13 Days in Georgia - Caucasus Mountain Adventures #Travel

Before visiting the country of Georgia for the first time, I didn't know much about it. I heard it had big mountains, but I assumed they were hard to access. Turns out I was dead wrong. When I first found out about this trip to Georgia, I discovered just how little I knew about the country. I was unaware of its completely unique placement, both geographically and geopolitically. I've always been fascinated by big mountains, especially those that can be accessed by a normal person like myself. But for some reason, I had never come across much information about Georgia, or the amazing Caucasus range that characterizes much of this country's landscape. Georgia is a small mountainous nation that sits at the intersection of Europe and Asia. Although it has a small population of only 3.7 million, they have their own unique culture and language, and have maintained both of these for hundreds upon hundreds of years. In fact, recorded examples of the Georgian language date back to well over 2,000 years ago. And unlike Russia, its much larger neighbor to the north, Georgia is open and democratic. You can travel through the cities and countryside freely, without fear of detainment. So that's exactly what I did this past summer. The entire land area of the country of Georgia is slightly less than that of the U.S. state of South Carolina. Although the country is quite small, Georgia and the Caucasus range more broadly, boast some very large and epic mountains. The third largest, and arguably most iconic mountain in Georgia, is Mount Kazbek, which towers above the surrounding landscape at over 5,000 meters, or well over 16,000 feet. This was actually the reason I was invited on this trip in the first place, to be part of a team working together to reach the summit of this huge mountain. Before we get too far into this video, I should let you know that I did not summit. In fact, I was the only person on my team who did not summit. On a positive note, when I was showing signs of sickness, altitude related and otherwise, the guiding company sent me down the mountain with local Georgian and certified mountain guide, Gogita. A couple days later, once I was recovered, Gogita and I began traveling all over the northern Kazbegi region. We even made a successful pass at Tikinadze Peak, an 11,000 foot peak in the Chauki Mountains of Khevsredi province outside Juta, Georgia. Our successful attempt at summiting Tikinadze began before dawn in the town of Stepansminda. Gogita arrived at my hotel, loaded and checked over our climbing gear, then we began the roughly 30 minute drive to Juta, where we found a trailhead and got to work at Perselite. The weather app showed a bluebird day, in fact it showed a bluebird month, so we are guaranteed to not run into any weather. Unlike the rest of my team, who was still in the trenches on Mount Kazbek, trying to navigate their way through heavy cloud and winds in the high alpine environment along the Russian border. The journey to the top of Tikinadze begins with an easy five kilometer approach hike through a perfect valley beside the Chaukiskeli River before gaining much elevation. The trail system here is laid out well for a lot of the more well-known hikes, but if you're going up the mountain we chose, the only way up is up. You gain your first kilometer of real elevation by ascending steep grassy hills filled with trees. A plant that looks like grass, but once pulled reveals a bulb you can eat, which tastes exactly like the garlic we have here in North America, just less harsh. At the saddle, we pulled out the ropes, helmets, and harnesses, and Gogita led me through a couple kilometers of heavily exposed scrambling over mediocre rock. At one point we tested a rope hold with an ice axe, and a 50 pound piece of mountain left its million year home, falling over a thousand feet to the valley below. The next two or three hours were about the most difficult I've ever spent in the mountains. If I was being honest with myself, I still had not recovered from the earlier attempt at Kazbek. Plus, even though it was near 30 degrees Celsius out, we were still in full outer layers to protect from the sun. The only part of my body that was exposed to sun was my left wrist, so that my solar charging watch could continue to charge and track our progress. As I write this months later, I still have a watch tan from that day. The time is now 3 p.m. and we have reached the summit. I drank all of my water and ate all of my food, leaving nothing for the descent, but ultimately didn't have much of a choice. I was completely depleted and wouldn't dare attempt the descent in that shape. It was at this moment Gogita decided to inform me that we would go back down the easy way. I had no idea there was an easy way off this mountain. Why didn't we just go up the easy way too? Gogita said I needed a challenge, and I guess he was right about that. Still, what a relief. If I was on that mountain with no guide and no easy way down, I'd probably still be sitting up there to this day with the rest of the Chowki rain sitting there mocking me. If the main goal of your trip is to hike and climb in the Chowkis, you could just as easily stay in Juta, but the trip organizers had chosen Stepants Minda for the team because it serves as a better hub for the region and has more amenities. But when I return, I'll definitely choose to stay at the Fifth Season in Juta because of the quieter, more rugged feel. Even though the Fifth Season Hotel is a one kilometer walk from the nearest