Majestic Mountains

Mountains are my happy place. Growing up in the country of Kyrgyzstan, where 93% of the land mass are mountains, I spent a lot of time in my childhood and youth climbing, hiking, and camping in the mountains. They were just always there, only about a 30-min drive from the city, as a natural background to my life. And as something that was always there, I took mountains for granted.

The first time I realized how much I miss them was when I went to Europe for my Master's in mid-1990s. I lived in Budapest for a year and even though it is a city on the hills along the Danube river, of course those are just anthills compared to our mountains.

And then I lived in Manhattan, Kansas for two years, and no mountains in the background was even more pronounced. No matter where you look in Kansas, it was flat and dry, even though the prairies have their own charm (I saw the bison for the first time there).

Over time, I came to realize that all landscapes, mountainscapes, and seascapes on the planet Earth are naturally beautiful. It's only the humans who succeeded in making the Earth's beautiful places ugly by building ugly structures on them and by trashing them.

But back to the mountains: They also used to be my place of power but now that I am ageing climbing and hiking in the mountains becomes more and more strenuous. I still love going there at every opportunity but I take more time to go up the hills and have to catch my breath now and then, which is really distressing for me as it leads to all sorts of thinking about how fragile the human body is and how I may be delaying people in my party. But I still love going to the mountains, even if just to sit there and contemplate life.

In 2025 that is wrapping up, I've been lucky to spend the second part of the year in two extremely mountainous countries: July and August home in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia starting at the end of August. I am totally in my element here and feel very much at home because I can see and explore the mountains any time I wish. I look forward to many more trips before I leave Tbilisi next June.

But for now, allow me to delight you with a photo report on the trips to the mountains I took this year.

1. Ala-Archa National Park

The first trip was to the Ala-Archa National Park just outside of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The city itself is in a valley that is "only" about 800 meters above the sea level on average but Ala-Archa's mountains range from about 1,600 meters at the entrance to nearly 4,900 meters in the deepest glacier part, with the highest point being Semenov-Tian-Shansky Peak at 4,895 meters (16,060 ft).

Ala-Archa is a part of the dramatic Tian Shan range, offering diverse terrain for hiking, trekking, and serious mountaineering on peaks like Korona (4,860m) and Uchitel (4,527m). It's one of my most favorite places in the whole world because it has been recently made accessible by public transportation and the park is now maintained a lot better. It's also where I did most of my own climbing in my youth.

We were lucky with the cool weather and sunshine in Ala-Archa.

Everything is dramatic, even the clouds, in Ala-Archa, perhaps because it is so much closer and clear of the urban pollution.

2. Edelveis Waterfall (cover image)

For the second trip, I took my son and niece to the waterfall outside Bishkek with one of the most experienced mountain guides I befriended in Bishkek. The trip was a pure delight as Davran can tell you lots of interesting stories about the people he meets from all over the world. Earlier, I published a story where Davran was the prototype for the main character.

We made a couple of stops on the way to and from the waterfall to take in the scenery and the scale of the mountains and the valley.

My son really enjoyed the waterfall and took lots of pictures and videos.

3. Tbilisi, capital of Georgia

When I arrived to Tbilisi, I was struck by how both similar and different to Bishkek it was. Similar, because it is also located in the valley in the mountains and there's a lot of alike Soviet-built infrastructure. Different, because Tbilisi is built on the banks of the mighty Mtkvari river that makes the elevation of the city variable, anywhere from 250 to 770 meters above the sea level. It also has many Christian churches and cathedrals, both new and very old from the 6th century, usually sitting on tops of the hills.

I started exploring the city by getting up to one of its high points - Sololaki Hill, atop of which stands arguably the most important symbol of the country, a statue of Mother of Georgia (Kartlis Deda in Georgian), visible from many parts of the city.

I have taken the monument's pictures from different points of the city and in different weather conditions. I could probably write a whole separate story about that.

Some more pictures of the Mother of Georgia

4. Kakheti Wine Region

Even though this eastern region of Georgia is not as high as its northern and southern parts and is considered "flat," it does have high hills and mountains, and its capital Telavi sits in the mountain foothills.

Sighnakhi is one of the most interesting small towns in Georgia where you can sample everything, from food and wine that is still made with the ancient qvevri method, to crafts and culture, and breathtaking views. You can also get married there in 20 min with no prior reservation, hence the City of Love.

5. Kazbegi

This was an incredibly dramatic and impressive trip for me because I saw Mount Kazbegi - one of the tallest mountains in the north of Georgia, of 5,054 meters. I took pictures of it from the iconic Gergeti Trinity Church located on a nearby hill below it.

And on the way to Kazbegi, we stopped at the Monument of the Russian-Georgian friendship built in 1983 on the famed Military Road to commemorate the bicentennial of the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk and to celebrate Soviet Georgian-Russian ties. The site of the monument offered some most dramatic mountain views as well.

6. Vardzia

Vardzia is a famous monastic cave city near the modern Turkey border, where Georgian clans were hiding from various invaders in ancient times. It had been built into the Erusheti Mountain at an altitude of approximately 1300 meters (about 4265 feet) above sea level in a period of 300-400 years. At some point, it housed about 5-9,000 people. In 1283, a major earthquake exposed it and collapsed many of the internal tunnels. It was abandoned after that.

Vardzia's caves extend to various heights, with the highest point reaching around 1,462 meters (4,800 ft). It's a massive complex carved into cliffs along the Mtkvari River, offering stunning views from its various levels. This was the first major test for me as our tour group was climbing the stairs and going through the tunnels and I had to make frequent stops and catch my breath. But it was absolutely worth it.

7. Borjomi

The town with the world-famous mineral water fountain is on the flatter part of the country and the mountains there are not very high, but there is a stunning statue of Prometheus on a cliff with waterfalls in the Borjomi National Park. Prometheus is thought to have endured his punishment for giving people fire in this part of Georgia.

8. Svaneti

Svaneti is the highest region of Georgia in terms of elevation. It is houses both the Svaneti mountains and the Great Caucasus range on the border with Russia. Many of its highest peaks sit right on the border, eg. peaks Shkhelda, Shkhara (highest in Georgia at 5,201 m), Tetnuldi, and two-peaked Ushba. Svaneti impressed me so much that I wrote several stories from that trip, and hope I will be able to go there again in the late spring next year.

Majestic Great Caucasus Range. I have more pictures in the story of our climb to the top of the world linked below.

Here are more of my stories from the trip to Svaneti:

Thank you for stopping by and reading to this point. Hope you enjoyed this tour of mountains.