Summit! The group of the 7 Summits Club made an ascent to the top of Mount Kazbek
The guides Rostovtsev Artem and Spirin Alexander reports from Georgia:
Midnight greeted us with a clear, starry sky - so you can go! Breakfast, final equipment check. On the way! A chain of glowing lanterns stretched along the slope. The hospitable Meteostation released us into the embrace of the dark silhouettes of the Caucasus Mountains. In the silence of the night we keep our way to the Gergeti glacier. Peacefully creaking with crampons, we take the first, confident steps along this majestic glacier, in the direction of the Maili Plateau. Here is the long-awaited dawn, our frozen limbs are finally thawing, warmed by the gentle rays of the morning sun. We traverse a steep slope. We work in ropes. Safely bypass seraks, continue to move to the saddle. The first harbingers of impending bad weather appear: snow flags on the top, clouds rise and thicken - we have a few hours of weather window left.
Ahead is the most difficult section to go through and start the descent before the storm. Everyone tried, but only four managed to stand at the very top. And then there was a difficult, long and exhausting descent to the Meteostation. At some point it seemed that the mountain did not want to let go ... a strong storm wind, horizontally flying snow that hit the eyes (even under glasses) and swept the trail, visibility close to zero complicated the search for the right path, even had to use navigators to pass safely, the last part of the descent was complicated by deep softened snow on the trail. Wet, tired, but happy, we returned to the Meteostation that had become our home. Hot soup, a warm dry sleeping bag and a sound sleep - this is what we have been dreaming about for the last hours. Your favorite guides are Artem Rostovtsev and Alexander Spirin.