Day 1: Rough Arrival

Our trip to Georgia went smoothly, but we had to leave for the airport by car at 16:00. After a few minor delays and one layover, we arrived at Tbilisi Airport at 5 am.

There was nothing for us to do except to wait for the pickup, which was supposed to be around 1 pm. Since the cheapest way to the town was the public bus (line #337), which didn’t run until 7:00 am, we found a spot in the corner of the airport and slept on the floor. Well, sort of slept… Clare did, because she can sleep anywhere, but I got very little, and my butt hurt from the hard floor!

Since cafés in town weren’t opening until 9 am, we stayed at the airport until 8:30 and then got on the bus. Bus 337 costs only 1.5 GEL, and it’s paid inside the bus by card. The trip to the town took about 40 minutes, and we got off at the Nikoloz Baratashvili Street stop, just a street away from where we were supposed to meet our guides.

We found a café across the street from where we should have been picked up and got a much-needed coffee and a small bite to eat. We then moved to a Carrefour nearby, where I sat at a café while Clare went to buy us some snacks for the upcoming days.

We also changed money. The rate was 3 Georgian Lari for 1 Euro. We exchanged 400 Euros because we didn’t know whether there would be a good exchange rate when we were away from the capital.

We arrived at the meeting spot just as Leticia was coming. I thought I saw her at the airport, and she told us that she also arrived at 5 but got a hostel to sleep in for a little while. Next came our guides, Yuri and Yegor, pushing a trolley of supplies from Carrefour. A few minutes later came Artom, and we just had to wait a bit for the last member of our group, Zar, since there was a wee misunderstanding about the pick-up point.

Once we were all there, we loaded the van and were on our way. Yegor said that it may take 2-3 hours to get to Stepantsminda. Since this wasn’t our first time in Georgia, we knew that was not going to happen. Just getting out of the traffic in Tbilisi took almost 2 hours.

We had our first night in a guesthouse in Stepantsminda, and we got there after about 5 hours in the van. Luckily, I was able to fall asleep for a bit. The rooms were nice, and the first thing we did was spread all the gear and clothes on our beds so the guides could check, in the evening, that we had everything.

It didn’t take long, and we all headed out for dinner. Yegor and Yuri took us to a local place, and we all ordered what we wanted, as the meals in the town weren’t included in the course. We got Adjaruli Khachapuri (the one with the egg), meatballs in sauce (Abkhazura), and Georgian salad. Of course, we couldn’t pass up our first chance of getting a jug of house wine!

We got back to the guesthouse after 9 pm and met in the dining room to discuss what was next. We were welcomed, and the course programme was presented to us. Right away, we could see that there was some miscommunication. It was already a bit evident based on the very scarce WhatsApp communication before we got to Georgia. Yuri had been doing this course for a long time; however, he was a very “let’s see what happens” kind of guy, and he spoke very little English. Therefore, all the talking was left to Yegor, for whom it was the first time leading this course. Right at the beginning, the number of days spent in the mountains or the number of summits wasn’t clear. But we all had a signed contract stating what was included, so we sorted that out. Next was the gear check, which didn’t happen that night as planned, and instead was moved to the next morning.

We went to bed a bit confused, as we felt that our guides didn’t really know what was happening or didn’t plan properly to stay on the schedule we paid for.

Since I mentioned “paid for”…we hadn’t paid yet, as there was another miscommunication that needed to be dealt with.

Day 2: Rainy Move to the Camp

Last night we checked the forecast and were unpleasantly surprised that the week was supposed to be full of storms. We thought that going into the mountains in July would give us a good chance of sunny weather. There was rain as we were getting back from the restaurant last night, but the morning was fine, and we could even see the Kazbek peak.

At 8 am we had a very good breakfast in the guesthouse and then took our new climbing gear outside to get it checked (Disclaimer: we knew zero about climbing and climbing gear before this trip. Even when we were shopping before the trip, I felt like an absolute idiot in the stores). Yegor told us that we had everything except a personal anchor, but they would lend us theirs. We, or rather me, also found out that the choice of our harnesses wasn’t the best. We both got ultralight mountaineering harnesses, but they were not the best for climbing (at least mine was not great, as I found out later).

Clare and I were already packed, but this was another instance where time didn’t seem to be an issue for the guides. We were ready to go around 10 am as the course said that we would be moving to the camp. However, at that point, not everyone’s gear was checked, some people needed stuff rented, and we hadn’t even paid yet.

No one said anything about paying the rest of the amount for the course (we paid a deposit a few months earlier), so I had messaged them myself, before we even left home, asking how we were supposed to pay. I was told that cash is preferable, but a transfer is no problem. Since we didn't want to travel with too much money in cash, we opted for the transfer. That turned out to be the wrong choice, as the guides really needed the cash to pay for stuff. In the end, we withdrew 200 Euros from an ATM and gave another 200 that we had already changed to GEL—the rest we transferred. But we didn't get this organised until about 12 pm. We also weren't the only ones with this issue.

Around 1 pm, we had all our stuff and food in two vans and were on our way. At least until 2 minutes later, when we stopped in the town to get more supplies.

I don’t even know what time we arrived in the village of Juta, where our hike to the camp started. But I know that it was when the rain started! We loaded our backpacks, tents, and supplies onto horses, and we put on waterproof layers for the hike.

We got lost in the first 5 minutes of the hike as we walked to someone’s garden instead of following the path. I had to get out Mapy to find the right trail. For some reason, Yuri didn’t go with us and would catch up later.

We got soaked while we climbed the first hill up from the village and had to hide for a bit in a shelter by one of the restaurants. Luckily, it was raining in showers and not constantly, so the rest of the hike only had a few small drizzles. It was the weekend, so the trail was pretty busy, and the majority of the people were coming down by this time.

We reached our camp after 2 hours and about 450 meters of elevation gain. Our stuff was clearly left there by the horses, but Yegor had been told that the camp would be at 2800 meters. We were only at 2600. I was pointing out that there was even a training wall nearby, so it must have been here, but he had to check. We waited for about 30 minutes until Yuri caught up and confirmed that this was the camp. Yuri seemed, in general, to be either happy or angry, and the fact that the tents weren’t built and it was about to start raining again didn’t make him happy.

We got a mess tent pitched, and then we all got our individual tents. Clare and I took the only 3-person tent. We were pitching them just when the next shower was coming, so some tents got a bit wet.

The schedule had us doing some basic climbing skills, but since it was 6 pm when the camp was built, it got cancelled. We had dinner, and instead we got a theory lesson on the different gear that is used for climbing.

Day 3: Our first day on the wall

We were a bit worried that we wouldn’t be able to get our clothes dried, but the first night was good, and we were woken up to a half-sunny day. The morning started with a pot of coffee made by Yegor and breakfast that Zar helped with. Zar slowly became the main chef and helped with a lot of the meals during the whole course.

