Elbrus continues its mountaineering tradition: the "Rocks of Russia" festival brought together 1,000 people.

The all-Russian rock climbing and mountaineering festival "Rocks of Russia" was held for the third time in the Baksan Gorge of Kabardino-Balkaria. It brought together participants from 47 regions of the country—athletes, organizers, spectators, and those exploring mountain culture.

For the Elbrus resort, the festival became a continuation of the living history of the Elbrus region—a place where mountaineering has become part of the local identity. Kavkaz.RF, the company building and developing the Elbrus resort, served as the event's media partner.

The festival was located on the cliffs of Tyrnyauz and in the vicinity of the Dzhan-Tugan alpine camp. The week-long program included free climbing, short boulder routes, competitions on vertical cliffs, the Russian Mountaineering Federation Cup, the Women's Cup, lectures, workshops, trekking routes along the eco-trails of the Elbrus resort, a morning run in honor of Russia Day with the leading Russian skyrunner, Vitaly Shkel, and night bouldering under floodlights.

A separate theme was the 90th anniversary of women's mountaineering. This was celebrated with a special " 1936-2026 " category in the Women's Cup, along with lectures and meetings on the history of first ascents, outstanding athletes of different generations, and the current development of women's mountaineering in Russia.

Over the past three years, "Rocks of Russia" has become not only a sporting event but also a meeting point for the mountaineering community. Here, Russian, European, and world champions, instructors, judges, photographers, families with children, and those just beginning their mountaineering journey gather.

The festival also helps develop the Elbrus region's rocky terrain. Every year, new routes are opened in the gorge, approaches and descents are developed, and the area is landscaped. This year, for example, the first equipment rental point and cafe-point opened.

For those just exploring mountain culture and lifestyle, the all-season resort offers a gentle introduction—70 km of high-altitude trekking on routes of varying difficulty. You can join a group with a professional guide or embark on a private hike, using a mobile app.

Kavkaz.RF is a long-standing partner of the Russian Mountaineering Federation, supporting regular member meetings and events. At the 2025 annual gala evening of the Russian Mountaineering Federation, Rustam Tapaev, Deputy General Director of Kavkaz.RF, presented a special prize to Nicole Kovalchuk, the second Russian woman to climb all 14 of the world's peaks. A year earlier, Executive Director Khasan Timizhev awarded the first "Queen of Eight-Thousanders," Alina Pekova.

Starting this year, Kavkaz.RF is developing a focus on the Soviet heritage of the Elbrus region. One of the key themes is mass mountaineering and rock climbing, which originated here in the 1930s. The project helps to reimagine the people, places, and events that made Elbrus one of the country's most important mountain areas.

Sports Results of the "Rocks of Russia" Festival

One of the key events was the FAR Cup for steep routes. The team of Oleg Bushin and Alexey Gureev won, on-sighting an 8a route.

Second place was shared by three teams: Alexey Solovey and Anar Demirov, Alexander Ryndyk and Sergey Pomortsev, and Petr Khalyavko and Pavel Zimin. Third place went to Alexander Ivanov and Andrey Kichurchak.

Ilya Pavlov and Valeria Bakrysheva won the mixed team competition. Ivan Koblyakov and Ekaterina Kishelgof took second place, and Danila Kostyuk and Tatyana Kostyuk took third.

Inna Kravchenko and Tatyana Shchekinova won the Women's Cup. They also received a special " 1936-2026 " nomination and a certificate for accommodation at Bezengi, one of the oldest mountaineering bases in the country.

Alexandra Grigorieva and Zhaniya Kubaidulieva took second place in the Women's Cup, and Maria Mironovskaya and Dilara Safiullina took third.

The festival was organized by the Russian Mountaineering Federation, the Russian Climbing Federation, the Ministry of Sports of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, and the Central Sports Club of the Army.

Nearly a thousand guests at Elbrus opened the eco-trail season over the weekend.

The legendary resort in Kabardino-Balkaria hosted its first traditional "Trekking Weekend" event this year. Guests embarked on hikes, symbolically kicking off the trekking season on Elbrus' eco-trails. Over the two-day weekend, nearly five thousand tourists visited the resort, two-thirds of whom took advantage of the walking rates, while the rest enjoyed skiing and snowboarding.

Four eco-trails have already thawed out and are open to guests: Azau-Cheget, Cheget-Narzanov Glade, Narzanov Glade-Tegenekli, and Garabashi Gorge. A total of over 65 kilometers of trails will be available at the resort during the season.

