Mount Kazbek
Mount Kazbek, one of the chief
mountains of the
Caucasus, is located in modern-day
Georgia, dominating the town of
Kazbegi near the border with
North Ossetia. It is the third highest mountain in Georgia (after Mount
Shkhara and
Janga) and the seventh highest peak in the Caucasus Mountains.Georgians call the mountain
Mkinvari meaning "
glacier" or "Ice Mountain".
Kazbek is located on the
Khokh Range, a mountain range which runs north of the
Greater Caucasus Range, and which is pierced by the gorges of the Ardon and the
Terek. The mountain itself lies along the edge of the
Borjomi-Kazbegi Fault (which is a northern sub-ending of the
Anatolian Fault). The region is highly active
tectonically, with numerous small
earthquakes occurring at regular intervals. An active
geothermal/
hot spring system also surrounds the mountain. Kazbek represents a
dormant volcano, built up of
trachyte and sheathed with
lava, and has the shape of a double cone, whose base lies at an altitude of 1,770m (5,800 ft). Kazbek is the highest of the volcanic cones of the
Kazbegi volcanic group which also includes
Mount Khabarjina (3142 metres).
Owing to the steepness of its slopes, the glaciers of Kazbek are not very large. The total combined area of all of Kazbek's glaciers is 135 km². The recent collapse of the
Kolka Glacier in 2002 was attributed to
sulphuric volcanic activity on the northern slope of the mountain, although there was no eruption. The best-known glacier is the Dyevdorak, which creeps down the north-eastern slope into a gorge of the same name, reaching a level of 2,295m (7,530 ft). At its eastern foot runs the
Georgian Military Road through the
pass of Darial 2,378m (7805 ft).
The summit was first climbed in 1868 by D. W. Freshfield, A. W. Moore, and C. Tucker, with a Swiss guide.
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Kazbek on Peakware - photos