The training started around 8 am on a nearby wall (15-meter-ish tall stone). Yuri would be explaining everything, but since he only did it in Ukrainian, we always had to wait for Yegor to translate. We learned the basics of how to tie into our harnesses, what gear would be needed for the first ascent, and then we watched Yuri do the first climb. Since there were bolts mounted to the wall, Yuri was using quickdraws on the way up and then set up an anchor at the top. There was another stone next to the main wall where we could practice all this before we tried our first climb or while others were attempting the wall.

Since it was five of us, and no one had too much climbing experience (Clare and I had zero), it took a while for everyone to get a turn. We used this time to practice clipping the rope into the quickdraws with one hand (and the correct way!) and did a bit of bouldering on the rocks. Yuri removed the quickdraws when he was climbing down, so our first climb was on belay using the top rope (like in the climbing gym). I was a bit nervous because I knew I was an awful climber, but except for the initial bit of getting on the wall, it was ok. Clare was a way smoother climber, and except for one spot where my height gave me a great advantage, she “ran up” the wall.

We all then got another go; this time we each climbed the wall from the start without the top rope, but instead following the bolts and creating our own safety points with the quickdraws. We then hooked into the pre-made anchor at the top and collected the gear on the way down. It looked very simple to place and later remove the quickdraws when Yuri was doing it, but it is definitely something to practice.

We had lunch around 2 pm, and we volunteered to make it. We made seasoned rice with cheese, salad, and some cold cuts (salami and cheese). We didn’t mind volunteering to make food or do the dishes and thought that this is how it must always work and people just take turns. In the course description was written that we would be on duty for the chores, but that never happened. However, that later showed up to be an issue, as some people wouldn’t carry their weight, and the cooking and cleaning would be done by the same people. I don’t want to sound bad, but again that was something to do with the whole organization of the course; it irritated people, and eventually it had to be addressed.

We got back on the wall around 4 pm. But first, a lesson on cams and nuts. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but Yegor loved to get off on a tangent and talk for a really long time. Don’t get me wrong, he was really knowledgeable, but standing there at the wall and listening to 15 minutes of him trying to explain why most of the gear has a minimum breaking strength (MBS) of 22 kilonewtons (kN) wasn’t productive. Something similar happened during the anchor lesson, where we just stood there and listened for 2 hours without trying anything, and then — surprise, surprise — no one knew what was said at the beginning, or people were completely lost. It also didn’t help that English was sometimes an obstacle, and that made the explanation even longer and more tedious.

Once we were done with the lesson, it was time to climb. We were climbing in pairs, and the goal was to make it to the intermediate point in the middle of the wall, create an anchor there, and belay the second from there. We were the second pair, so we used the time to practice with the cams and nuts. Once we got on the wall, I went first, setting up the route with quickdraws. When I got to the anchor point, I used what we learned in the morning to make an anchor and attached myself to it. Then Yegor helped me set up the autoblock to bring Clare up.

I must say I really didn’t feel comfortable on the wall. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t a confident climber and had some bad experiences climbing before. It also didn’t help that it was assumed by Yuri and Yegor that we all knew how to belay, and that no pointers were given. I know for a fact that if I fell climbing up, Clare couldn’t do anything in her power to stay on the ground, as I would propel her up with me due to our weight difference. I also needed more practice and time on the wall to start feeling more trust with the gear, as I didn’t feel comfortable letting go and weighing the personal anchor fully.

Once Clare came up, I made a massive blunder. I was trying to help her with some of her gear to get her personal anchor ready, while she was on the autoblock standing next to me. The rope was slack, but as I was helping, I completely let go of the autoblock rope, which was the only thing holding Clare. Luckily, the autoblock was engaged, the rope was slack, and nothing happened. It didn’t help my confidence, but it was a valuable lesson.

Yegor then belayed us down, which didn’t happen without a struggle either. At this point, I think I was even more mistrustful of everything and wasn’t comfortable sitting in the harness and letting go. But I did. The rope went slack, and the gravity swung me right under Yegor and almost whipped him off the wall. He later apologized that he should have set up the belay device higher because of my weight and expected what would happen.

I wasn’t thrilled with my performance on the wall and the massive mistake I made, but I guess that was why we were there: to learn. Before bed, we had to get our backpacks ready as the schedule got shifted, and we were told that instead of another day of training, we would go for our first summit tomorrow morning.

Day 4: Our first mountaineering summit

We were up at 5 am, got a coffee, went to the bathroom (yes, I mean the hole in the ground), and got a few last things ready. Yegor and Zar also made us porridge. Yuri was very pedantic when it came to hiking, so he was waiting at 6 am, while lots of us still weren’t 100% ready.

The first 2 hours were a regular hike with about 2-3 stops along the way to rest, keep the group together, and Yuri shared some tips and tricks. By the end, we reached a saddle at around 3000 meters. There, we put on harnesses and were attached by a rope for safety if anyone fell. Clare and I were in a group with Zar and Yegor, and the rest with Yuri.

We continued along the ridge, and the path got steeper. It took some time to get used to the rope. Especially for Clare, as she was in the middle and had to keep an eye on the rope ahead of her and deal with the rope behind her, since on the steep terrain it got easily entangled under her feet. The climbing also got more difficult because there was barely a path, and the mountain on this side was made out of slate, and often the holds would fall away if they got pulled too hard.

It took only about another hour, and we were under the summit. However, here it got a wee bit more complicated. As we were the second group, we waited on a small plateau to get a signal to follow. Yegor went first with the full length of the remaining rope (about 15 meters) to act as an anchor in case any of us fell later. We were called to follow in a few minutes but only made it about 5 meters on this narrow, uneven ledge, where we had to stop as Yegor couldn’t get any further. We were waiting here for at least half an hour, not knowing what was going on since both of us were behind the turn and couldn’t see anything, and Zar had only a partial view from the corner. We heard shouting while Yegor and Yuri were trying to figure something out. In about another 30 minutes, I saw Yuri at the summit throwing down the rope to come up a different way.

The ledge ahead apparently fell away, and there was very little to walk on, and the holds were unstable. On top of that, there was nowhere to place anchor points as the slate would just not hold them. Because of the way we were attached, we couldn’t back up, so instead Yegor climbed above us, threw me the other end of the rope, and I retied to that end. Originally, we should have followed the ridge along its right-hand side, but instead I had to go left and start climbing up. Surprisingly, there were signs of a path. Once I reached Yegor, I found out why.

