Taken from the Swaneti travel guide for Georgia, which won the ITB Award 2023

Svaneti has been a destination for European hikers and mountaineers since the end of the 19th century. The early travellers were on the move with ethnological-geographical, but often also political-military interests, as knowledge of strategically essential areas was of interest to their countries of origin. It was significant for the German Empire that in 1903, as part of the Caucasus expedition led by Wilhelm Rickmer Rickmers, German mountaineers were the first to conquer the southern summit of Ushba, considered the most challenging mountain in the world at this time. Even today, the number of successful Ushba climbers is limited. We can at least get close to its glacier on a hike.

Exploring the village community of Mazeri and the Ushba region

The village community of Becho consists of several villages where hiking tourists can find quieter accommodations than in Mestia, which is sometimes very crowded in the high season. Becho is located in one of the most beautiful areas of the Caucasus, the mountainous region of the Ushba and Mazeri peaks. Several hikes lead from Becho northwards to the glacier areas and eastwards and westwards to the neighbouring valleys. From the village of Bagvdanari, for example, you can reach Nesguni via the Gul Pass, past the summit of Gul (2925 m), across the valley of the Pushkeri River and join hikes in the village community of Lenjeri. On the other hand, the administrative centre of Upper Svaneti can be reached on a strenuous hiking tour (8-11 hours, approx. 21 km) across the plateau south of the Koruldi Lakes and the Mestia Cross. The highest point of this route is in the area of the alpine mats at an altitude of almost 3000 metres. From the village of Tvebischi in Becho, you head westwards through dense coniferous forest on moderately steep paths up to the alpine meadows and then descend gently to the village of Ezeri (6-8 hours, approx. 16 km). Due to the parallel location of the valleys of Ezeri, Becho Lenjeri and Mestia, it is almost impossible to get lost on these easy-to-follow paths. From ever-changing perspectives, you can enjoy views of the traditional mountain farming of the Swans and the largely unspoilt nature of the Caucasus region.

The suggested route starts around 1600 metres behind the village of Mazeri at the turn-off to the Grand Hotel Ushba. From here, you have a beautiful view of the summit of Mazeri to the north-east. If you start the tour around lunchtime, you should choose route 1, which runs continuously along the left bank of the Dolra River, where trees shade the path for several sections; you will have to cross several mountain streams. Trail option two leads across open pastures and hay meadows to a wooden bridge over the Dolra, behind which both options rejoin.

Reading recommendation: The Norwegian Richard Bærug is co-owner of the Grandhotel Uschba. He reports on his hikes through Svaneti in the following books: "Europe's unknown Fairytail-Land" (available from: https://forlagshusetivestfold.no/europe-s-unknown-fairytale-land-richard-baerug-sjaka-margian) and "Svaneti, Essence of the Caucasus".

There is a hut on either side of the wooden bridge where you can buy drinks and freshly prepared food during the high season. Until now, hikers will repeatedly encounter vehicles, especially on Route 2, as the easy slopes are used as farm tracks. Hikers are also taken to the wooden bridge by the hosts of their accommodation, which saves a lot of time, as the entire tour takes around four to five hours on foot in one direction. After the bridge, the route continues on a narrow path that could also be travelled on horseback. Only the last difficult part of the route after the second wooden bridge, steeply uphill to the Schdugra waterfall, would have to be completed on foot.

The footpath to the huts is marked with yellow arrows. It always runs alongside the river and is, therefore, impossible to miss. However, you will only hear the Dolra after a while, as you soon climb steeply uphill and hike along the further course of the deeply incised valley on the western flank. Here, the trail leads through stunted spruce growth and rhododendron areas, then along the path that winds downhill through tall spruce forests. The path is gravelled throughout and is kept clear of falling trees because forest workers, hunters and the Georgian military, who maintain a checkpoint at the 2nd wooden bridge over the Dolra, use the path; passport checks may, therefore, be carried out, which is why you should not undertake the tour without a travel document.

From the 2nd wooden bridge, the trail leads into the side valley, entering the forest from the east to the first fork in the trail, which would lead up to the Becho Pass to Russia (Kabardino-Balkaria) on the left. The path to the Shdugra waterfall leads uphill through a mixed birch forest to an altitude of around 2000 metres, where you leave the forest. You reach a rocky outcrop, a possible end point of the hike. From here, you will have a beautiful panoramic view of both the Dolra Valley and the peaks of the Uschba. Suppose you are sure-footed and want to continue to the place from where the mountain tours to climb Uschba start. In that case, the path leads further uphill over alpine mats on the northern flank of the side valley – you should always keep an eye on the Schdugra waterfall as a landmark. The rest of the way to the Ushba glacier is not always easy to find, as the yellow markings, which are all on stones, are easy to lose sight of – within the first ascent, 450 metres in altitude, have to be overcome over a distance of one kilometre. The endpoint below the glacier is marked on a boulder with the words „Finish“. There is also a metal sign with a Russian poem on it – this is where the base camps for the Ushba ascent are usually set up.

Ushba - "The Terrible": The northern summit of Ushba (4690 m) was climbed from Russia by the Englishmen John Garfold Cokklin and Ulrich Almer as early as 1888. In 1903, the German explorer and mountaineer Wilhelm Rickmer-Rickmers organised a German-Swiss Caucasus expedition after having travelled to Central Asia several times between 1984 and 1898. As part of this expedition, several peaks were climbed by the participating mountaineers Adolf Schulze, Robert Helbling, Frederico Reichert, Anton Weber, Oskar Schuster and Cenzi von Ficker, one of the pioneers of "women's mountaineering". The first attempt to climb the problematic south summit of the Uschba (4737 m) failed, and Cenzi von Ficker and Wilhelm Rickmer-Rickmers, together with the Swan porters involved, had to rescue their injured climbing partners and bring them back to base camp. The second attempt succeeded, and Adolf Schulze was the first to reach the summit. Cenzi von Ficker was not involved in the second attempt but received Mount Uschba as a symbolic gift from Prince Dadeschkeliani, the then feudal lord of the village communities west of Latali, for her outstanding achievements on the mountain - a unique event in mountaineering history, of which there is even a signed and sealed deed of gift, which is kept in the Alpine Club Museum in Munich. Cenzi von Ficker was involved in two further ascents as part of the Caucasus expedition. A previously nameless summit was named after her as Tsentsi-Tau (3860 m). In 1913, Rickmer-Rickmers led the first German-Austrian Pamir expedition. During the First World War, he served as an interpreter and adviser to the Foreign Office in the Caucasus. In 1928, he led the German-Soviet Alai-Pamir Expedition with the high-ranking Soviet functionary Nikolai-Petrovich Gorbunov, during which the previously unexplored centre of the Pamir Mountains was to be explored. Reading recommendation in German: Gerhard Schirmer: Cenzi von Ficker - Das Uschba-Mädel (The Ushba Girl). https://www.bergnews.com/service/biografien/uschba.php

Text: Stefan Applis (2021)

Map: Stefan Applis (2021)

Photography: Stefan Applis (2019-2021)