It is a dormant stratovolcano rising 5,642 m (18,510 ft) above sea level, and is the highest volcano in the supercontinent of Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world.

The fault zone is complex and the large lateral displacement at the level of Anatolia and Iran prevents the creation of a subduction phenomenon and explains the rarity of volcanoes in the mountain range.

Geochronological dating has revealed subsequent synchronous eruptive cycles in different focimagmatic deposits of the Greater Caucasus, demonstrating the common geological origin of this volcanic activity.

It happens that modest fumaroles still sometimes escape from the eastern flank of Elbrus, at the level of the ancient lava flow of 24 kilometers long oriented from the crater to the north-northeast, and hot springs originate on the slopes of the mountain.

[6] As Elbrus is located in the Northern Hemisphere, the summer period takes place from June to mid-September, with an average of 50% of sunny days favorable to the ascent of the summit.

[14] (In Greek mythology, the Titan Prometheus was chained in the Caucasus as a punishment for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to mankind.)

Arrian's Strobilos, or Latinized Strobilus,[15] was later identified as Elbrus by some writers such as Douglas Freshfield in The Exploration of the Caucasus (1896).

On 17 March 1936, a group of 33 inexperienced Komsomol members attempted the mountain and ended up suffering four fatalities when they slipped on the ice and fell to their deaths.

[20] A possibly apocryphal story tells of a Soviet pilot being given a medal for bombing the main mountaineering hut, Priyut 11 (Приют одиннадцати, "Refuge of the 11"), while it was occupied.

In 1997 a team led by the Russian mountaineer Alexander Abramov took a Land Rover Defender to the summit of the East Peak, entering the Guinness Book of Records.

[25] In 2016, the Russian climbers Artyom Kuimov and Sergey Baranov entered the Guinness Book of World Records by reaching the summit of Elbrus on ATVs.

The horses were Imbir, Daur and Khurzuk, of the Karachai breed, fitted with special horseshoes with removable steel spikes.

Six people reached the eastern summit: three Karachai horsemen (Dahir Kappushev, Mohammed Bidzhiev, Murat Dzhatdoev) and three mountaineers (Boris Begeulov, Umar Bairamukov, Leila Albogachieva (Ingush nationality)), with two of the three horses (Daur and Khurzuk).

In October 2021, Kazakh scientist Aida Tabelinova climbed Mount Elbrus as part of an international expedition led by Youth Club of the Russian Geographical Society and Rossotrudnichestvo to promote humanitarian cooperation.

[28] In 2020 a charity climb for the Global Relief Trust by British Bangladeshi climber Akke Rahman was completed without using supplemental oxygen.

[31] In June 2022, the US State Department advised citizens not to travel to Mount Elbrus, due to terrorism, kidnapping, and risk of civil unrest.

In 1939, the Soviet Intourist travel agency built yet another structure a little above the "Priyut 11" site at 4,200 metres, covered in aluminium siding.

It was meant to accommodate western tourists, who were encouraged to climb Mount Elbrus in commercial, guided tours to bring in foreign currency.

Painted red and white, these horizontal steel cylinders (called barrels, Russian bochki), are used as a base and for acclimatization by many mountaineers on their way to the summit.

Mount Elbrus is said to be home to the 'world's nastiest' outhouse which is close to being the highest toilet in Europe, at 4,200 m (13,800 ft), next to the old, burnt-out Priyut Hut.

Finally, the last stretch is a chairlift single-seater which then makes it possible to avoid an hour's walk for hikers to the Garabachi huts, at an altitude of 3,847 metres.

The average annual death toll on Elbrus is 15–30, primarily due to "many unorganized and poorly equipped" attempts to reach the mountain's summit.

[23] The normal route, on the southern slope, is the easiest, the safest and the fastest, by using the ski lifts to the Garabachi 36 refuges offering 11 cylindrical cabins (the "barrels") of 6 beds each and a total of 80 berths, with water from the melting glacier in summer, and electric heating.

This route, much longer, is accessible either from the first section of the cable car by crossing the moraines in a north-west direction via the Khoti Outaou pass then obliquely towards the summit, or from the Khourzouk valley.

Other routes by the east from the valley, the glacier and the Iryk pass (3,667 m), or by the north are possible but are more hazardous due to the absence or obsolescence of the installations.

During Soviet times, Mount Elbrus was home to climbing speed competitions and was training for national Himalayan expeditions (1982 and 1989).

In 2005, with the growing enthusiasm for extreme sports and the increase in the number of mountaineers in Russia, this tradition was relaunched and a new race was organized between Bochki and the western summit.

In 1997, two Swedish adventurers, mountaineerings and skiers Jon Wilhelmsson (1976, Ockelbo, Sweden) and  Niklas summited Mount Elbrus, executing a remarkable descent using the Telemark skiing technique.

[37] The record time for the full race, ascent and descent, of the long route is 4:20:45, set on 7 May 2017 by the Swiss-Ecuadorian mountain guide Karl Egloff.

[38][39][40] The fastest times by a woman on the long route were set by Diana Zelenova (4:30:12 for the ascent in 2017) and Oksana Stefanishina (6:25:23 for the full race in 2015).