There was a wall with a few pre-drilled bolts, and this must have been an alternative path up. However, from the spot before I climbed to Yegor, it looked fine, but now the wall looked almost vertical! Yegor and Yuri set up a fixed rope from the summit. Yegor tied a Prusik knot for me (as we haven’t got that far in the one day of training yet), and up you go! I’m not going to lie, I was shitting bricks, because I have never climbed anything like that and I’m really not a confident climber. I also had no trust that the small Prusik knot could save me in case of a fall. But except for one spot, I climbed steadily up and was up the wall by the time Clare got to Yegor. After the roughly 10-meter wall, there were another 10 meters, but more gradual to the anchor. From there, it was just a last ledge to the summit of Tikanadze at 3436 meters, our first summit of the trip!

Clare and the rest quickly followed. We had a break for about 20 minutes at the top, and I was surprised when I checked my watch that this last bit took almost 3 hours for the whole group to get to the summit. We got lucky with the weather. The clouds cleared, and it wasn’t even that windy at the top.

I was delighted when I found out that we wouldn’t have to go back the same way. There was a path on the other side of the ridge that continued further into the valley and followed a separate ridge to another saddle. We were down there in about 30 minutes, and the last mountaineering bit of today’s trek was waiting for us. We hadn’t even heard about abseiling, but it was time to learn how to do it in the field as the path down started with an almost 30-meter wall of ice and snow. Yegor showed us how to make a personal anchor with a knot in the middle to set up an autoblock. Then, one by one, we fed the rope in and abseiled down. Yuri was waiting at the end of the rope to instruct us on how to get down the rest of the snowy bit. The instruction was like: “Get your ice axe. If you fall, use it to self-arrest. Go.” The first bit was steep, but doable, even though I had already seen both Clare and Artom fall and self-arrest. I didn’t make it without a fall either, as it got really slippery where the snow ended and the scree started, so I slipped on the mud.

We all met down in the valley, and even though we all fell on the way down, everyone was happy since the abseiling part was something new and cool. The rest of the way was to get back to the saddle where we started our climb — that took about 30 minutes — and then down to the camp. We were back at 4 pm, and since it was nice and sunny, everyone went straight away into the freezing river to get washed.

Day 5: More practice on the wall

We had an easy morning after yesterday’s summit. We got up around 8 and had breakfast at 9. We were eager to go learn more, so Clare and I were the first at the wall this morning.

Today’s lesson started with a theory on anchors, and then we had time to practice them. We also took the opportunity to ask about different types of knots. Because there were so many types and ways to make the anchors, it took us the whole morning, and we hadn’t even got to climbing.

After lunch, climbing was on the menu. Since we spent the whole morning practicing anchors, Yegor wanted us to do it now on the wall and recreate something similar to what we did the day before. Leticia, Artom, and Zar went first, meanwhile Clare and I were practicing making the anchor and everything else on the bolts on the ground. I thought we did pretty well and went over the setup a few times, but couldn’t get any help as Yegor was hanging on the wall helping others and Yuri was nowhere to be found.

It took a long time for all three of them to finish, but after about 2 hours, it was time for us. Clare went first since I was leading last time. Everything went well, and I felt like we knew what we were doing thanks to our extensive practice on the ground. However, it was still our first time, and we needed pointers and some useful tips because we definitely messed up several things.

While the others were on the wall, we patiently waited and practiced. But now, when we were on the wall, Zar and Artom decided to go for another climb from a different side of the rock to have one more go. We didn’t have a problem with that, as we weren’t in each other’s way, but the problem was that they were asking even more questions of Yegor than us, and he simply didn’t have time for us. We did a few silly things, like leaving some carabiners unlocked, but nothing major — yet!

The difference from last time was that we had to abseil from that point ourselves. Clare went first and set up the abseil autoblock on her harness/belay loop with a Prusik. That was how we practiced it, and since there was no one to ask, we thought we did it right. Of course, we then asked Yegor on the wall before Clare went down if everything was ok, and he gave her the go-ahead. Clare got to the ground fine, and everything was ok, but when I started setting up my abseil, Yegor started telling me that I was doing it wrong — that if I set it up on the belay loop, the Prusik could get in contact with the autoblock and disable it. Right away, we had to ask how he could then let Clare go down like that?! Yegor was so distracted by the others that he didn’t notice!

I made one more mistake while taking down the anchor later and still didn’t have the trust in my skills and the gear, so I felt nervous. I think I also got a bit nervous because we were practicing there for two hours with Clare but were doing something wrong, as there was no one to correct it.

I got down fine, but had a really sick feeling in my stomach mixed with anger. I was angry because I felt uncomfortable on the wall, and I made mistakes that could have been avoided if we got a bit more help. Clare went to talk to Yegor afterwards as she didn’t find it fair that we didn’t get his full attention on the wall.

Day 6: The second summit day — Taqaishvili (3,424 m)

We found out the day before that Yuri was going to leave us after 4 days, because he had another group coming to go climb Kazbek with. Therefore, the whole schedule shifted, and we were about to go for our second summit while he was still there, as he knew the mountains.

This time everyone was ready at 6 am. We took a slightly different path, didn’t go for the saddle, but instead ended up in a valley between the Asatiani and Chaukhi massifs. There was time to put on crampons for the first time. We then continued up, following the snow in the valley and curving to the right between Tikanadze and Taqaishvili peaks. The second one was our goal for the day.

The snow ended just under the peak, so we left our crampons and hiking sticks there and continued only with our ice axes up a steep scree. It got very steep towards the end; it was a bit difficult to deal with the rope, and we had to keep an eye on falling rocks, as Clare and I were the last two members of our party.

After about 4 hours from the start, we reached a saddle at 3,300 meters. From there we had to climb. There were only about 2 upward climbing sections, but we also had to traverse the ridge a lot to get to them, which included holding on to the edge of the ridge and shimmying our way across. There was also a lot of waiting around as we were split into two groups like last time. It never occurred to me how much time climbing and the preparation actually take until we did this course. We reached the summit of Taqaishvili at 3,424 meters after 6 hours.

We had a 20-minute break, and it was time to head down. First, we were told that we would go down via the saddle and valley on the other side of the mountain, but Yuri said that the anchors were gone after the winter, so we turned back and continued the same way that we came up. Just as we got back to the traverse of the sharp ridge, Yuri told us that we would use this place to abseil via the couloir below. Yegor and Yuri then had some exchange in Ukrainian, as I believe Yegor didn’t really like it since he couldn’t see below, while Yuri was more of the type “No worries, they will manage.”

Clare went first, and I right after her. As the rope was only 30 meters long, the abseil ended in the middle of a steep, snow-covered part of the couloir. From there, we had to use our ice axes and step by step make our way down, creating a sort of ladder in the snow, while slamming the ice axe deeply into the snow. The snow ended with a steep scree, where we waited for everyone to descend. We then followed Yuri down the scree by sliding and using the stones to stop us, like on skis. It got gradually less steep and eventually joined the path we used to climb up.

