The Caucasus Mountains have always attracted people with their amazing beauty, grandeur, inexplicable strength and inaccessibility. A huge number of works of art have been dedicated, and to this day are dedicated, to these majestic snow-capped peaks. Great legends and declarations of love for such amazingly beautiful places are composed!
One of the picturesque corners is a mountain peak, which can be read about in this article. Here you can find out where Mount Kazbek is located (in which republic), what makes it remarkable and what its features are.
The very first ascents to it began in the settlement of Kazbegi, owned by Georgia. The researcher who first conquered the peak of Kazbek and performed meteorological and geological research there is A.V. Pastukhov (Russian surveyor). This happened in 1889. 60-year-old Tsarakhov Tepsariko (Ossetian conductor) climbed to the top with him.
Where is Kazbek Gora located?
The photo of one of the greatest peaks of the Caucasus is amazing. And what does a person at the foot of this mountain feel? To understand, it must be felt.
Mount Kazbek (height 5047 m) is located on the Georgian-Russian border (is the eastern part of the Lateral Range). It has been known about since ancient times. The mountain with an ice peak for centuries attracts people with its incredible strength and magical beauty. The landscapes of those places where Kazbek Mountain is located are magnificent.
Description
From a height of more than 3300 meters, the slopes of Mount Kazbek are covered with eternal melting snow, and below this mark - subalpine and alpine meadows. This place includes two peaks: West Kazbek (5015 m) and East Kazbek (5034 m). Strongly torn but powerful glaciers descend from the entire massif in all directions: Gergeti in the southeast, Chach in the north, Devdoraki in the northeast, Abano in the east, Miley (to the Genaldon Gorge from the Maily Plateau) to the north -western. The latter is wider than all the glaciers of the Caucasus.
Kazbek has 2 peaks covered with snow caps: western (5025 m) and eastern (5033.8 m). They are connected by a ridge-saddle (height 5005 m).
Black and pink-gray porous andesitic deposits can be seen in the vicinity of the peak. These are powerful lava flows descending along the southern and eastern slopes to the Darial gorge. Under this layer is the main massif of the mountain, representing shale rocks and low-temperature minerals.
Occurrence
Where Kazbek is located, the giant mountain, numerous legends circulate among the people. In fact, this peak is a sleeping volcano. This is evidenced by the perfectly frozen lava flows viewed here and descending into the famous Darial Gorge.
The origin of this peak, as part of the Caucasus Mountains, began many millions of years ago. In ancient times there was a warm, shallow sea at this place, surrounded by chains of low mountain peaks in some places, which were then the prototype of the modern powerful Caucasian ridge. The existence of a natural reservoir is evidenced by the remains of fossils of coastal and marine inhabitants present in these places. They are of considerable interest to paleontologists.
The eruptions of magma that once occurred brought mineral deposits and stones from the bowels of the earth's crust to the surface. As a result, overburden lava over many centuries led to the gradual elevation of the mountain.
Where Kazbek Mountain is located, the last time the volcano operated in 750 BC. era.
Name history
Kazbek gained its present name only in the 19th century. In Georgian, Kazbek is called "Mkinvartsveri", which literally translates as "a mountain with an ice peak." Ossetians call the mountain "Urskhokh" (Urskhokh), which means "white mountain". For the peoples of Ingushetia, Kazbek is “Bashloam-court”, which in translation from their language sounds like “melting mountain”.
Judging by the reports of the XVI-XVII centuries of the Russian ambassadors in Georgia, Kazbek was called Shat-gora. This name came from the Ingush word "sha", translated as snow or ice. Also, his ambassadors called the snow mountain near the village of Stepantsminda. Subsequently, the current Mount Elbrus began to be called the Chat Mountain.
According to one legend, at the very beginning of the 19th century, at the very foot of the mountain was a settlement owned by Prince Kazbek. First, his name was assigned to one of the villages - Kazbegi, and then they began to name the peak by the name of this settlement.
Different nationalities live in the territories where Kazbek is located. The mountain in each of them is called in its own way.
Natural attractions
It is in these mountainous places that one can feel the breath of freedom and detachment from worldly concerns. Landscapes are striking in their fantastic beauty. However, here nature can demonstrate its unpredictability: the gentle warm sun can suddenly give way to a gusty wind with rain and even snow. And yet, it is always romantic here.
Particularly curious and unique in terms of natural landscapes is Mount Kazbek, where the mysterious Betlemskaya Cave is located. It is believed that innumerable treasures of Queen Tamara are hidden in this place, even though from ancient times this cave was a monastery for men.
There is one tradition that many did not believe. It says that the monks climbed into this cave through iron chains. And in fact, Georgian climbers in the mid-forties discovered a piece of a similar chain and an iron gate that led there. Inside the cave, candlesticks, refectory and cutlery were discovered.
Where Kazbek is located, the mountain at the very foot also has hot mineral springs, turbulent streams of the famous Terek River flow there, and the famous historical Georgian Military Highway (IOT) also passes.
In conclusion, one legend
There is one beautiful, but sad legend. This is a story about the two most inseparable friends - Elbrus and Kazbek. They were always there - both on the battlefield and at the fun feast. Elbrus was strong and wise, and Kazbek a handsome young man. Everyone knew that while they were together, no one could defeat them, and they would not let them attack their villages.
Once the enemies sent to the hot and young Kazbek those who had slandered his friend Elbrus, saying that he was laughing at him behind him. Then gullible Kazbek began to move away from his faithful companion.