The Georgian flag flies above the Gergeti glacier.
The cooking area in the Betlemi Hut.
HOW TO: CLIMB MT KAZBEK
The challenge of climbing Kazbek is more in length than technicality. The most popular approach leaves the town of Stepantsminda and then climbs from 1,730m to over 5,047m, with half of the route on glacial and icy/snowy terrain. Day one is a climb to just over the Arsha Pass and the stream-fed campsite beyond (just below 3,000m). Day two takes you to an old Soviet Meteo Station and the Betlemi Hut (3,670m), at which you can camp (£3) or stay in a dorm room (£10), from which you could continue to acclimatise. Weather permitting, day three could involve a summit attempt and recovery, before day four takes you back down to the valley. Realistically anything between four and six days is a possibility. Bear in mind that the Betlemi Hut is extremely decrepit and badly maintained and that spending large amounts of time at this base camp is unlikely to be restful. Unless you hire a guide in town, your itinerary will be entirely in your own hands. I’d recommend a slow ascent – perhaps even hiring a local muleteer to take your heavy bags beyond the Arsha Pass – and sleeping in a solid geodesic tent beside the Betlemi Hut. The altitude can prove your undoing if you don’t rest up before your ascent, aim to climb no more than 1,000m per day and stay well fed and hydrated. Apart from glacier crossings, the only truly technical part of the climb comes in the top 150m of the mountain, where it steepens to 45-degrees and can be extremely icy. It’s for this reason it’s given the grade of PD. The weather can also present real difficulties, as Kazbek is a free-standing mountain which tends to be hit by incoming winds and storms with quite alarming speed. This is compounded by the fact that weather forecasts for the area are not of the highest order. During our time on the mountain even professional guides were using the bare amount of phone signal to text colleagues back in Tbilisi for the latest updates, and even then some of them were caught high on the mountain in extreme snowstorms.
The Betlemi seen from outside: every bit as comfortable and well-maintained as it looks!
“MAKE IT HERE ALIVE AND YOU’LL UNDERSTAND WHY THE NATIONAL TOURISM BOARD IS SO KEEN TO BRAND IT THE SWITZERLAND OF THE CAUCASUS.”
Kazbek summit seen from basecamp. The main route is not direct but runs off to the left.
SUMMIT#85 | SPRING 2017 | 57
ALL PHOTOS: DAN ASPEL.
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