Gudauri Ski Touring and Freeride, Georgia

Dear Georgi, We decided to climb Mount Kazbek with a professional mountain guide. Not only did you guide us in a highly professional manner and with the latest equipment, you also captured the wonderful memories photographically and, best of all, you welcomed us into your circle of Georgian mountain friends. Thank you for everything and hopefully see you soon in the Caucasus or the Alps! Monika + Sebastian

Giorgi was an excellent guide! He really looked after us and cared about our safety from the bottom to the very top of Mt. Kazbek. He is a very calm guide, happy to follow your time schedule but also to make a schedule for you. We had very nice conversations and he told us a lot of Georgian culture which was so interesting. He is also a guide who will give you space and time. We highly recommend him!!

1. I would suggest you only do this trip if you are already acclimatised. The altitude gain is very aggressive at around 1500 meters on the first day, 200 meters on the acclimatisation day and 1400 meters on the summit day. If you are coming from a sea level and think you may summit a 5000 meter mountain within a few days you may be sorely mistaken. We had to turn back around 200 meters before the summit and I would attribute this to poor acclimatisation. At the time of the summit push I haven't slept for 3 nights and my Garmin was showing acclimatisation to only around 1600 meters, body battery at 5 and so on. A way around it would be to spend a night at one of the huts at 3000 meters but this would increase the price (I'm sure you could discuss this with Giorgi). Please be aware that Betlehemi hut is a very uncomfortable place to stay (while still better than a tent IMO) so spending more days there than absolutely necessary may be a problem. The scenery high in the mountains is absolutely breathtaking so definitely 5 stars here. 2. Giorgi and Vanu (our second guide) were very nice and friendly guys. Giorgi is a well known guide in the area and is well connected. He was able to arrange a horse and a porter to carry some of our gear to the hut as well as very good quality rental equipment (boots etc). The guys were also very flexible in term of our itinerary, as we wanted to add Mt Ortsveri as an acclimatisation climb (not a good idea btw). Giorgi is involved in mountain rescue and actually saved a guy's life by pulling him from a crevasse on the Gergeti glacier while we were staying in the hut! We would like perhaps to feel a bit more that our goal of making it to the summit was also one of the priorities for our guides. It felt a little bit too laissez-faire at times and a bit of mental support and advice would be appreciated.

Giorgi was safety focused and responsible throughout the trip. Although we didn't manage to summit, he clearly explained why it was dangerous to attempt. Good, constant reminders to communicate any discomfort and also observant regarding the client's confirm. Calm and fact oriented decision making at every level, not carried away by emotion. A great guide.

Giorgy was a wonderrfull guide. Responsible, patient, an prffesional.