We collected our crampons and sticks at the bottom and continued down on the snow. Since it was a sunny afternoon, the snow was soft, so we didn’t put the crampons back on, and instead we walked down on the snow, using our boots as skis. Needless to say, we both fell like 10 times, and at the beginning of the hill we had to use our ice axes to self-arrest. But we got down really fast. In about 2 hours since we summited, we were already back down at the path where we put on our crampons in the morning.

The scree and sliding on the snow were fun and fast, but unfortunately, my knee didn’t like it. The path was very steep at the start, and the last 45 minutes to the camp were properly painful. I took some painkillers, and the first thing we did when we got back to the camp was to get my knee into that ice-cold river water to help with the swelling. Later we had dinner, and I continued icing my knee with a zip-lock bag full of the river water, with the hope that it would be alright for the next few days.

Day 7: Rest day → time for a beer

After two summits, a rest day was in order. However, not everyone (even us) felt like a whole day was needed, so after breakfast we headed to the wall for a morning climbing session/theory. It ended up being more of a Q&A session, where we cleared out some misconceptions and learned a bit more about anchors. Then we asked about jumaring. That was a long theory lesson, where we saw several ways to set up the system. Finally, after like 2 hours of listening, we got a chance to try it for a bit, but everyone was so tired by then that after like 30 minutes we gave up, and it was time for lunch.

I didn’t mind the heavy theory session as it at least gave me time to rest my knee that was still hurting a bit. After lunch, we planned to walk down towards the village of Juta for a beer and something to eat. I was thinking about it a lot, but decided to go because it wasn’t far or steep. It wasn’t until the end of the walk that my knee started acting up. We stopped at a restaurant just above the village for a beer and khachapuri. We spent a few hours there, and it was also Leticia’s birthday, so it was nice to do something different for it.

We were asked by Yegor to go pick up some more supplies that were waiting in Juta, but I needed to be mindful of my knee and excused myself from going further down. Once Artom and Leticia came back from the village, we set out on our way back, while they stayed for a bit. The restaurant had a nice view and free hammocks outside, so I don’t blame them.

There were two collapsed bridges on the usual path we took, but we decided to try a different way on the other side of the river. We made it to a crossing without a bridge after about 1 km, and a waterfall and a path up. This is where I messed up. My knee was completely fine after the break at the restaurant and on the way up, but we decided to follow the waterfall and ended up on a path that seemed not to have been walked, and that would lead us way above the campsite. Therefore, we had to walk back down, and that was when my knee started hurting for real. We had to cross the river without shoes (no problem for Clare in flip-flops), and I was cursing myself the whole time. Not just that I risked my knee by going for the beer, but on top of that, I didn’t check the map properly, got us lost, and hurt myself again. I was just angry that I literally wasted a day of recovery! I’m sorry for Clare, because I was the worst person to be around that night, given how infuriated I was.

Day 8: The last day of practice

A decision was made to stay in the camp for one more day and leave the final summit for the last day. That worked well for me as it gave me extra time to work on my knee.

It was an easy start, and we weren’t at the wall until at least 9:30 am. The whole day was dedicated to climbing practice and setting up anchors. Since there were two sets of double bolts on each side of the wall, both teams could even climb simultaneously, while Yegor controlled everything from the ground.

The first task for us was to make it to the different set of bolts on the right side of the wall, set up a personal anchor, but also a belay/abseil anchor, like the ones that are often left on the mountains. I was a bit confused about what I was supposed to do, as this was not communicated before I got up on the wall, but I got it eventually. We were supposed to leave the anchor there for the other team, and at the same time practice how we would do it when we are on the wall without it or without a belay loop. Clare came up right after me, and I believe we did quite well this time (by which I mean I didn’t let the rope go on Clare). The whole process took us a long time, and when we finished, it was time for lunch.

In the afternoon, we got to do the same on the other bolts, but this time we didn’t abseil. Instead, we continued further up to the top anchor of the wall. This way we got to practice a multi-pitch climb. Clare was leading both pitches and she did great. It was something new to swap on belay on the wall, and I think we started getting more comfortable on the personal safety. We had a bit of a struggle getting to the first quickdraw after the middle anchor, but eventually made it.

We were thinking about doing a bit more, but others were jumaring, and we would be in each other’s way. We were also too tired, so we gave it a miss.

I was happy that we did well on the wall because I wasn’t feeling it in the morning, but I turned it around later. However, I still had to tell Yegor that I won’t join them for the last climb tomorrow to Asatiani. My knee was feeling fine, but I didn’t want to risk it, as we still had the Kazbek mountain climb ahead of us.

Day 9: I never want to feel like this again!

Last night, there was no information given about the upcoming climb, so before we each went to our tents, someone asked if they would be leaving at 6 am as usual. Yegor said that the hike could be longer, so they should start earlier and moved the time to 5:30 am. Since Yuri wasn’t there to usher everyone, the group wasn’t ready to leave until around 5:50. I was up and wished good luck to everyone. By the time they left, no other information was given. It may sound weird that I’m mentioning all the details, but it will make sense later.

I wasn’t going, but I still wanted to use the day well, so I read, exercised, practiced some knots, and went for a small walk around. I also tried to tidy up the camp and pre-pack our bags a bit since this would be our last night here.

Since we were previously back around 4 pm, I made sure that I had something prepared to cook for everyone. However, I didn’t want it to get cold, so I continued reading and doing stuff around the camp while looking towards the saddle. I would be able to see them coming back down about half an hour before reaching the camp.

I was looking up once in a while and just thought that the climb got longer due to its difficulty or because Yegor wasn’t familiar with the path. But by 7 pm I was getting worried. At that point, I spotted a group of 5 people going down through the valley. They weren’t exactly on the path I thought they would use, but what did I know? I decided to go and meet them, but when I got closer, I found out that it was a group of 5 women from a different camp. I asked them where they went and if they happened to see a group coming from Asatiani. They didn’t see anyone now, but they told me that they saw them in the morning and had to point them in the correct direction since Yegor was taking them via the wrong valley. This information wasn’t encouraging, but at least it made sense that they were a bit late.

I went back to the camp, but couldn’t keep still. So I got my backpack ready and set off towards the valley myself. I could see ahead, but going over the first horizon where the snow started (where we were putting crampons on during the previous climb) would give me a better chance to spot them on the top of the ridge. But when I arrived at the start of the snow, there was no one to be seen. I waited there for a bit and even met a guy going down. I asked him if he saw any group, and he even showed me photos of the valley above, but there wasn’t any sign of them. I waited until it got almost dark and then headed down, thinking that they must have made a loop and they would already be at the camp.

I could see on the way down that I was wrong. From a distance, it was obvious that our camp was empty. Under the hill, a guide from the other camp approached me. She was a local Georgian woman, and she was worried since they still hadn’t come back. I told her that they were going to Asatiani, and she encouraged me that it was a long hike and that they must just be late. I was just telling her that no one told them that it would be that long, and many of them didn’t have extra clothes or even head torches for the descent in the dark. Therefore, with her colleague, we started figuring out if we could contact them in any way.

