Nine young Irish mountaineers have reached the summit of Mount Elbrus, Europe's highest peak, during a millennium youth expedition.

The group climbed the 5,642 metre mountain in the Caucasus range late last month as one of six peaks tackled in three valleys in the Russian Federation. The approach was by Mount Elbrus's western shoulder, which is not considered to be the easiest route.

The group of four women and five men, ranging in age from 16 to 21, hail from both sides of the Border.

They were led by Belfast climber Dawson Stelfox, who was the first Irishman to reach the summit of Everest in 1993. He was one of six support guides and instructors travelling with Brendan Arthurs (17), Malahide, Co Dublin; Theresa Begley (17), Fork hill, Co Armagh; Paul Connolly (16), Newry, Co Down; Joanne McClurg (19), Dunrod, Co Antrim; Carol Ryan (21), Rathdrum, Co Wicklow; Claire Michael (19), Dalkey, Co Dublin; Simon Moore (17), Ballygowan, Co Down; Rory Finlay (17), Gortathole, Co Fermanagh; and Patrick Campbell (17), Belfast.

The expedition is one of two planned this year as part of the Mountaineering Council of Ireland's millennium youth initiative. A three-year development programme has been put together with a view to training talented young climbers to cope with the requirements of high altitude in the world's greater mountain ranges.

A second expedition, led by Robbie Fenlon and Frank Nugent, also members of the 1993 Irish Everest Expedition, will bring nine young climbers out next month to Nepal to attempt two 6,000-metre peaks in the Solo Khumbu area. The nine recently completed one of their final training weekends in the National Adventure Centre at Tiglin, Co Wicklow.

Unknown and unexplored valleys and an unclimbed Himalayan peak are targets for an expedition from the Irish Mountaineering Club which leaves this month for Nepal.

The peak is the 6,315-metre Khan gla Tarbo, and the route in will embrace the Indian Himalayan valley of Chini, mysterious destination of Rudyard Kipling's Kim, and the ancient kingdom of Spiti, which was closed until recently to the outside world.

The team is led by Paddy O'Leary (65) of Co Wicklow, a veteran of many Himalayan adventures and expeditions to the Andes, the Mountains of the Moon in Zaire and the Bogda Ola range in China. O'Leary led the first Irish expedition to the Himalayas in 1964. With him will be Shay O'Hanlon (58), cyclist and winner of the Ras Tailteann four times, who is now a passionate mountaineer.

The other four members are Hugh Reynolds, Brian Geraghty, Colm Owens and Conor Burns, all in their 20s and 30s, Dublin-based, and with experience of the Alps and Scottish winters. From Spiti, the team will make its way to the uninhabited Khamengar area, which is believed to have been unknown to westerners until O'Leary, and fellow IMC member Mike Scott breached a narrow gorge to reconnoitre a route up Khangla Tarbo.

The upper reaches of this valley proved to be inaccessible for a small party, due mainly to monsoon-swollen rivers, but the pair are confident that it leads up to the main Himalayan watershed and gives possible access to the Kullu valley beyond the range.

Recent floods in India may delay the passage. Some bridges are believed to have been swept away when the Sutleg, a tributary of the Indus, burst its banks. Nevertheless, the small-scale and low-key nature of the expedition will make for mobility, and flexibility.

The adventure, backed by the IMC, is expected to take about six weeks.