Mt. Kazbek Expedition

Team members will be met by the LHO team leader at the airport. This day is dedicated to arrivals and once the team has arrived, we’ll make our way to Kazbegi where the team will be based for the trip. For early arrivals, it may be possible to head into town although this depends on the flight schedules. The shuttle to Kazbegi will depart from the airport at 6 pm, so please try to arrange your flights to arrive before then. Dinner will be at Sno Hotel upon arrival.

Our first mountain day will start with a car ride up to the Trinity church that overlooks the town of Stepensminda. This is the starting point of the trail to the Betlemi refuge, the base camp of Mt Kazbek. We’ll be met by our expedition partners who will be moving our gear up the mountain on mules. The trek itself is relatively short and we are expected to arrive to the refuge for lunch. The remaining portion of the day will be dedicated to setting up our living spaces and allowing our bodies to rest and acclimatize.

After breakfast, we’ll be heading up into higher altitude. Although the aim of the day is to both acclimatize and practice skills, we will not be pushing ourselves too hard. Expedition members will have the opportunity to practice crampon, ice axe, and rope techniques on the glacier with a specific emphasis on moving together as a rope party and navigating crevasses. Lunch will be at the glacier training area and dinner will be back at our refuge.

We’ll depart in the very early hours of the morning with the intention of reaching the summit at or shortly after sunrise. The ascent is sustained and the major objective challenge will be the cold temperatures. Once the summit is achieved, we’ll return to the refuge for the night. The return to the refuge rather than a direct descent to the church offers us the opportunity to be flexible with our turnaround time and ensures that we give the summit a full and honest shot.

In the event that weather or other factors prevent us from attempting the summit in our first window, we’ve allocated a second day to attempt the summit. If the summit was achieved at the first opportunity then we’ll be using this day to trek back to the church and onwards to our hotel accommodation.

If the second summit window is used then day 6 will be our descent back to the Trinity church and onward to our hotel in the valley. If we were able to summit in our first window then this day will be dedicated to sightseeing in the region. We’ll also have a farewell celebratory dinner together with the entire team before they depart.

Breakfast is included on our last morning together. The rest of the day will be dedicated to shuttle team members to the airport. It’s best to try and fly from midday onwards on the 6th to avoid driving along the mountain roads at night. We’ll depart the hotel as a team at 7 am. Those of us with late transfers will have the chance to explore Tbilisi. The bags can be kept in our private shuttle and will be available to take when you get dropped off at the airport.