How to get there:
Some (few) mountains attract climbers from all over the world.
The seven summits being the best known. Kazbek falls into this category.
Exactly what reason is behind is more unclear,
but being more than 5000 meter and relatively close to Europe, may be important.
The peak is located on the border between Georgia and Russia
and may be climbed along a fairly easy route from the Georgia side.
The point of departure is the capital Tbilisi.
From here a 3 hour drive will take you to a large parking lot above the
small town of Gergeti.
The parking lot location is N42.66468, E44.61478, elevation about 2160 meter.
Route description:
The route can be divided into to parts,
first the hike up to the "Base Camp hut", called Bethlemi Hut
at about 3650 meter, next the climb from this hut to the summit at 5054 meter.
Hut Climb:
The trail starts pretty steeply uphill directly from the road/parking.
Next, it traverses left into a small valley that is followed
until a small col and then arriving at a cafeteria called 360 (degrees view).
From here, one can see most of the remaining route.
First, two mountain huts where people stay if they break
this ascent into two segments.
Next, a gradual ascent to the glacier higher up.
Finally, one ascends and crosses this fairly flat glacier to
arrive below the base camp hut.
A zig zag trail will cross a coupe of moraines
then do a final ascent in order to reach the hut.
This hut has a cafeteria section where one may buy drinks and food.
It also serves prebooked meals at fixed times.
The hut has several rooms with two levels of bed,
typically sleeping 4 down and 4 at the upper level.
There are several smaller buildings/huts as well as many tents on the site.
The hut is old and in need of a renovation.
There are typically 100-200 climbers there every day
in the season and absolutely no toilet facilities.
It is quite remarkable that this obvious shortcoming has not been adressed long time ago.
Kazbek Climb:
The route starts out as a pretty good trail traversing
and climbing the hillside above the hut.
A couple of smaller rivers are crossed and
after (our time) about 1:30 you will reconnect with the main glacier.
The elevation here is about 4150 meter.
One follows the edge of the glacier on a very easy slope
crossing a few easy crevasses.
Higher up, the route slowly bends right and
gradually climbs to a pretty
large plateau where the route from Russia merges in.
The peak is now in clear view and steeper snow slopes must be ascended.
Typically (mid August) a pretty good boot track is established
that tries to ascend following the terrain to remain in moderately steep slopes.
A final ascending traverse right (as looking uphill) will gain
a distinct shoulder with horizontal terrain.
Next, the final slope is climbed with a few more zig-zags again
culminating right near a few rocks. What remains is now a more gentle,
final uphill that gradually levels off as you reach a fairly large, flat summit.
Comments:
I did this climb with my friend David Hart.
The practical logistic support was organized via EcoExpeditions,
a small adventure company in Norway,
they use Climbing Georgia, a major guiding company in Tbilisi.
Thus, transport as well as lodging and meals in the base camp hut
had all been taken care of.
Differently from almost all other people on this mountain,
I had explicitly requested to NOT hire a guide.
Beside a saving in cost, this also allowed us more flexibility to move
at our own pace since the difficulty of this
route was well within our level of experience.
Please be advised that unless you have extensive experience with
crevassed glaciers and steep snow climbing, a guide is absolutely recommended.
We arrived in Tbilisi from Istanbul on August 10th.
Airport pickup was smooth and aoon we were checked
into a charming hotel Irmeni near the center of the city.
We left the parking area around 1200 after a 3 hour drive from Tbilisi.
First, we walked up to a small cafeteria named 360 (degree view).
We had about 15 minute break there before continuing
up to the base camp hut,
arriving there around 1700. In total about 5 hours including the breaks.
We walked up the somewhat dirty glacier without using crampons,
the friction was ok. All other parties that we observed did however use crampons.
The notable exception was the pack horses that carried gear and supplies.
Many guided parties started as early as midnight,
there were also groups leaving at 0100 and 0200.
We started absolutely last, leaving around 0340. Since we had
explored the trail/route from
the hut to the glacier the day before,
taking us about 1:30 each way, leaving at that time meant
that we should get daylight when reaching the glacier around 0510 in the morning.
This worked as planned, daylight came as we stopped to put on crampons.
We had already caught up with a couple of teams.
We continued unroped as the glacier was easy to read and had relatively few,
but clearly visible crevasses. A gorgeous morning,
as we reached the main plateau and had a short rest where the Russian
trail/route merged in from our left. We could now see the majority of teams up
ahead on steeper snow. Soon, we caught up with the groups.
They were all walking with a rope (no crevasses here) and as teams normally do,
moving quite slowly. We passed several teams
by walking onto the snow slope on the upper side.
Progress was good, I turned left at the
top of the steepish slope and
could see the summit ahead. We were there at 0900,
a bit more than 5 hours including several stops.
Relatively few people on top, but many more would arrive later.
It was a bit windy on top, thus we did not stay very long,
about 15 minutes in order to capture summit photos and enjoy a short rest.
Descending was easy, a guide asked us about our rope, we assured him that we had
one in our backpack. It does not make much sense to use a rope on this steepish slope
without any anchors in the snow. We descended to the flat glacier where
the Russian route merged with the one from Georgia. A nice break here,
no wind and nice and warm weather. Next, we descended back down to the moraines,
packed up ice gear, then continued to the hut along the pretty good trail.
Here, I talked to a man from Estonia.
It turned out he had spent 14 years
in Norway working on farms, he spoke very good Norwegian!
We were back at the hut at 1210, almost 2 hours before lunch.
We had told the kitchen there that we would not take a lunch-bag,
but rather return in time for lunch.
A long afternoon, then dinner at 1900 with a cold beer.
The next morning, we descended
after breakfast in order to travel back to Tbilisi.
Our driver arrived at the agreed time, just 5 minutes after our arrival.
We had reserved 2 extra days in case of bad weather,
Thus we immediately made plans for a "bonus summit",
Abuli being a Ribu with more than 1000 meter of prominence.
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