Group gathering in Tbilisi, in a pre-booked hostel. Arrival time does not matter.

In our schedule, the trek to Kazbek is usually paired with a longer trip around Svaneti and is its logical continuation. You can sign up for both hikes or just one of them.

Yesterday evening, the participants of the first hike arrived from Svaneti to Tbilisi, and today they are devoting themselves to washing off and having a little rest. Meanwhile, the instructor buys more food and meets new arrivals (going only to Kazbek).

In the evening, general gathering of the group, distribution of food.

Early rise and light breakfast. We are moving out of the hostel. At the end of the tour we will return here, so you can leave clean clothes and chargers in the hostel storage room.

At about 8 am we leave Tbilisi by chartered minibus. To the start of the route (the village of Kazbegi or Stepantsminda) about 3 hours of travel. On the way we visit the Ananuri fortress and make several stops at the observation platforms of the Georgian Military roads - near the "panorama", on the Cross Pass, near a waterfall with calcium travertines (sinter formations as in Pamukkale). In Kazbegi (altitude 1750m) we hire an SUV minibus that will take us a couple of hundred meters higher - to the ancient church of Gergetis Tsminda Sameba (height 2170m). I guarantee you that half of the photographs taken Today, this will be a most picturesque temple. We have lunch, stock up on water from the church spring and begin our climb.

The trail to the Sobierc Pass (altitude about 2700) is, in principle, not difficult - a relatively flat grassy ridge, excellent views of horses racing along the slopes. But the continuous climb and the gentle Georgian sun will exhaust you. B In general, the area is extremely conducive to frequent stops :) Behind the pass, a new, “adult” view of Kazbek opens up - with a huge moraine, stone screes and snowy heights. More half an hour of easy traverse and we are at the river. This is the last adventure for today, on the other side there is already an overnight stay, the so-called "Green Hotel" (height 2800) - cozy clearings for parking and a clean spring. To get to them you need to cross a seething black stream - just step from bank to bank, from stone to stone. But something tells me that many of you will remember this step for a long time.

  We walk along the edge of a colossal canyon, gnawed by the Kazbek glacier in distant “glacial” times. About an hour after From the start we will go around the icefall zone and the trail will jump from land to ice. It is because of the ice that boots and crampons are required for this route. To It will take us about an hour to cross the wide Ortsveri glacier. Then a short and steep climb and we are at the former weather station (height 3660m). Now it is a shelter for tourists, a base camp for those going to Kazbek. We set up tents and register at rescuers, we pay for overnight accommodation (10 GEL per tent). 

After lunch we go on a radial acclimatization trek (about 1 hour) to the Betlemi Chapel (altitude 3915m). This is strange The structure (similar to a ship's deckhouse) is installed on a rock overlooking the weather station. According to legend Once upon a time there was the Betlemi (Bethlehem) monastery, which was destroyed under very curious circumstances. Great from the top we can see our tomorrow's path along the glacier and the lonely tired figures of climbers returning from the assault tops.

We will also hurry home - it will soon get dark and get quite cold (+4). And we still need to have dinner and prepare backpacks for tomorrow's walk.

Climbers leave to conquer Kazbek in the middle of the night. Our plans are simpler, but we still can’t delay the exit - with every As time goes by, the threat of rockfalls will become increasingly greater. Tents remain at the weather station, take warm clothes, drink and steam with you chocolates, we go to the radial (it will take about 6 hours). Our trail, if you can call it that, goes along the edge of the glacier. This is an endless labyrinth of shafts of red clay and rubble, from under which here and there dirty ice peeks through. Here you cannot lag behind the group and go off the marked path - around full of bottomless cracks and underground (subglacial) rivers.

In a couple of hours we will approach the wall of Khmaur. It is composed of loose conglomerate rocks that continuously crumble and The glacier is bombarded with rockfalls every minute. The vast majority of cobblestones do not reach the path, but relax You can’t - we pass through the dangerous area quickly and with our eyes wide open.

The third stage is firn fields before reaching the plateau. It’s much colder and windier here, and besides, the white snow stings a lot eyes - sunglasses and hats and gloves with jackets will come in handy. Altitude 4300 meters - many of you will have signs "miners" - nausea, dizziness, general weakness. We don’t stay on the plateau for long - we take pictures against the backdrop of endless snow, we rest a little behind the windproof wall (made of snow) put up by the climbers and begin the descent.

Returning to the weather station, we have lunch, rest a little and begin to break up camp. We need to get down before evening to the “Green Hotel” - it’s time to please the body with easily accessible oxygen. We cross the already familiar Ortsveri glacier, We camp for the night by the river.

In the morning we meet an old friend again - a seething black stream. I hope you find the boost easy this time task. Like the rest of the way down. The newly arrived climbers will be crawling hard towards them, and we are quite fast (3 -4 hours) we’ll slide down and cross the bridge over the legendary Terek. In the Daryalovsky Gorge, every stone is covered legends (and blood?). After lunch in Stepantsminda, we will say goodbye to Kazbek, get into a minibus and go back to Tbilisi (3 hours). In the evening, traditionally, we go to a restaurant to celebrate the completion of the hike. We will eat khinkali and khachapuri and bleed a little then remember with nostalgic tenderness the cold mountain air.

Light breakfast at the hostel, load into a taxi, go to Tbilisi airport (30 minutes). It's time to go home.