Elbrus.infoA reference to Mount Elbrus

The search covers the material of this reference that has been written.

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The search covers the material of this reference that has been written.

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Event · People and expeditions

The 1829 Elbrus expedition

One of the most frequently repeated episodes in Elbrus history. This page is about the evidence trail, not about recreating an ascent.

Dating event 1829, publication 1830 In section History and people

In short

The strongest starting point for the 1829 expedition is not a modern summary but Emil Lenz's letters, published in 1830 as Die Ersteigung des Elbrus i. J. 1829: Briefe and preserved in the University of Tartu repository.[1]

The participants, their roles, the route and the outcome of the ascent are not given on this page: the material handed to this reference does not carry them, and later retellings differ from one another.

Event, document and retelling

Three things that are easy to merge and that this reference keeps apart.

Event

The 1829 expedition

What took place. Known only through the records made about it.

Document

The 1830 publication

Letters published a year after the expedition. Evidence about the event, not the event itself.

Retelling

Later accounts

Written afterwards and differing in names and roles. They are not relabelled as direct witness.

What the document reports

The 1830 publication is close in time to the event, and that makes it important evidence.[1] A digitised copy is held in the University of Tartu repository and is cited by the stable address of that record.

Who wrote this source and what it is, is set out on its own card: Emil Lenz and his 1830 publication.

What the document does not say

Proximity does not remove the need for care. Names vary across languages and editions; participant roles are described differently in later accounts; and the mountain has two principal summit cones, so an unqualified "the summit" loses information.[1]

From that follows the rule for a detailed chronology: cite particular pages of the publication, separate quotation from interpretation, and name the places where the record is uncertain. Until that is done, this reference publishes no list of participants, no allocation of roles, no description of a route and no claim about which summit was reached.

Questions for the sources

These are questions for the sources, not answers already held. Each needs work with particular pages of the publication and with independent records.

  • How was the expedition organised and what was its scientific programme?
  • Who took part, and which roles do the documents actually support?
  • How did the work proceed and what results are recorded?
  • What, on the documents, remains undetermined?

Sources

Every source opens directly. The links lead to external sites.

digitised primary source

Emil Lenz (1830), Die Ersteigung des Elbrus i. J. 1829: Briefe — University of Tartu repository

https://dspace.ut.ee/items/b0df428d-00d9-48e8-9d43-0c3dba7a1711
repository

University of Tartu digital repository

https://dspace.ut.ee/

Notes

  1. Emil Lenz, Die Ersteigung des Elbrus i. J. 1829: Briefe, 1830; digitised copy in the University of Tartu repository. The publication is close in time to the event; names and roles vary across languages, editions and later accounts. dspace.ut.ee. Back to the text
Next question

What exactly do the 1829 letters report, and what is missing from them?

In preparation