Organized by the Mountaineering Federation and led by Ramaz Jikia, sporting expeditions were carried out on Mount Ushba and Mount Shkhara.
On July 18, Ramaz Jikia, Levan Mosashvili, and Nesi Machavariani headed toward the Ushba Plateau. Due to worsening weather, they had to spend five days in a tent on the plateau. This became a major mental challenge for the expedition members.
On the morning of the 5th day, the weather stabilized, so the climbers began tracing the fresh snow to make part of the route easier for the night’s ascent. After the night climb, the expedition successfully reached the summit and accomplished its goal.
After 3 days of rest and reorganizing equipment, Ramaz and Levan were ready for their next climb — Georgia’s highest peak, Mount Shkhara.
They were joined by Mariam Gelashvili (who was also climbing in the Svaneti region), and once again a team of three set off toward this majestic summit.
As the expedition members noted:
“Shkhara exceeded all expectations with its wild and grand environment. Along the way, we had to establish a new camp, spend two nights without a tent, and make difficult — but necessary for safety — decisions.
Unfortunately, due to the condition of the route, we had to turn back at 4,300 m. The snow made movement extremely difficult, and the weather forecast for the following days was worsening. Taking this into account, we decided to descend, since descending from such a mountain is no easy task and becomes doubly dangerous in bad weather.
It took us a day and a half to descend from 4,300 meters to the end of the glacier. As soon as we reached the ground, rain and thunderstorm followed immediately — as if the mountain allowed us to leave safely until the very last moment, and then began to demonstrate its power. This once again confirmed that our decision was right.
Of course, returning without the summit was a bit disappointing, but the emotions, views, nights without a tent, and setting up new camps turned out to be such an interesting and valuable experience that we were not too upset. As a wise person once said: ‘The important thing is the path to the summit, not the summit itself.’ We too enjoyed this path, learned from it, and took another step forward in our mountaineering experience".