I went to Yegor’s tent but found out that all the walkie-talkies were still there, and we were never told if there was any radio communication available otherwise. We then contacted Extreme Guides directly. They got back to us after some time, saying that they received a message 3 hours ago that the team was on the way down. That calmed me down a bit since by this time it was pitch black in the mountains.

The people from the other camp were very nice and were offering me tea, coffee, and to join them in the mess tent, but I was really nervous and couldn’t. Instead, I went back to our camp since I saw some people with head torches coming from the other side of the valley (what if they really made some loop?), but it was a false alarm. In the camp, I collected more stuff, such as extra water, crampons, and Clare’s down jacket.

When 11 pm came, I think the whole camp was nervous with me. Even the guide started to worry. She also packed her backpack, got a radio, and we set off towards the saddle above. When we reached the snow, it was just after midnight, and there were still no signs of people coming down. I tried to call out to Clare, but no response came. I can’t even describe what was going through my head at that point. I was just looking towards the saddle (the furthest point we could see) and praying to see some torchlight.

We continued further up for another 30 minutes along a scree on the left, away from the snow, when we finally saw it. A column of light started coming from the corner of the saddle. I called for Clare and finally heard her calling back. The relief was massive. We instructed them to follow the snow down rather than coming towards us on the scree; we descended towards the end of the snow ourselves.

The thing I will remember for the rest of my life will be Clare just casually asking me, “What are you doing here? I thought you would be sleeping in the camp.” Like I could just ignore that nobody came back down yet. We gave everyone water, but I forgot to take any snacks. Luckily, the Georgian guide (ffs, I can’t remember her name) had some leftover nuts in her backpack. Clare looked the most “ok” of the entire group. Some members were completely exhausted, with Yegor looking like a corpse ready to drop. I didn’t even think about asking what happened, and I was just happy they were all back. We then continued together down to the camp with Yegor and Artom trailing behind, because they had had enough. Once I got Clare to the camp, I went back to check on the rest and thank the Georgian camp for all their help. Only a few of them were still up since we made it back to the camp after 2 am!

Note in red: This was one of the worst experiences in my life. I know that it would be better if I was there with them and it would feel different, but sitting down in the camp and not knowing what was going on was harsh. Clare and Leticia shared a bit about what happened during the climb on the way down with me. They mentioned the wrong way they went in the morning and that they said so and were ignored. They then continued about how the climb was long, and they really liked it, but that it was said several times that it was time to turn back, but Yegor was pushing further to the peak without knowing how far it was. Later, I found that they actually didn’t even reach the peak. Or at least not all. Artom and Yegor did, but others said they wouldn’t go, as it was almost 4 pm and it would take another hour to make the last pitch up and down. The way back was then the same as the way up and got harder due to low visibility and exhaustion. Luckily, the night was warm, and the clouds didn’t come in as they often did; otherwise, it would be even harder to find the way back across the glacier in the valley. I understand that if a goal is set, sometimes it takes longer to reach it, and that’s ok. However, not sharing any information about the hike ahead, ignoring the group, and ignoring the safe time to turn back was a lesson in what not to do in the mountains.

Day 10: Back to the town and a bit of rest

Because of the long night, I made sure to get up first to start with breakfast and take down the camp. Clare was surprisingly fresh in the morning and was packing early as well. We had to get up early since the horses were supposed to come around 10 am to collect our gear. I’d prepped what I could the night before, and since there was no time to cook anything (also, there wasn’t much left), I only boiled water for tea and coffee and cut some leftover meat, cheese, and veg. With Leticia’s help, we packed the mess tent and our tents and were ready to go down just when the horses came.

We left with Artom and Leticia around 10:30 and made it down in about an hour. We then waited for Yegor and Zar at a coffee shop. We had the van packed before they even came, so we could get to the town as soon as possible. The low mood during the morning was almost palpable, and it didn’t help when Yegor started talking about the next day and started making some changes. He proposed a change of schedule, where we would not go to the base camp, but would stop at the camp beforehand. This way, we would lose a half-day of training on the mountain, and we didn’t like it. He then asked what would work for us. We discussed it in the group, agreed on a plan to stop in the middle with an early morning climb to the base camp, and told him, only to be informed that no changes could be made and we were going directly to the base camp. The complete opposite of what Yegor said, and no reason for us to even discuss anything. The communication was a struggle, and it just added to the bad mood and confusion.

When we got back to the guesthouse in Stepantsminda, we just left our things in the room and headed out for a drink and something to eat. We couldn’t find any house wine for a reasonable price, and we didn’t want to stop at the same place as last time, so we ended up having a beer. We also got some snacks and baked stuff like a hand-held khachapuri and lobiani. At the guesthouse, we got a shower and a much-needed nap.

When we woke up, we were about to head out for dinner, but we got a message from Leticia. She asked everyone if we could have a meeting and talk about what happened the other day. We met her and Artom on the way out (Zar was sleeping). She was clearly unhappy about last night and didn’t trust Yegor to safely get us to Kazbek. We shared her feelings, but at the same time we pointed out that he told us he had already been to Kazbek (even though they didn’t reach the top), which gave us more confidence. Moreover, there should be another guide who would go with us. There was also an issue with her boyfriend, who was supposed to join us for this last part of the course, but his flight got cancelled, and instead of arriving this morning, he would come just before we took off the next day.

On the way to the town, we met Yegor, who went shopping for supplies, and we helped him carry them up the hill. We wanted to stop at the restaurant Kazbeg from the first day, but it had just closed. We then found another place called Georgia Kitchen. It was fairly empty, but it was a bakery; the woman said she had house wine, and most importantly, it was open, and we were starving. We got Adjaruli khachapuri, a few pieces of khinkali, and a salad. She also brought the house wine in a reused glass juice bottle — the real stuff, but it was rough. The color was a bit off, and the wine was definitely stronger than usual. Well, it didn’t stop us from finishing it.

Day 11: Kazbegi base camp aka Bethlemi Hut

In the morning, we had another great breakfast in the guesthouse. We also met Ricardo, Leticia’s boyfriend, who was joining us for the climb up to the Kazbek mountain. He had a rough night, as he arrived in Tbilisi around midnight, had to get a private taxi to Stepantsminda, and only got to sleep for a few hours.

Because we knew that we had a long hike ahead of us, we pre-packed what we could the day before. We basically took the same stuff as for Juta, just added a few warm layers and got some fresh clothes. But when we were supposed to leave, it looked like we were almost the only ones thinking like that, as some people hadn’t started packing until after breakfast.

