BREAKING NEW TRAILS IN THE Caucasus
We sat on twin boulders, holding our breath in hope that the sun’s light might slip through the clouds to give us a sunrise show over Mount Kazbek. A local dog had followed us to the viewpoint, seeming to mirror our enthusiasm and exhaustion. Every few minutes, as we gazed to the east, a gentle yawn from one of us would set the others off. I hadn’t seen my cameraman this relaxed in the presence of a canine since we landed in Georgia.
We were weary from a poor night’s sleep at 3,001m, as well as our pre-dawn alarm to catch this golden hour. We had run from Omalo to Kazbegi, usually a 10-day journey for hikers, but we had neatly packed it into a three-day run. Half of our trip was complete. By the end, we would have accumulated 335km (208 miles) and more than 20,000m (68,000+ feet) of vertical ascent in 11 days of running.
It wasn’t the most spectacular sunrise, even if we were in a seriously spectacular place. But adventures often stray from the plan, especially when you bring a photographer with you on a self-propelled, mountain running adventure through the wilds of the Caucasus.
The dark clouds that had encircled Mt Kazbek’s 5,033m peak the day before had all but dissipated, allowing us to run to her glacier and back in time to catch a