Participants of the "Trekking Weekend," accompanied by professional guides and photographers, walked along designated trails to the Azau-Su Waterfall, the Garabashi Gorge, and from the Azau Glade to Cheget. Anyone can join free group hikes in the future; announcements are conveniently available on the official channels of the management company and the Elbrus resort.

"Trekking weekends are consistently popular at all Kavkaz.RF resorts, so we will continue to hold them regularly throughout the season, adding thawed trails at higher altitudes to the program. "To ensure guests get the most out of Mount Elbrus and the resort's eco-trails, we've developed multi-day hiking packages for two and three days and a detailed program to fill their time: walks through the most picturesque sites, a historical trek through the battlefields of the Battle of the Caucasus, an introduction to Elbrus as a volcano, and an immersion in the mountain's architectural and scientific heritage," said Rustam Tapayev, Deputy General Director of Kavkaz.RF.

In total, the Kavkaz.RF development institute, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, has already laid out and developed more than 250 kilometers of hiking trails in the North Caucasus mountains. 112 kilometers of trails run through the Elbrus region in Kabardino-Balkaria, 110 kilometers connect Chechnya's main resorts of Veduchi and Kezenoy-Am, and 32.5 kilometers of scenic trails have been developed near the new Mamison resort in North Ossetia.

On 20 and 27 June, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the Mir station (height of 3,500 m), the DJ-Star will pass from the Freerave team with the support of the Trey Sister Hotel.

The guests will be able to enjoy the atmospheric electronics, calm and media, the genre embient and melodic house. Music differs with an obscure background sound, melody, minimalitic rhythms and calm strikes, and it will help to deepen the beauty of the mountain environment.

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June 20th and 21st – Trekking Weekend on Elbrus.

Anyone can hike along the beautiful trails of the Elbrus National Park accompanied by professional guides and photographers, learn new and interesting things about the eco-trails, and receive stunning photographs as a gift.

Participants will enjoy easy trails of the "green" difficulty level, suitable for all hikers.

Participation is free. Guests will gather at the Azau Glade at 10:00 AM.

Trekking program: cable car ride, briefing, exercise, pickup of trekking kit, and then the following trails:

To the Garabashi Gorge – Azau – Cheget.

To the Azau-Su Waterfall – Azau – Cheget.

Each participant will receive a gift – a piece of Elbrus Resort merchandise.

With the arrival of summer, the following trails have opened in Elbrus National Park:

No. 1 "Azau - Cheget";

No. 5 "Cheget - Narzanov Glade";

No. 6 "Narzanov Glade - Tegenekli";

No. 10 "To the Garabashi Gorge";

No. 7 "Ascent of Elbrus" for climbers.

These routes (except No. 7) are easy, making them suitable for hikers of all skill levels, families with children, and the elderly.

Russia Day at the Elbrus Resort: Festive Program and Mountain Activities.

On June 12, the Elbrus Resort invites guests to celebrate Russia Day and spend time in the mountains. Festive events will take place across several venues, offering entertainment for visitors of all ages.

A packed festive program will be held at the Fairgrounds from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Guests can look forward to children's quests and workshops, interactive activities, a bubble show, and gifts for participants.

A musical performance at the Mir Station (altitude 3,500 m) will create a special atmosphere: DJ Milka will perform for visitors. A dance program will take place against the backdrop of picturesque mountain scenery.

During the long holiday weekend, guests of the resort will have access to a variety of activities:

Ascent to a record-breaking altitude – to the Garabashi Station (3,847 m);

A visit to the Elbrus Defense Museum at the Mir station to learn about the heroic pages of the region's history;

Photo sessions at observation decks and against the backdrop of Elbrus's famous peaks;

Sending a commemorative postcard from an altitude of 3,847 meters above sea level;

Strolls in the surrounding area;

Tasting national cuisine.

A 1-ruble ticket in honor of Children's Day.

From May 30th to June 1st, in honor of Children's Day, walking tickets are available for 1 ruble for all children aged 13 and under, with a 50% discount* for accompanying adults. Tickets can only be purchased at the resort ticket office upon presentation of proof of age.

The ticket is valid for one ascent/descent on the cable car between the Azau (2,350 m) and Garabashi (3,847 m) stations. During the journey, you'll have two transfers at the Krugozor (3,000 m) and Mir (3,500 m) stations, allowing you to adjust to the ascent and explore each elevation, seeing the mountains at different altitudes.