Two vans took us to the start of the hike at the Gergeti Trinity Church, one of the most photogenic churches in Georgia. It was the weekend, a beautiful sunny day, and the parking was packed with tourists and hikers getting ready to go get a better view of the Kazbek mountain. As part of our course, we got our gear taken up to the base camp by horses, but for some reason, the way down wasn’t included. And because we are cheapskates, we didn’t want to pay extra, so we only took the necessary things with us for today’s climb, so we wouldn’t have another backpack to carry down.

We all left at the same time, but agreed that we would all go at our own paces and would meet at the Café 360°. We started just before 10:30 am, and it took us an hour and a half to get there. It was a steep climb with almost 800 meters of elevation gain in about 3.5 km. But well worth the effort, even if you were in the area just for a quick visit, as the Café 360° was located at Sabertse Pass (2940 m) and had a beautiful view of the mountain and the glacier in the valley below. It was full of people, but we got a seat on the observation deck, had a coffee, and waited for others.

Since it was a clear day, we could see our next checkpoint, the AltiHut, and even our final destination, the Bethlemi Hut. The hike to the AltiHut was very easy since it was just a traverse along the saddle for just over 1 km. However, since everyone had a hard day on Asatiani and Ricardo had no acclimatization or sleep, we made a longer stop there to get more rest. The hut had a small restaurant where we could get soup, khachapuri, or a cake. They were also famous for their hot chocolate, but Clare and I opted for a can of Kazbeg beer.

We still had 600 more meters to climb, but the time was good, and the mood in the group was as well. Clare and I went ahead and didn’t even stop when we reached the glacier that needed to be crossed before the final push to the camp. But it was an easy one without crevasses, and we had an Armenian group ahead of us that we followed. The crossing was about 1.5 km long and followed by a zig-zag on a scree just under the camp. The whole ascent took us just under 4 hours without breaks, with 1,655 meters of elevation gain in 9.5 km.

The Bethlemi Hut was located at 3,650 meters, and it was an old, large concrete structure that was built by the Soviets as a meteorological station. There was an option to sleep inside the building or rent a smaller cottage, but the majority of people were camping in tents on the northern side of the hut. Every tent was surrounded by a hand-built wind barrier of stones. Since we were the first ones there (except the horses) and the camp seemed pretty busy, we took everyone’s gear and got it a spot.

Once the rest arrived, we built our tents and secured them since the valley was pretty windy. Zar, Ricardo, and I then went to find out how the mess room looked and worked to start making some dinner. The camp was pretty busy, and the room was quite small, but we managed to find a place to cook, and by the time everything was finished, we were able to get seats for everyone. If I remember right, we had pasta with tomato sauce and some cold cuts for protein, with salad.

Day 12: A bit of ice training

The night was interesting. The wind picked up a bit, so the tent was very loud from all the flapping, compared to the silent nights at the meadow in Juta. On top of that, we found out that the camp was so busy because it wasn’t possible to summit the previous two nights because of the bad weather. But tonight, the weather was good, so the whole camp was up and getting ready from midnight until around 3 am, when the last group left.

We had an easy morning with porridge for breakfast and our first experience with one of the most disgusting toilets that we have ever seen at camps (especially the location and no cover were amazing). We then set off for a small acclimatization hike and practice, following the path towards Kazbek summit. Along the way, we met several groups of people who were coming back after a successful summit.

We walked to 3,900 meters and then turned to the glacier in the valley. We put on crampons and first practiced how to tie the team together for glacier crossings. We discussed the ins and outs of how to arrest the team if one member falls or slips, and then tried to walk around a bit for practice. Next, we got the chance to try to attach ice screws into the glacier and talked a bit about how they would be used in a rescue situation. We didn’t stay long since the clouds were coming in.

The whole valley got covered in clouds, and the rain came later in the afternoon. At first, it was ok, but slowly the wind was picking up. We were hidden in the mess room, eating late lunch and drinking tea, but eventually went back to the tent to rest. That was when we found out that the wind side of the tent couldn’t hold the rain anymore, and some of our stuff got wet, especially our sleeping bags. We rearranged our stuff and moved everything from that wall. Later, the wind picked up even more, and the rain turned into hail. We had to set up Clare’s poncho as an extra barrier, as the rain started coming in through the breathable mesh at the top of the tent.

Luckily, not much more stuff got wet, but we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the tent protecting everything. The night wasn’t great, since I had to sleep in a weird position trying not to touch the wet wall. But at least the heavy rain stopped. We hadn’t planned it, but there was no chance of going for the summit that night.

Day 13: Mood at its lowest

We hadn’t planned to summit last night, but today was supposed to be the day we would try it. Therefore, we didn’t have to get too tired during the day and wanted to get a proper rest, so we planned a small acclimatization hike and potentially a bit of theory practice for later. We were supposed to leave early, so we agreed last night to be ready at 7 am.

We were all there except Artom, so I had to go wake him up to speed things up. But because of this delay, we weren’t leaving until after 8 am, and Clare and I were a bit agitated. It wasn’t that Artom overslept, but rather the inaction of Yegor, who was the person in charge and who should have kept things on schedule. It was the same with cooking food, where if the same people wouldn’t do it day in and day out, or people wouldn’t volunteer sometimes, there would be no food made.

When we finally left, something happened, or someone (either Zar or Artom) forgot something, so Yegor stopped just at the edge of the camp. Clare, Ricardo, and I each passed Yegor as we thought we started the walk, and continued following the same path as the other day. Just 100 meters in, I turned around and made sure we were being followed by the rest, which we were. We continued about a kilometer, where we stopped at an iron cross — a landmark marking another smaller camp.

That was where it all went to shit. The weather was foggy, so we lost visual with the rest of the group, but assumed we were on the same path, as it was the only trail there. Yegor and the rest came soon, and Yegor was holding his phone up. We were all acting casually, as we thought he was taking a photo or a video of the fog cascading over the rocks. But suddenly he started yelling at Ricardo to put his helmet on, saying he was failing to follow safety instructions. Then he started pointing the camera at us and talking into his phone, saying that he had initiated a rescue operation because we left his group and went on our own, and by that, risked our and other people’s safety. He told us that we had to return to the camp, and he would have to have a word with us for violating the rules.

I don’t think I have to describe the heated “discussion” that followed right there on the spot. Clare and I were absolutely furious. We turned around and walked to the camp, just full of anger. I was ready to tell him to fuck off right there and just go back down to the valley. After all the other stuff, the shit communication from his side, his absolute lack of organizational skills, and the fuckup on Asatiani, I was ready to be away from him.

Once we got back, we went to the mess room, sat down, and waited for him. He took me first to a separate room to talk. I let him speak first and didn’t interrupt him once. But once he was finished talking about safety and his responsibilities as a guide, I had to lay into him. I did it with the calmest voice possible without any anger, but I had to ask him: Why didn’t he stop us when we passed him? Why didn’t he call us when we were still nearby? Why was the helmet a problem today, but yesterday it wasn’t? Why was safety suddenly a concern when it was out of the window on Asatiani? And lastly, this whole situation escalated because there was no organisation, and he didn’t give a flying fuck! Clare went after me and told him similar things, starting with the point that sticking a camera in our face rather than talking to us like humans was the biggest bullshit he could have done.

