Why Shkhara is famous
Shkhara is the roof of Georgia and the highest point of the Caucasus watershed. In the whole Caucasus only Elbrus (5,642 m) and Dykh-Tau (5,204 m) are higher, and both stand on side ridges north of the main crest. Its main summit was measured with differential GPS in 2010 by the climbers Boris Avdeev and Peter Schön at 5,193 m; older maps give 5,201–5,203 m, and some put the main summit on the lower West summit (5,068 m) by mistake.
The mountain is the high point and eastern anchor of the Bezengi Wall, and its scale is what climbers talk about: a north face of about 1,500 m on the Russian side, a south face of about 2,300 m on the Georgian side, and no easy route to the top. In Russia Shkhara is also one of the ten peaks of the "Snow Leopard of Russia" title, created in 2010 for climbing the highest summits of Russia and its border ranges; the older Soviet Snow Leopard award, by contrast, is for the five 7,000-metre peaks of the Pamirs and Tian Shan.
The Bezengi Wall
The Bezengi Wall, also called the Khalde Wall on the Georgian side, is the highest section of the main Caucasus ridge: about 13 km between the Tsanner pass (3,887 m) in the west and the Dykhnyaush pass (3,836 m) in the east. From west to east it carries Lalver (4,355 m), Peak Yesenin, Gestola (4,860 m), Katyn-Tau (4,979 m), Jangi-Tau (main summit 5,085 m), Shota Rustaveli Peak (about 4,900 m), Shkhara West (5,068 m), Shkhara Main (5,193 m) and Shkhara East (4,866 m). On the north side lies the Bezengi glacier, about 17.6 km long and the largest in the Caucasus; on the south side the Khalde and Shkhara glaciers.
The complete traverse of the wall is considered one of the longest and most committing undertakings in European mountaineering. The Austrians Karl Poppinger, Karl Moldan and Sepp Schintlmeister first completed it in 1931. Soviet climbers first traversed it in 1938 (east to west) and in 1953 (west to east, under K. Kuzmin), and in winter 2014 Viktor Koval, Nikolai Totmyanin, Pyotr Kuzenkov and Sergei Kondrashkin completed the first winter traverse, graded 6B.
The name
The name comes from the villagers of Ushguli. The most common explanation links it to the Svan word for "nine", referring to the many summits of the massif; another links it to a Svan word for cattle with a white stripe on the forehead, which fits the Russian reading "striped". In Karachay-Balkar, the language of the Russian side, the mountain is called Ushkhara. Russian has no separate name and uses the Georgian one.
Where it is and how to get there
Shkhara stands on the border between the Georgian region of Samegrelo–Zemo Svaneti (Mestia municipality) and the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, about 33 km east of Mestia and 85–90 km north-east of Kutaisi. The Russian side lies in the Kabardino-Balkarian high-mountain nature reserve.
Getting to Mestia. Marshrutkas run from Tbilisi (about 50 lari, 8–10 hours), Kutaisi (40 lari as of July 2025) and Zugdidi (35 lari, 3.5–4 hours); the road from Zugdidi takes about two hours by car. Small planes fly from Tbilisi's Natakhtari airfield and sometimes from Kutaisi to Mestia's Queen Tamar airport, but flights depend on the weather and sell out early in summer.
Getting to Ushguli. The road from Mestia has been greatly improved and now takes about 1.5 hours without snow. Shared minivans for day trips leave Mestia most mornings outside winter; as of September 2024 a seat cost about 50 lari return, and a private car about 200 lari for the day. The villages lie at about 2,100–2,200 m and have many guesthouses. The road east over the Zagar pass to Lower Svaneti was rebuilt in 2024. Hikers can also walk from Mestia to Ushguli in four days on the popular marked trek.
Hike to the Shkhara glacier
The most popular walk from Ushguli follows the Enguri valley upstream to the foot of the Shkhara glacier, the source of the Enguri. From Zhibiani, the highest of the villages (about 2,080 m), it is about 9 km one way on a jeep track along the valley floor, with only about 300 m of gain. Allow about five hours for the return walk; jeeps can drive the first 6–7 km, which shortens it to a short stroll (expect 60–100 lari for the return ride).
The route is easy to follow. After less than two hours you pass a café on the far side of the river by a bridge, where jeeps stop and the trail to Namkuami lake and the Vakhushti pass branches off. About 500 m further, where the road bends sharply left and climbs in hairpins, take a small unmarked path to the right across a meadow and a field of red rocks, then through a small forest to the moraine, about 300 m from the glacier snout. Do not go close to the ice front: falling stones are a real danger. Fit hikers can combine the glacier with the ridge above Namkuami lake for views of the whole Khalde Wall.
The glacier is shrinking fast: it now covers about 3.5 km² and has lost more than 40% of its area since 1949.
Climbing routes
About ten routes lead to the main or West summit, graded from 4B to 6B on the Russian scale, and the climb takes at least two days. There are no huts or permanent camps on the mountain apart from the "Austrian bivouac" at about 3,200 m on the Bezengi glacier.
From the north (Russia). The north-east ridge, the line of the 1888 first ascent, is graded 4B and remains one of the most popular and least difficult routes: about 1,600 m of ascent from the Austrian bivouac, passing over the East summit. Climbers usually start from the Bezengi mountaineering camp at about 2,200 m, founded in 1959 near the snout of the Bezengi glacier.
From the south (Georgia). The classic southern line is the route of Beknu Khergiani, first climbed in 1950 by Beknu and Besarion Khergiani, Ilia Gabliani, Maksime Gvarliani and Chichiko Chartolani; it is graded 5B, with some sections of 6A. The east ridge is graded 5B. In February 2018 the Georgian climbers Archil Badriashvili and Giorgi Tepnadze made the first winter ascent of the south face, a 6B climb that took 13 days.