What's included with the ticket:

- Ascend to a record-breaking altitude at Garabashi Station (+3,847 m)

- Visit the observation deck at the monument to the heroes of World War II at Mir Station (+3,500 m)

- View mountain peaks and eternal glaciers from panoramic platforms at various altitudes

And at the Fairgrounds, from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM, guests will enjoy a festive program:

May 30th

- Children's entertainers

- Interactive online quest

May 31st

- Children's entertainers

- Interactive online quest

- Bubble show

June 1st

- Children's entertainers

- Interactive online quest

- Master classes

- Performance for children

- Popcorn distribution

The men's team and juniors are preparing for the new season on Europe's highest mountain. The women's team and juniors will join them in the coming days.

The Russian alpine skiing team is actively training on Elbrus, where its traditional summer training camp is taking place.

As Europe's highest mountain, Elbrus offers unique conditions for training, and the ski season here is the longest in Russia, lasting on average from late November to early June. It is the country's main summer training base.

Forty-five schoolchildren from Tyrnyauz came to Elbrus for a career guidance meeting about careers in tourism and the professions needed in the North Caucasus today.

The students met with the Kavkaz.RF team. They learned about the development of tourism in the region and the resorts currently under construction and expansion, including Elbrus, Mamison, Veduchi, and Kaspiy. Modern resorts are in need of a variety of professionals: engineers, mechanics, IT specialists, rescuers, avalanche experts, mountain patrol officers, guides, snow collectors, and dozens of other specialists.

Representatives from Kabardino-Balkarian State University also spoke. Career department staff discussed the university's specializations, internship and employment opportunities, and the new partnership with Kavkaz.RF.

The "Rocks of Russia" festival in the Elbrus region will connect two centuries of mountaineering.

From June 9-15, the Baksan Gorge in Kabardino-Balkaria will host the all-Russian climbing festival "Rocks of Russia. Elbrus 2026" for the third time, a joint project of the country's rock climbing and mountaineering federations.

Participants will explore cliffs near the town of Tyrnyauz and the surrounding area of ​​the Dzhan-Tugan alpine camp. Hundreds of routes are divided into three disciplines: lead climbing; bouldering—short, challenging routes without ropes; and multi-pitch routes on steep cliffs.

In addition to the festival's free climbing, the program includes a stage of the Russian Mountaineering Cup in the "class-rock" discipline, the Russian Armed Forces Climbing Championship, the Open Women's Mountaineering Cup, the FAR Cup, a bouldering contest featuring leading Russian rock climbers, and a "Beginners" category for those with up to one year of climbing experience.

This year, the organizers added a special Women's Cup category—" 1936-2026 ." It is dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the first ascent in the history of Russian mountaineering by an all-female team.

"In the summer of 1936, three Leningrad climbers—Maria Potapova, Konstantsiya Narbut, and Natalia Sidorova—climbed the main summit of Dombay-Ulgen (4,046 m) via a 3B-category route. "Today, it's very exciting and honorable to announce a nomination in honor of our brave Soviet climbers," notes Irina Morozova, initiator of the first FAR Women's Mountaineering Cup, one of the masterminds behind the Steel Angel award, and senior coach of the Rocks of Russia: Elbrus 2026 festival.

The main prize in the special nomination is a certificate for ten-day accommodation at Bezengi, one of the country's most historic mountaineering bases.

"This semantic emphasis is very close to our hearts. During the Soviet years, the Elbrus region became the birthplace of mass mountaineering in the country. Schools, routes, and entire generations of climbers were established here. This theme is one of the key ones in our "Archive of Heights" project, where we explore and collect the legacy of Soviet highland architecture, science, and recreational culture—everything that makes Elbrus legendary. "And when heritage has multiple voices—sports, research, and culture—it becomes a living part of today's landscape," explains Khasan Timizhev, Executive Director of Kavkaz.RF.

Alongside the competitions, the festival will also feature a Multi-Pitch School (a training program on climbing techniques on long, multi-pitch routes). This year, it will be held in an expanded format: basic and advanced modules, as well as a separate trad module for working with your own anchors. Upon completion, participants will receive a certificate in the mountaineering training program.

Registration continues via the mobile app. The festival is also open to spectators: you can climb the cliffs and watch the climbing freely during the competition days. According to the organizers, the most spectacular event is night bouldering.

The festival organizers are the Russian Climbing Federation, the Russian Mountaineering Federation, the Ministry of Sports of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, and the Central Sports Club of the Army. Media partner: Kavkaz.RF.

Elbrus Resort staff laid flowers at the "Heroes of the Defense of Elbrus Region" memorial, located on the slope of Mount Elbrus in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.