Because of this whole thing, and because the weather turned around noon, we haven’t done anything that day except eating and chilling in the tent. We arranged an early dinner because tonight was the time to try to go for the summit according to the course schedule. The weather didn’t seem great, but we all agreed that we should try if possible. The mood was shit the whole day, so everyone just went back to their tents early. We wanted to summit; that was why we were there, but since that day we kept talking to Yegor to a minimum.

Day 14: No time to summit and a last training day

Yegor told us he would wake us all up if the weather was good, but we had an alarm set anyway. But when I got up at midnight, the weather was even worse than the night before. The fog was so thick that I couldn’t see other tents, and when I went to pee, I had trouble finding our tent on the way back.

We were all disappointed and anxious at breakfast, because we only had this one more night to try, or we had to give up. But we kept our hopes high, and the day looked promising. We went for a small hike to a chapel above the camp (about 200 meters of gain) and a bit further towards the mountain. The Bethlemi’s Ek’lesia was a wee white chapel located at around 3,900 meters and was a common stop for all the mountaineers.

The weather in the afternoon looked good, and we all hoped that we would be able to attempt the summit at night. It was our last chance since we had to pack and head down to the valley tomorrow. Therefore, in the afternoon, we didn’t go for any hike, but instead practiced self-arresting on the snow with an ice axe. It was followed by a theory lesson with a small showcase of rescue techniques on glaciers. Very good and important to learn, but I think I have already forgotten everything!

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing, eating, and trying to get some info from other groups. We wanted to know if others were planning on summiting tonight, and if yes, when? I even met a group from the Czech Republic, and some other groups were in the camp as long as us. But everyone had high hopes for the night.

Day 15: Clear skies and a long-ass day

Sleep was short, as we were in bed around 8 pm, but not really ready to fall asleep. We got maybe 2-3 hours, and we were up at midnight. The weather looked good, and there were even stars in the sky. We got ready and met in the mess room for a quick coffee and to get some hot water for our thermoses. It was so early that we didn’t even eat anything before we left.

I was afraid that we wouldn’t leave on time, but we were all ready to go at 1 am. Yegor originally planned to leave at 2 am, which (to Clare and me) completely ignored the speed of our group and the time needed to summit, so we all agreed that we would leave earlier. The other important point was that we needed to walk continuously with a few breaks to not arrive too late. I was worried about our approach because by this time I had very little trust in Yegor. It took less than 10 minutes, and Yegor had to stop to take off some layers, and another 20 minutes to lose the path at night. It was the same path that we had already walked twice, so we helped each other and found the way.

The walk through the scree at night was probably the most annoying part of the whole ascent. We were constantly losing the path and had to look for the pylons (cairns), which took some extra energy out of us. But after about 2 hours, we made it to the edge of the glacier. There we stopped and got our gear on — crampons, harnesses, and helmets. We hadn’t tied the teams together on the rope yet, which made no sense, as we could already see the crevasses in the distance. It took about 10-15 minutes of walking before we had to take our backpacks off again to tie the rope. Because our guide wasn’t completely familiar with the route, we moved slowly and ended up following other people (their lights) up the glacier, just to walk back down again. Once we crossed all the open crevasses and got on the snow-covered part of the glacier, we could see that there was a well-trodden path along the bottom of the glacier that we could have taken and saved ourselves at least half an hour.

From this point, the route was easy to follow as there were no other tracks in the snow but the one that led to the ridge. Once we reached it, we had a small break, and the sun was just rising. Our path then turned right towards the mountain, and we could see others ahead of us. But I was surprised by other groups coming straight at us from the other side, just to realize that there was another approach route from the Russian side.

From here started the summit climb. We had to first cross a long traverse to the north side of the mountain. This was where we got overtaken by two or three other groups. Then the path got steeper and started zigzagging up widely. Yegor’s pace wasn’t fast, but I thought it was ok to make sure that we got up safely. Clare and I were in the back, which was a bit annoying because we had to stop every three or four strides. But Artom and his group pushed past us and took the lead for a bit, which made us a bit faster. The incline stopped at a small ledge, followed by a plateau where we took a break.

We didn’t stay for long, as we were only about 200 meters below the peak and it was pretty windy up there. Yegor took the lead back, and in about 30 minutes we arrived at an icy wall that was near vertical. There were fixed ropes, and we needed to get up. This was definitely the hardest part of the whole climb. The rope was very slippery, and I could only hold it with one hand since I was helping myself with the ice axe in the other. When Clare and I got on the rope, a group above us released an icefall. Clare got hit in her boot, and I had to swing on the rope at the last moment not to get hit in the head.

It was a hard push for everyone after the whole night. At one point, Artom came from behind just to crash on the ice, keeping his weight on the ice axe to catch his breath. But once we reached the top of the ropes, it was a last 100-meter walk to the wide summit. It took us 8 hours to get there. We were covered in a white fog, and the wind was battering us. However, in a few minutes, the skies cleared out, and we could see blue skies above us and far into the distance.

We couldn’t stay long because the wind was relentless, with up to 80 km/h (Yegor said; I had no clue). The way down got complicated at the wall, as we were one of the first groups at the top that day (due to our early start), so suddenly there were like 15 people trying to get up on the ropes. That made it difficult for us to get down safely. I went first, and Clare followed, but once we made it halfway down, we couldn’t continue as Yegor got stuck behind and we were all on the one rope. Artom and his group then went ahead, but Leticia was taking it down slowly and safely, so we had to wait. We eventually started moving but didn’t follow the rope — instead, we crossed the wall to the right, trusting fully in our crampons and ice axes to hold us on the ice. We all got down safely and met at the plateau below.

From there, it was an easy (and surprisingly fast) descent. We had one more stop when we got through the steep part, and another at the ridge just above the end of the glacier. Zar was exhausted, and my feet were killing me from the crampons, but my knee was feeling surprisingly well. But we couldn’t linger, because the second stop we made was right above some crevasses, and people pointed out that they heard cracks below them.

Now, I should mention that we were in a bit of a hurry that day. Since we couldn’t summit any of the previous nights and this was our last day in the camp, we had to make it all the way down to the valley and to the guesthouse. There, we were all happy that the descent was fast, but after the second break, I felt like we wasted a lot of time. First, Yegor told us 5 minutes after the break that we should change the formation and the rope length (until now, I was leading the whole group down the mountain). This took some time, and I don’t think it was necessary, as we were following the beaten trail like all the other groups ahead of us. Second, when we reached the crevasses at the end of the glacier, we were only 5-10 minutes from being off the glacier where we could take all our gear off, but instead we made a 20-minute pause there and only took off the rope. We even asked, but were ignored. I collected both of the ropes and coiled them just to save time and thought maybe there was some other plan. But no, we had a break 5 minutes later to take off crampons and harnesses… just a waste of energy and time.

