Web site in September at www.hillnbatt.com. To see a video of their expedition, search YouTube for “Hill N Batt Mt. Elbrus: Nothing but Edge.”

Originally Published: Issue 701 - August 19, 2008

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