Mount Elbrus Russia. The name "Elbrus" is a metathesis of "Alborz", which is also the name of a long mountain range in northern Iran. It is derived from Avestan "Harā Bərəzaitī", which is a legendary mountain in Iranian mythology. "Harā Bərəzaitī" reflects Proto-Iranian *"Harā Bṛzatī", which was reformed into Middle Persian as "Harborz", and into Modern Persian as "Alborz". "Bṛzatī" is the feminine form of the adjective *"bṛzant" ("high"), the reconstructed ancestor of Modern Ossetian "bærzond" ("high", "peak"), Modern Persian "barz" ("high"), "berāzande" ("elegant"), and "boland" ("high", "tall"), and Modern Kurdish "barz" ("high"). "Harā" may be interpreted as "watch" or "guard", from
Vladas Vitkauskas Vladas Vitkauskas Vladas Vitkauskas (born May 7, 1953 in Viduklė, Raseiniai district in Lithuania) became the first Lithuanian and the first mountaineer from the Baltic states to climb the world‘s highest mountain, Mt. Everest (8,848 m, May 10, 1993). Between 1993 and 1996 Vitkauskas climbed the Seven Summits, the highest peaks of all the continents including Mt. Everest (Eurasia), Mt. McKinley (6,194 m, North America), Vinson Massif (4,897 m, Antarctica), Kilimanjaro (5,895 m, Africa), Mt. Kosciusko (2,228 m, Australia), Aconcagua (6,959 m, South America); also Elbrus (5,642 m, Caucasus) and Mont Blanc (4,807 m, Alps) in Europe. He was the