Clare and I pushed ahead after the second break, but tried to keep a visible contact with Yegor because even though we were in a happy mood after the summit, the last thing we needed was another argument. We got back to the camp just after 1 pm, almost exactly 12 hours after we started. Unfortunately, I found out that once we crossed into Russia, the GPS got scrambled, so my Garmin tracking was useless.

We wanted to celebrate with a beer, but we are also very punctual people when someone gives us a deadline, and yesterday we were told that the horses would be leaving by 2 pm, and we needed to have tents packed. So we skipped the beer and quickly packed our stuff inside the tent (or rather, threw it out to pack it later) and started working on disassembling. We were really tired, but by 2 pm we had everything done, and I dropped the packed tent at Yegor’s place. We were the only ones who got even anywhere close.

Now it was time for Kazbeg beer for 20 lari, and Clare took a wee nap on the stones. I even went to ask Yegor if we could go down, but he said that he would rather cross the glacier together. But a few minutes later, Ricardo showed up and told us that Yegor would let us go if we stuck together. We left around 3:30 pm and took our time on the way down since we had all our gear in our bags. We had to put on crampons for the glacier crossing, but I already managed to smash myself on the ice before we got there.

I forgot how hard the path was to follow around the glacier, but by 4:30, we were all at the AltiHut. All except Yegor, who was still packing when we left the camp. We wanted to get khachapuri, but it was too late for that; they still served soup and had some leftover cake — our first food other than protein bars that day. Of course, we got another beer as well.

By 6 pm, the sun was slowly hiding behind the surrounding mountains, and we were all tired and ready to go, but we were still waiting for Yegor. Finally, he showed up around 6:30 and had the wits about him to say he couldn’t stop for long, as we still had another 900 meters and almost 5 km to descend. We powered ahead with Zar, but halfway through we were both struggling with fatigue and the never-ending hill down. However, the views were spectacular since a dense fog came into the valley, and we were walking above it with clear blue skies, and the mountain peaks were turning red with the approaching sunset.

We reached the parking lot, completely covered in fog, around 8 pm. There we waited for the rest of the group and Yegor, just to find out that he had ordered only one van. The driver didn’t budge and said that he wouldn’t take us with all the gear, so we had to wait for his friend to show up. We thought we would be done soon with only 10 minutes to drive, but on the way to the town, we had to first stop to pay the guy who handled the horses and then at an exchange office to pay the van drivers.

We finally got to the guesthouse just before 10 pm. I left Clare in the room to go get a shower and headed back to the town straight away. The plan was to get as much food as possible. That ended up being two mega shawarmas and two rounds of fries. I wanted to get more, but the place was out of everything else I asked for, such as burgers, cheese bites, and loaded fries. So I also got a meat lobiani (I think it was called Kubdari) and stopped at a grocery store for sweet wafers, crisps, and a bottle of wine. We ate it all in bed and had more than enough. I even opened the bottle of red, but after we forced one glass into us, we fell asleep.

Day 16: Back to civilization

We woke up just a bit after 6 am since we had to repack our suitcases and the breakfast was scheduled for 7 am. The plan was to leave at 8 am since Zar had an early flight in the afternoon back to Italy. There was again a small issue with the van because it didn’t have space for all our stuff, but it got sorted.

The drive was much smoother on the way back, and we arrived at Liberty Square before 11 am. We thanked Yegor for guiding us during the course and said our goodbyes. We talked about giving Yegor a tip, but there were some other things I forgot to mention: Firstly, the food towards the end of the trip was scarce. We really had to portion out how much we ate, and the last lunch and dinner were basically just carbs. We had dry meal packs for everyone, but for some reason we weren’t allowed to use them… Secondly, we chose to carry our gear down the mountain and didn’t pay for a horse. That resulted in an accusation that he had to pay more for the horses. That didn’t make any sense to me, unless he wanted to put some stuff in our bags or we paid for the entire horse and he added his and the company gear for free. Putting it together with the other things that happened on the course, we decided to leave it.

Once we had our suitcases, we wheeled them down Alexander Pushkin Street and across the river via Nikoloz Baratashvili Bridge. From there, we had it only a bit further to our accommodation, but it was a hot day, and the place was up on a hill, so by the time we got there, we were both drenched in sweat. We booked one of the cheapest places we could find on Booking.com, so the night cost us 10 euros. No surprise that we couldn’t even find the place. It was hidden at the end of a courtyard in a building that looked almost abandoned from a distance. After a small misunderstanding that no new tenants were supposed to come on this day, we got our room. It was super small, but all we needed and a bargain!

We didn’t stay long and were on our way to get something to eat and some wine. We had been to Tbilisi twice before, but we always had a plan and something to see, so today was the first time we could just dander the streets aimlessly. We walked through David Aghmashenebeli Avenue, full of Arab-style cafes and restaurants, which showed us a completely different side of Tbilisi. It made us wonder a wee bit why it was so hard to find halal restaurants when we were here with students from Qatar, when there was a whole Arab part of the city?

We wanted something local, so we skipped the Arab street and ended up in a place called Georgian Taste across the street from Ilia’s Garden. It was a cozy place in a basement, and it was almost empty. However, their prices were great, and they had a liter of house wine for like 10 euros, so we were happy. We got khachapuri, since we missed it last night, and eggplant-garlic “wraps” that were too garlicky for me.

Since we were in the Arab quarter, and my hair looked crazy after a month, I found a Turkish barber and got a fresh cut while Clare stopped for a coffee and a shisha. We then continued walking around the town and doubled back to the old town on the other side of the river. We finished in Giorgi Leonidze Park with some sweets from a nearby Tesco.

We got an hour’s nap in our tiny room before we headed back out for dinner. We found a place called Restaurant Wine Line Cellar with even better prices than the last place and more house wine. We got Ostri (spicy Georgian beef stew), Shkmeruli (garlic chicken), and, for the last time, Adjaruli Khachapuri. The place was in a large basement, but we were there practically alone. Except for two absolutely hammered fellas in the front room, and then we were joined by a couple who were slurping their food like mad. I couldn’t stop laughing when I saw Clare’s face, almost getting sick from the sound.

And that was our first experience with a course in more technical mountain climbing. We had a short sleep in Tbilisi and were out of the place at 4 am on the way to the airport and to Dublin. I’m writing this in September in our new home destination, Prague, but due to moving and starting new jobs, we haven’t had a chance to use our newly acquired skills. But hopefully soon — we have some new trips planned already.