The weather is still not on our side. Since several days a depression over the Black Sea is pumping wet air into the mountains, which hide in cloulds and snow. We have decided to move on to Sotchi, as the next couple of days will continue to be dominated by bad weather. Sotchi firstly offers some bad weather alternatives, secondly the skiing ares of Krasna Poliana are more suitable for bad weather (both due their infrastructure and due to the fact that they are less interesting than, say, Elbrus or Dombai)). Thirdly, depressions moving eastwards, the western-most skiing areas – which are these around Sotchi – will be the fist to see the sun.

Before we start a long rainy ride to the black sea cost, where we are going to arrive around midnight, we take the cable-car of Pyatigorsk, which is a nice historic monument. Albeit we are not going to see the amazing Caucasus, including the over 5000m high Elbrus, but only venture in an icy storm up there, this is still a nice littel adventure.