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The climbing program in Georgia - here!
MCS AlexClimb Rock climbing school MCS
It was not an easy job, but we managed to do it! Despite the khinkali attacks and swims in a sea of homemade wine, our female rock climbing team under my sensitive male leadership retained a sporty spirit and potential for training!
The MCS AlexClimb rock climbing team on the rocks of Georgia
This season, for the first time, I decided to add a rock climbing program in Georgia to the collection of spring climbing trips - I could not deny myself this pleasure.
Of course, it was possible (as usual) to go to the undoubtedly beautiful Mallorca and there fight my way to the rocks through crowds of cyclists. Or go to the very rocky island of Kalymnos, to rest my nose against the rocks to see nothing more than quickdraws and chalcky holds...
There are so many beautiful places to travel in the world, but Georgia is the only one
However, there is only one May in a year - not a minute of this wonderful time should be lost or spent with insufficient benefit.
So, it is quite logical that our choice fell on Georgia. Where, if not in this blooming country, can you fully breathe and enjoy spring?! After all, spring in the mountains is a separate reality, filled with the aroma of countless flowers, birds singing and the glow of snowy peaks in the piercing blue sky!
Rock climbing in Georgia in spring
I have already done rock climbing trips of varying length and intensity in Georgia, many beautiful places were explored and taken note of, but I still haven’t had time to collect all the elements within one rock climbing trip.
And here it is - it happened! As a result of the efforts expended and the incredibly quickly flown by 10 days, we got a bright mix of rock climbing training, excursions, amazing Georgian cuisine, some wine and even off-road adventures.
The Katskhi Column near the town of Chiatura with a church on top - how is this not the Greek Meteora?!
The idea of the rock climbing trip to Georgia was to introduce the participants to an amazing country, generously gifted with natural beauty, countless opportunities for active and passive recreation, as well as historical sights - witnesses to the rich history of this small flourishing country.
Ancient fortresses and churches can be seen everywhere in Georgia in the most unexpected and hard-to-reach places
The task was quite difficult - to select the most beautiful and interesting places from the huge number of the most beautiful and interesting places in Georgia, and also fit all this into the format of a sport rock climbing trip.
We began our route with a visit to the capital city of Georgia - Tbilisi. Bright, clean, European-style cultured and Caucasian-style hospitable Tbilisi is a city you can fall in love with at first sight, even without being a rock climber. But to combine a walk through the old town with a full-fledged workout on the open air climbing wall in the Tbilisi Botanical Garden - only true connoisseurs of real adventures can afford such a pleasure.
Rock climbing in the Tbilisi Botanical Garden
In addition to natural rocks, Tbilisi has several small but cozy and well-equipped climbing walls - the program of the city tour can be made very diverse and productive!
After Tbilisi, we went to Gori - an ancient town 85 km west of Tbilisi, no less interesting and charismatic than the capital of Georgia itself.
Stalin Museum, Gori
There is no place to go rock climbing in Gori, but the mix of ancient and modern history, the Stalin Museum, the Goristsikhe Fortress and the proximity of the stunning Uplistsikhe historical complex make a visit to Gori an inevitable part of any tourist route in Georgia.
Goristsikhe Fortress Tour in the center of Gori
After a rapid visit to Gori, we got down to implementing our rock climbing plans - we went to climb the fantastic Katskhi Canyon, famous for its ancient monastery on the top of a rock column.
Rock climbing training in Katskhi
The most developed rock climbing area in Georgia can be called the outskirts of Chiatura - a town of miners and rusty trailers flying through a narrow gorge. At a reasonable distance from Chiatura, you can find numerous equipped climbing sectors with a large number of bolted routes of various categories. All climbing sectors are clean and easy to access.
Chiatura Gorge
The routes are equipped safely, without excessive gapes between bolts and unnecessary adrenaline - special thanks to the author and the engine of climbing progress in Georgia - Guga Dabrundashvili - a pioneer of Georgian rock climbing and my good personal friend.
Work on equipping the rock climbing routes in the Katskhi Canyon
After spending a couple of days on the rocks of Chiatura, we continued our journey and moved to Akhaltsikhe town, from where the next day we went on an excursion to the fantastic Sapara - a monastery, where the voices of monks merges with the singing of birds and the spring riot of flowering of everything that has not yet even turned green.
Sapara Monastery in the vicinity of Akhaltsikhe
After Sapara Monastery - there was another excursion to a bit too touristy, but a must-see Vardzia - the largest complex of cave structures in Georgia - an entire city carved out of the rock massif during the reign of Queen Tamara (12th century).
The rock, resembling a honeycomb, is a huge cave city with kilometers of tunnels and entire temples carved out of the rock massif
Then our route was supposed to be laid towards Kutaisi town via the picturesque Zeki Pass - on the way visiting Abastumani, the place of death of the Russian Tsarevich Alexander.
The Russian royal family generally loved Georgia very much and spent a lot of time on vacation there. The photo is related to the place of the sudden death of the younger brother of Nicholas II - Georgy Alexandrovich
On this section of the route we had a small failure - with all the pleasure of 20 km of winding dirt serpentine and enchanting views of the surrounding mountains, we found it impossible to cross the pass - 500 meters before the saddle, the road was dug up so much that my experience driving 4x4 definitely suggested not even trying.
50 km from Kutaisi, we had to turn back and drive around 200 km - perhaps this is the only event in the program that did not bring pleasure.
The ideal vehicle for traveling in the mountains - Toyota Land Cruiser
Kutaisi greeted us with rain, but we still managed to climb the rocks and the weather did not brake the training schedule. And visiting the temples and the Historical Museum of Kutaisi perfectly helped to cope with the slightly accumulated fatigue.
Rock climbing in Kutaisi
The finale of the program was planned on a climbing wall in the heart of Tbilisi – in the Botanical Garden, but the weather made its adjustments, so we had a training session on a indoor climbing wall – by the way, located in a very modern high hall in the center of Tbilisi.
On the last day of our program, we managed to realize one more interesting excursion to the ancient cave monastery of David Gareji – an amazing and very unusual place on the border with Azerbaijan – the oldest monument of Christian history of Georgia, located in incredible colored hills.
Colored hills in the vicinity of the David Gareji monastery
Well... I am pleased that my first organized rock climbing trip to Georgia left no reason for regret – I hope that the slight positive confusion from this trip will be broken down in the participants' memories into bright and dissimilar impressions. Of which, like a bright kaleidoscope of colored patterns, Georgia consists – a bright, infinitely diverse and positive, God's beloved land!
Leader and author of the rock climbing program in Georgia, author of the text and photographs - Alex Trubachev
Your guide to mountaineering and rock climbing routes in Georgia and the entire Caucasus
MCS EDIT 2024