road, they managed to operate an on-site restaurant for their guests all throughout the climbing season. We managed to successfully order dinner up until 7.30 p.m. after a day in the mountains, and the idea we got from the hotel staff was that the restaurant wouldn't close for the day until guests and passersby stopped placing orders. There is no set closing time. Gogita and I recovered well at the Fifth Season, coincidentally running into one of Gogita's buddies, who was also a mountain guide, then began the short walk back to the truck. We arrived back in Stepants Minda around 10 p.m. and I crashed hard. Meanwhile, the rest of my team woke up at midnight and began the summit push to the top of Kazbek, another 5,000 feet higher than the mountain I had just climbed and I should note was feeling very accomplished about having climbed. The team of five got to the summit right around sunrise, but unfortunately saw nothing. Mount Kazbek, not unlike other high-prominence mountains, tends to collect a lot of weather around the summit. Gogita told me he's been on the summit of Kazbek several times, but has only seen a view from the top once. If you are just hearing about Georgia for the first time, my recommendation to you is this, you should go. The scenery is completely unique, the people are very hospitable and the country is safe as well as very affordable, which is a rare combination to find. I would say go between June and September. There is only one international airport in the country, which is located in the capital, Tbilisi. Upon arriving in Tbilisi, check into a hotel for a couple nights and just adjust to the time zone. From the west coast of North America, it's a full 12-hour time difference, literally on the other side of the planet, and is truly difficult to get used to. After you've adjusted, make your way north to Stepansminda, otherwise known as the Kazbek region. Your best bet will be to stay at the Rooms Hotel. This is the nicest hotel in the area by far, so of course there are many options that are far cheaper, but for around 120 US dollars a night, you will get a room and a view that if it were in the US or Canada would cost you well over triple that price. In addition to the great atmosphere, food and location, some of my favorite photos I took of the Gergeti Trinity Church and of Mount Kazbek were taken from the first floor balcony of the Rooms Hotel, which also happens to be the seating area for meals. Once settled in in Stepansminda, you should plan to see the Gergeti Trinity Church, ideally at sunrise. It is high above the town, up a rugged gravel road, but there are dozens of four-wheel drive vans in town that you can hire to get up there. Either that or just do the one-hour hike. And like I was mentioning earlier, this town, called both Kazbegi and Stepansminda interchangeably, is also a good home base if you want to hike up to the base of the Chaukis in Juta. The drive from the Rooms Hotel to the town of Juta is 21 kilometers and will take you around 40 minutes. Full disclosure though, my mountain guide made the drive in 25 minutes or less, but he grew up here, so don't try to do the same. After our separate adventures in the mountains, I met back up with my team and we shared war stories about our different climbs. I was so proud of my teammates, Jake, Magdalena, and Vazuul, but also a bit sad that I didn't get to join them for the major success they just experienced. In hindsight, I'm glad our mountain guides, Nick and Gogita, made the right call and pulled me off the mountain before the end of my second day. They knew my altitude sickness would just get worse and that I would hold the whole team back. Thankfully, I don't have to regret those decisions because they were made for me. And at the end of the day, the team succeeded and I got to go off and explore some really cool regions of Georgia I wouldn't have seen otherwise. You win some, you lose some. Our next stop was Vardzia in the Southern Caucasus Range to visit the famous Cave Monastery. Vardzia is near the center of Georgia and is closer to Turkey and Armenia than it is to Russia, so it was a full day drive in the car. We arrived in the late afternoon, checked into our amazing hotel, the Vardzia Resort, and had a classic breakfast. This is about the norm here, so you just have to get used to it. The following day would be the day we explore the cave system. The Vardzia Monastery caves are known to have begun excavation by the early Christian church in the 6th century AD. This estimate is probably correct as far as the caves are concerned, but archeologists believe that settlements in this valley date back to the Bronze Age, a period in human civilization which begun well over 5,000 years ago. That about wraps up my summer 2022 climbing and hiking trip to Georgia. I could say a lot more about it, but unfortunately, I simply do not have the amount of footage necessary to make this video any longer, and every clip you see in this video was shot and edited by me, so I'll have to make sure I shoot a lot more video next time I'm in Georgia, which I hope is very soon. I hope you enjoyed this video, and most importantly, I hope it has inspired you to go see this lesser-known country for yourself. If you have any questions at all about Georgia or about travel photography and filmmaking in general, feel free to ask in the comments below, and I will answer you as soon as I'm able to. Thanks for watching this video. If you liked it, be sure to leave a comment, like, and subscribe. I'll be making a ton more videos just like this one. Bye for now.