Kazbek from the Gergeti Glacier

Overview

The climb starts, improbably, at a fourteenth-century church. From Gergeti Trinity — the most photographed building in the Caucasus — a trail climbs past the treeline into a wilderness of moraine, crossing the snout of the Gergeti Glacier to reach the old Soviet weather station at 3,653 m, now the bunkhouse-style Betlemi Hut. Two days later, if the mountain allows, you stand on Kazbek's 5,054 m ice dome with Russia at your back and all of Georgia unrolled to the south. Summit day is a long glacier journey: roped travel through a crevasse field, a rising traverse to the 4,500 m plateau, then steady 30-35 degree slopes to the final col and dome. Nothing is technical in good conditions, but the catch is the mountain's notorious weather — cloud boils up from the Terek valley by mid-morning, and parties that start late navigate home by GPS. Build a spare day into the plan. Stepantsminda, three hours from Tbilisi up the Georgian Military Highway, is the base: guesthouses, khinkali and gear hire. A guided six-day ascent with acclimatisation nights at Betlemi costs about £800; horses can carry kit to the hut. Easy visas and cheap logistics make it the region's most attainable 5,000er.

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Prefilled for 1 June 2027 — the next best-season window. Search on partner sites — opens in a new tab.