Mountains, my love


Himalaya - Tibet
 
Mt. Everest, 8848 Mt. Cho Oyu, 8201

Mt. Nojin Gangsang, 7206, a weather kitchen of my study area in Tibet. Open for mountaineering though, this peak is almost always closed by dense cover of  nimbo cumulus clouds. July, 17th, 1999 was the only day we saw this shiny beauty, otherwise we would not mind at all to (illegally) climb it.
It is still there


Caucasus (black-and-white history, a sort of LOMOgraphy)
 

above - A  gorgeous view along the Caucasus Ridge in the westerly direction, from Mt. Kazbek, 5147 towards Mt. Elbrus, 5642, 190 km away (at the very back). The Bezengi Wall includes the other five peaks above 5000.
right - On top of Mt. Kazbek, 13.10.1980 at about 11 am. Picture details: 5147 m minus two steps, minus 37 C, stormy wind, sunny, all clear. Behind the camera - Sergo Barliani, National Team of Georgia, I was roped with. Cant remember we exchanged a word even during a couple of short pit stops, both felt miserably cold and kept on going up to the soon to be sunny summit. Now that this hell is behind we are going for a two-hour nap nestling in rocks and waiting for the rest of the team to come. Twelve of fifteen did, three nice girls among them.
 
Mt. Kazbek early morning 13.10.1980. The top is yet about 7 km away and 1 km above the spot locality. The icy board in the middle of the slope is the way up. The entire way from the meteo Kazbegi is about 14 km horizontally and 1.5 km vertically, 7-10 hrs en route. Let one day to reach the Kazbegi meteo from the village of Kazbegi. With Gogi Chelidze, Tbilisi U, left, and Shota Merinashvili, Georgian Alpine Club. Cigi stop on the way back, down to the village of Kazbegi. There we were waited for a good drink and enormously spicy Georgian food by a huge crowd of Tbilisi U students and the village elderly. Altogether, we did our best and drank out the Kazbegi's annual supply of alcohol.