Chiatura - climbing at last :)

When I knew that I’m going to Georgia I found one some web page that described about 2-3 sport climbing sites in Georgia. I was surprised that I can’t find more. I was in that country and saw many many rocks …

I asked in the Israeli alpine forum if anyone knew anything about climbing in Georgia, all I got was answers about Chiatura. Amir, a friend of mine, connected me to an Iranian climber Nasim Esqhi who climbed in Georgia and opened there some routes.

Nasim told me about Guga Dabrunda – basically Guga is the leading climber in Georgia. He is the one who opened most of the routes and the Crags in Georgia. Unfortunately climbing never got popular there, so even in the bolder in Rustavely they have holds made from regular construction wood.

Guga is a great guy, we met him in Tbilisi and he told us everything about our climbing possibilities in Georgia. He offered us a key from a house in Katshi which is dedicated for climbers for free and we gladly accepted his offer.            

The ride to Chiatura starts at the Didube bus station. It takes 3 hours and should cost 5-7 Lari. We were ripped off and paid 10 Lari. From the Chiatura bus stop we took a taxi to upper Katshi for 15 Lari and we arrived quite late in the night to the green gate which Guga described to us.

On our arrival I thought that we should have paid for a guest house. There was no water, no electricity and all the house was full with cobweb. We found one of the beds which looked clean, opened our sleeping bags and went to sleep, the first night didn’t look that promising.

I woke up early and found the electricity connection – a wire hanged on the main village electricity wire. I went to take some water from the spring which was really close to us and Ira cleaned the house a bit. Situation improved drastically, we had a nice house for ourselves with electricity, water supply which was quite close, and we prepared a nice breakfast.

our bed

our cool house

breakfast

cooking :)

a moment of happiness

water supply

We locked our house, took the gear and headed for the Crag. It was about 15 min away and the way was beautiful. We started to climb in the now forbidden sector near by the monastery (the monks don’t allow people to climb there).  A lot of routes 5-6A bolted nicely by some French volunteer who thought the Georgian guys how to bolt the routes in a safe way.

A break

my lovely climber

ass photo on the 5's sector

This part started to get a lot of sun at about 11 am, and it became too hot. We moved to the Canyon sector which gets shade all day long  5c- 7b. The routes are bolted a bit long but still beautiful interesting routes.

After one climb a local guy offered us some cold water and led us to a monk. The monk's name is Maxim and apparently he is the guy who is responsible for one of the most important Georgian monasteries - the Katshi Sveti.  He was the guy who renovated it and made it so important and known in the world as now. But one day when a Japanese tourist came there and asked to speak to the monk the Church forbidden Maxim to talk to anyone. This was the day when Maxim broke, he didn’t meet the tourist but at the same night he went down from the monastery and didn’t agree to go back up.

The entire situation reached up to the Patriarch of Georgia Nikolai the 2^nd. He offered Maxim to build a new monastery on the other pillar nearby. This was happening when we got there and many of the village people were helping Maxim.

Maxim offered us to join their table for lunch. The food was very basic but tasty, he told us a lot about the monastery and his life. It was very nice.

Maxims new monastery

a bad ass 6A - rocky - i think a 6b maybe +
on the canyon sector

Katshi  sveti from the Canyon sector

In the evening we went for the closest shop which was 30 min away down the hill and had only potatoes and garlic as vegetables, but there was enough stuff for us to prepare a great dinner with a cold beer.

sunset on the monastery

We woke early, went to climb for another day, said our goodbye to Maxim and went up back to our house. We decided to go back to Tbilisi and start our way to the Kazbeg, so we needed only 2 eggs for the morning and few potatoes for the dinner soup. An hour walk to buy those was a bit ridiculous.

I decided to try and buy some from our neighbors. I saw that in one house they had chickens so I assumed that they also would have eggs. We started yelling Gamarjomba (hello in Georgian) and a local lady with a little child came out. I showed her a bill of 5 Lari and asked for 2 eggs and 2 potatoes in Russian, the lady didn’t understand me. Then I tried to imitate a chicken and show the eggs which made her really laugh but still no comprehande :) . She ran and brought another neighbor which spoke Russian and translated my request and after another 2 min the lady came out with 2 eggs and 2KG of potatoes. We explained that we need only 4. She insisted that we take at least 8 and refused to take any money, this caused all the rest of the village to hear that we are there and we speak Russian …

I went to the spring to fill our water. There was a guy that introduced himself as Peso, asking if we drink wine, I got used to this question, and I replied with sure. Peso said 5 min :)

After 10 min I heard a yell with my name. Peso returned with bread, eggplants with walnuts, homemade cheese and 2 liters of great homemade wine. We sat and drunk. Peso spoke bad Russian and I spoke terrible Georgian, but our conversation was from our hearts and it was great and deep. We raised toasts to peace, family, love, Georgia, Israel, and many other. I wanted to thank Peso in some way so I gave him a Hamsa and explained him what it means. This made this huge 120kg man to shed a tear.

After the wine dried out from the bottle, Peso told us that after wine we need to drink coffee and took us to his home to meet his wife Tia , showed us his little boy and gave us to try the local 80% chacha. We spent another 2 hours looking at photos and laughing hard from different jokes.

This great family leaves in a 100 years old amazing house build by peso’s grand grand father. Peso served in the army and saved some money, he is a vet which gets pennies for vaccines he gives to the animals in the village. His wife Tia is a Georgian language teacher but there is no position opened in the area. They live out of his mother’s, Mzia, salary which works as a nurse in the local hospital in Chiatura. Tia should give birth to their second child, a daughter, any time now. Basically they are poor, they prepare their wine, bread and cheese from what they grow, they milk the cow for a milk to their child, they collect wood so they won’t freeze during the winter with their unstable electricity supply, but they are the richest people I saw because of their great hart, they treated us like we are family. They don’t even have an address where I could send a post card to, and a computer is a science fiction.

with Peso and Tia

All together

Peso and his family will stay in my soul for many years from now. I have never seen people that have so little but give that much. Peso gave me his photo, and I promised him that he will visit New Zealand (I’m right now on a plain to it) and the photo is with me. So the question left is how do I send him the photo of him in New Zealand.

Great people on your way – this is why I travel.

Madloba Peso, genatsvali !!!

In the morning we took a taxi to Chiatura. Peso went to pick up wood, but came back to give us a hug, I almost cried.

 

Last view on the valley