Permits, borders and rules
On the Georgian side the mountain is not in a protected area, and no permit or fee is needed to hike in the Enguri valley or to climb. On the Russian side the north slopes lie in a nature reserve and a border zone, where a special permit is required. The mountain border between Georgia and Russia is closed: crossing the ridge from one country to the other is illegal, so routes must start and finish on the same side. Carry your passport in the border valleys, and hire a qualified mountain guide for any summit attempt.
When to go and weather
Summer conditions last from June to mid-September, with about half the days sunny enough for climbing; the best period for expeditions is July to mid-August. Above 4,000 m blizzards can occur even in summer, and in winter the summit temperature drops below −20 °C. Svaneti receives 1,000–3,200 mm of precipitation a year, with deep snow and frequent avalanches; Ushguli is snowbound for about six months and the road can be closed. For hikers around Ushguli the season runs from June to mid-October.
Water
In Ushguli guesthouses and cafés provide drinking water, meals and bottled drinks, and there is a café on the trail to the glacier. The Enguri and its side streams flow beside the track, but cattle and horses graze the valley, so filter or boil stream water; on a hot day carry 1.5–2 litres for the walk. The area has acidic mineral springs, such as the one at the foot of the Namkuami rock, which locals use. On the climb itself water comes from snow and ice melted on a stove, and you need fuel for at least two or three days.
Mobile coverage and internet
Mestia has decent coverage from Georgian mobile networks, and several cafés, restaurants and guesthouses in Mestia offer free Wi-Fi; ask your Ushguli guesthouse whether it has internet. Beyond the villages coverage in the mountains is patchy to non-existent, and the Georgian mountain rescue system is still developing, so be self-sufficient, download offline maps, tell your guesthouse your plans and carry a satellite messenger on any climb. The emergency number in Georgia is 112.
Dangers and safety
For hikers the main risks are rockfall at the glacier snout, river crossings after rain and sudden thunderstorms. For climbers Shkhara is a big, cold mountain with long approaches, serious avalanche danger and few escape routes. The Georgian photographer and climber Guram Tikanadze died on the descent from the main summit on 27 August 1963; in 1986, during the first winter ascents of the north face, one whole team disappeared on the descent; and in 2007 the leader of a Moscow team attempting a winter traverse died, with the two survivors evacuated by helicopter only much later.
History of the ascents
Shkhara hardly appears in old records: Prince Vakhushti Bagrationi's description of Georgia in 1745 mentions the mountains at the head of Svaneti only in passing, and in 1896 the French geologist Eugène Fournier called the peak "universally unknown". In 1888 John Garforth Cockin, Ulrich Almer and Christian Roth climbed the north-east ridge to the summit. Austrian climbers tackled the north ridge in 1930, Soviet climbers first reached the top in 1933, and in 1940 the Svan climbers Alyosha and Aleksandra Japaridze, Goji Zurebiani and Gabriel and Beknu Khergiani made an unprecedented traverse of about 20 peaks of the main ridge from Machkhapara to Ailama, including Shkhara. In June 2008 the Americans Jason Thompson, Seth Waterfall and Tyler Jones made the first ski descent of the south side.
Ushguli and the Svan towers
Ushguli is a community of villages at the head of the Enguri gorge: Zhibiani, Chvibiani, Chazhashi and Murqmeli, with Lamjurishi sometimes counted separately. About 70 families, some 200 people, live here, enough to keep a small school open. The villages are famous for their tower houses, three to five storeys high and mostly built between the 9th and 12th centuries; isolation preserved them better than in Mestia, and Chazhashi has been protected as a museum-reserve. The Lamaria church on a hill above Zhibiani has frescoes of Georgia's golden age, and Mikhail Kalatozov filmed his 1930 documentary "Salt for Svanetia" here. Ushguli, Mestia and the surrounding area were inscribed as the Upper Svaneti World Heritage Site in 1996.
Interesting facts
- In 2008 Georgia issued a series of postage stamps dedicated to Shkhara, and a street in Tbilisi carries its name.
- Beknu Khergiani, who opened the classic south route, is remembered for removing the German flag from Elbrus in 1943.
- The lichen Hypogymnia subduplicata has been recorded in Georgia only on the south slope of Shkhara.
- There is no vegetation above about 3,700 m; the alpine meadows between 2,100 and 3,000 m are used as summer pastures by the people of Ushguli.
FAQ
How high is Shkhara? 5,193 m according to a 2010 DGPS survey; older maps give 5,201–5,203 m. It is the highest point of Georgia.
Can I hike to Shkhara without climbing? Yes. The walk from Ushguli to the Shkhara glacier is about 9 km one way with only about 300 m of gain and takes about five hours return.
How long does it take to climb Shkhara? At least two days on the mountain, plus approach and acclimatisation; expeditions usually plan a week or more.
How difficult is it? Very. The easiest route, the north-east ridge from Russia, is graded 4B; routes from the Georgian side are 5B and harder. It requires full mountaineering experience.
Do I need a permit? Not on the Georgian side. The Russian side is a nature reserve and border zone requiring a special permit, and crossing the border on the ridge is illegal.
Is there water on the hike? Yes, streams along the track and a café on the way, but filter or boil stream water and carry 1.5–2 litres.
Is there mobile coverage? In Mestia, yes; beyond the villages coverage is poor or absent. The emergency number is 112.
When is the best time to go? June to mid-October for hiking around Ushguli; July to mid-August for climbing.