Eleven Shelter

"Shelter of Eleven" is a hotel for climbers on Mount Elbrus at an altitude of 4130 meters above sea level. For 60 years, it was the highest hotel in the USSR and Russia. It was located on the southeastern slope of Mount Elbrus.

History

In 1909, one of the groups of sightseers of the Caucasian Mining Society, founded in Pyatigorsk by the Swiss Rudolf Rudolfovich Leitsinger, consisting of 11 people made a planned trip to Elbrus. The group set up a temporary camp at an altitude of 4130 meters. Large stones protected it from the east and from the north, like natural walls, and the expedition members built another protective wall. They took a small supply of paint with them to make a commemorative inscription on the summit of Elbrus, and with this paint on the stones near their camp they wrote "Shelter 11."

20 years later, in the summer of 1929, the famous Russian climber V. A. Rakovsky built a wooden cabin-booth on these rocks, poured iron on it and transferred the inscription "Shelter 11" to its walls.

In 1932, a barrack for 40 people was built. Due to the lack of places, tents were sometimes placed right on the flat roof of the building - with dense accommodation, exactly four "pamirkas" were placed there.

In the 1937-1938 season, geodetic, explosive and construction work began on "Shelter Eleven." In 1938, a three-story building was erected on the site of the hut, which stood for 60 years. The new "Shelter" was erected in one season with the help of the local population - people helped to raise materials to the construction site.

The hotel building resembled an airship in shape. The main building of the hotel, oval-shaped, had three floors. The first - from wild stone, the second and third - frame type, from wooden parts. For insulation along the entire perimeter of the building, special heat insulation plates were laid under the iron sheets. On the ground floor were a kitchen, shower rooms and storage facilities. On the second and third floors - residential premises. The cabin rooms were equipped with folding two-tier shelves of the wagon type with a capacity of 2-8 people. To store personal belongings and equipment, there were rundukes. The walls and ceilings were finished with embossed wallpaper, which gives the impression of stucco and looks noble and expensive, and the parquet floors are varnished. Chandeliers shone under the ceiling. There was central heating, water supply and sewerage worked. A Kremlin turntable was installed and a bathhouse was built, which was destroyed during the Great Patriotic War. On the second floor, a dining room was equipped with a capacity of up to 50 people. According to experts, the hotel resembled a first-class hotel in terms of comfort.

During World War II, Shelter Eleven became almost a center of hostilities. The Nazis sought the Caucasus. The 1st Mountain Division, known as the Edelweiss Division, was thrown into the conquest of Elbrus - it consisted of soldiers with extensive experience in combat operations in the highlands. Many of these soldiers before the war came to the Elbrus region to study the area, stayed in an orphanage, climbing to the top. And on August 17, 1942, German mountain riflemen who penetrated the Elbrus region through the Hotyut Pass occupied the Shelter without firing a shot.

Having occupied the hotel, the German huntsmen climbed Elbrus and installed fascist flags there. Hitler's propaganda used this symbolic event as a demonstration of victory in the Caucasus. But the Caucasus was not conquered. Almost all the passes of the Main Caucasus Range were successfully defended by Soviet troops, not allowing the enemy to the Black Sea. Subsequently, Soviet troops made repeated attempts to drive the Germans out of the Shelter. However, the terrain favorable for defense and the well-fortified positions of the German troops did not allow this. In total, about a hundred Soviet soldiers died in the battles for the shelter.

After the defeat of German troops at Stalingrad, the situation on the Caucasian front changed a lot. German troops were forced to leave the Caucasus due to the threat of encirclement. On January 10-11, 1943, German mining and rifle units left the upper Baksan Gorge and left Shelter Eleven.

On February 9, 1943, a group of Soviet climbers consisting of 20 people climbed to the Shelter to remove Nazi banners from the peaks of Elbrus. The shelter building was damaged by bombs, the facade was distorted, the roof from the diesel station was demolished by an explosion. The weather station is destroyed. The building was partially clogged with snow, as the gamekeepers broke the frames for firewood. Ammunition and weapons were lying in the rocks around the shelter. Food warehouses were blown up or flooded with kerosene. On February 13, 1943, in conditions of bad weather, the remnants of the banners installed by the Germans from the Western peak were removed, and on February 17 from the Eastern.

In 1949, Shelter Eleven was leased for five years to the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the same year, road workers rebuilt the road between Terskol and the Ice Base, destroyed during the war years by landslides and collapses. At the same time, the Elbrus expedition of the Academy of Sciences began to restore the Ice Base and Shelter Eleven. Repair and reconstruction of "Shelter Eleven" required considerable effort.

In 1950, a stone house was built on the Old Krugozor, which served as an intermediate base when climbing the "Shelter of Eleven," and the shelter on the Elbrus saddle was restored, for the repair of which about two tons of different building materials were delivered.

In the fall of 1951, high-voltage transmission lines were stretched from Terskol to Shelter Eleven. The power line wires were made by special order from a steel 8-10 mm cable so that they could withstand hurricane winds. Power line supports passed through the glacier. In 1952, the power line was destroyed due to the winter movement of the glacier. Individual masts fell into cracks and only their tops were visible on the surface of the glacier. By the winter of 1952, the Elbrus expedition transferred its observatory from Shelter Eleven to the Ice Base, where cargo was imported by all-terrain vehicles. This made it possible to abandon the expensive transportation of cargo through glaciers by yaks and horses.

For all the years after the end of World War II, Shelter Eleven served as the place from where numerous groups of climbers from around the world climbed Elbrus. On the third floor, a museum was created by the efforts of enthusiasts.

On August 16, 1998, Shelter Eleven burned down due to non-compliance with fire safety regulations.