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The monument was erected in 1987, based on a design by Viktor Savostikov, Valery Korneev, and Nikolai Kravchenko. The "Heroes of the Defense of Elbrus Region" monument is dedicated to all those who died defending the impregnable slopes of Elbrus during the Great Patriotic War.

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Construction of the "Heroes of the Defense of Elbrus Region" monument began in 1986 and was completed a year later, with the grand opening taking place on May 9. The monument consists of seven aluminum steles of varying heights, the central one reaching four and a half meters, mounted on a two-meter-thick foundation made of stone blocks. The steles contain the names of 219 Heroes of the Soviet Union who died in the battles on Elbrus.

From May 2nd to 8th, Elbrus will host the 17th edition of the Red Fox Elbrus Race 2026 festival.

On May 3rd, the individual ski mountaineering race will take place. This sport debuted at the 2026 Winter Olympics, where Nikita Filippov, a regular participant in the Red Fox Elbrus Race, won silver in the sprint. The Elbrus race will be the final stage of the Russian Cup and a powerful conclusion to the season for professional athletes.

On May 5th, the vertical kilometer race will take place from 2,450 to 3,450 meters. This is the largest race of the festival and a stage of the Russian Cup. Skyrunners must complete the race within two hours.

On May 7th, the sky marathon race will take place, a race to the Western Summit of Elbrus (5,642 meters). The race will be held in two stages: from the Azau glade (2,350 m) and from the Bochki shelter (3,750 m).

Participants include national team representatives, winners of national championships, and World Cup stages. Athletes of any experience are also eligible to participate in the overall standings in all three events.

Elbrus has launched its annual training camp for professional athletes, including alpine skiers and freestyle skiers. Students from sports schools in Moscow, the Moscow region, and Minsk are grooming the Garabashi-Mir trail. Sixty-five people have arrived, and in May, they will be joined by members of the Russian national teams, including Paralympic athletes.

The operations team meticulously prepares the trail twice a day: for both athletes and resort guests. A special sports slope on the famous Garabashi Glacier will also be in operation in May.

Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev, Kabardino-Balkarian Sports Minister Islam Khasanov, and Kavkaz.RF Deputy Director General Khisa Bekkaev met in an unusual location – at an altitude of 4,000 meters, at the Elbrus resort.

They discussed creating infrastructure for year-round training for national teams of Russia and other friendly countries.

Here, climbers from all over the world prepare to conquer Europe's highest peak, Mount Elbrus.

Elbrus welcomes the strongest freeriders to its slopes.

From March 25-29, the AlpIndustria chain of stores will host the final stage of the Freeride World Qualifier competition in Russia. Three stars offer more challenging terrain than 1- and 2-star levels, and riders earn more points toward qualifying for international competitions, the Freeride World Tour.

Brothers Marat and Kaisyn Uzdenov held a preparatory training session at Elbrus before the competition.

Elbrus is updating its hotel landscape.

Elbrus Group has received a positive assessment from the Main State Expertise Authority (Glavgosexpertiza) and is preparing to build a new complex in the Azau glade.

The complex will include:

Five four-star hotels with 600 rooms.

A children's entertainment center (cafe, play areas for children up to three years old, areas for workshops, board games, and active games).

SPA (saunas, hammam, group exercise room, and cardiovascular equipment).

Restaurants, a conference and banquet hall, meeting rooms, and shops.

All buildings are designed with the needs of guests with limited mobility in mind: wheelchair turning areas, handrails, and adjoining rooms for accompanying persons.

Opening is scheduled for the end of 2028. At the same time, four more cable cars in the eastern sector, near the observatory, will be launched.

Upcoming events calendar at Elbrus.

March 25-29 — Final stage of the main freeride competition, FWQ 3* (registration is now open!). Spectacular tricks and graceful lines from the most experienced riders.

May 2-8 — Red Fox Elbrus Race: this will bring together skyrunning, ski mountaineering, and snowshoeing enthusiasts.

August 1-3 — Alpindustria Elbrus Race trail running festival, with a 131-km lead course, a "ring" around Elbrus.

June 9-15 — Rocks of Russia climbing festival.

Almost 70 km of eco-trails have been laid, including 12 km of new routes. The high-altitude ones will open in July, while the lower ones will become accessible earlier, in June.

Thanks to the Garabashi Glacier, the resort remains a training and educational base this summer: it will host National League of Instructors courses, and the Russian alpine skiing and freestyle skiing teams will also attend. Training will culminate with the Elbrus Prize competition for teenagers aged 12-15, a giant slalom race at an altitude of 4,100 meters.