Sump To Summit

May as well start with the journey.

I flew from Manchester to Milan, slept overnight, then caught a flight from Milan to Kutaisi. There, I met up with Radislaw and Pawel, and we jumped into a taxi for a 5 hour drive into the mountains.

The road surfaces were awful, full-on off-road vibes in places. Our taxi driver, smiling proudly, told us he’d just spent a couple of nights in prison last week. Cool.

Eventually, we arrived in Stepantsminda and checked into the hotel (booked by Pawel through his work — hero). We got our first glimpse of Kazbek, looming over the town in the dark. It didn’t look that intimidating, but I knew that would change in the daylight.

The next morning, we set off with a plan: hike up to around 3,200m and stash half our camping gear, descend back to the valley for a comfy bed, then return the next day with the rest of our kit and spend the night up high. A perfect combo of exercise, acclimatisation, and one more night of comfort.

We plodded uphill, 10km distance, around 1,800m of ascent. At around 3,100m, we dropped our gear and then the heavens opened. We got hit with a storm on the way down, but once it passed, we were treated to stunning views and a long, satisfying descent.

Made it back to the hotel just in time for a solid dinner. Now it’s time for sleep — I’m heading back up the same way tomorrow.

Our first proper viewpoint was a church (the one from the night photo above). From there, the view across the valley was unreal.