Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

Top: Mt Shkhara, Georgia's tallest, at sunset, holding onto the sun long after the foreground buildings can on account of being much higher than they are

Middle 2: walking towards Shkhara

Bottom: a waterfall in central Svaneti on the way up to Ushguli

Best View in the Caucasus...?

(Welcome to the newest countries to stop by the blog: Cayman Islands and El Salvador!)

Only one picture for now, but it's a recent favourite, a scanned film 2-frame panorama from early this year. Ushguli, of course, the top part - Zhibiani, with Mt. Shkhara, highest in Georgia at just over 5000 m, lit by sunset. It's actually about 7 km from the village; its great height and the air's clarity make it seem a short walk away.
The mountain to the right is Lamaria, 1 km or so above the village, and at its base is Lamaria Church and tower.
The left-most complete house is the Ratianis', where I wintered from November 23, 2007 to February 23, 2008; its lone window at left is from my bedroom.

Etseri and Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

Top: Ushguli. I love the look of old fences in winter, strung together from whatever's at hand. From far enough away they take on the look of that sublime Japanese brush ink painting of the simplest strokes on white paper, looking effortless but requiring enough hard practice time that the artist can say, "This took me... 20 years and 10 minutes to produce."

Second: Mt Shkhara and Lamaria Church again - different moods from anything seen before, never to be repeated

Third: More winter fences, Etseri

Fourth: Goats and pigs in the sun, Ushguli

More from Ushguli, Svaneti, Georgia

It was really a privilege to live in Ushguli this last winter, as I hope my photographs demonstrate. (The middle shot of these 5 is of Mt Ushba from Etseri, Svaneti, which I visited in January.) It was the essence of winter, not really for cold but for amount of snow and the feeling of being shut in. But there was much beauty as well.

Georgia: People & Places

FINALLY finished scanning all 20 rolls of film from my last winter in Ushguli, Svaneti. I could have shot much more than this in the 5 months that I was there, but simply getting film from way up there was the problem, actually. Some November-December 2007 previews, including, from the top:

1st - Lamaria Church with Mt Shkhara backdrop, always spectacular

2nd - reflections in a large moonshine bottle
3rd - view through a ruined house's window

4th - one of my favourite views, from up high near the Tamar's tower overlooking the bottom of the village

5th - the top of the village by moonlight, tripod-mounted shot

... So I went down to the village of Etseri at the end of January for the funeral of a lady I'd known there. She was 85 and had been bedridden for more than 10 years, with 3 unmarried children looking after her. I expected to be away a week, but my free ride back up to Ushguli took over 2 weeks. Thus the delay in new posts to the blog...

Here are some pictures from just before I left for Etseri, to be followed soon by some from Etseri itself.

Bottom - General shot of Ushguli with cool clouds over Mt Shkhara.

Snow has TEXTURE! (Well, especially if it's old.)

Snow has FORM! (Well, if the things under it do.)

Top - Tony on Skis! I went down one slope in deep powder, once, and fell over halfway down. But it's a start.

Happy Old New Year from Ushguli! More on this important holiday soon.
Back online after a long delay. I lost internet capability after Jan. 1, and it's taken me this long to get through to the Magti mobile offices during the very busy and often closed Orthodox holiday season...

Here are a few shots from Ushguli of late:

Mt. Shkhara at sunset (above) and dawn (bottom), both from Lamaria Church. It was nearly -20 C with a light wind blowing when I trudged up to the church for these photos, but the view makes it worth it every time.

View of Ushguli from Lamaria Church's watchtower window (top) - it's been clear and cold for weeks now, down to as much as -22 C at night, really beautiful each day. School is off until Jan. 22, so I have time off from English teaching for photographs, video, writing, etc. More posting soon...

Ushguli, December 4, 2007

I spoke too soon. Uploading pictures is not so bad, after all - doable, at least.

These photos are both from my cellphone camera (the only way you're going to get pictures from me in reasonable time for the next few months, as film developing and my scanner are a long way away now), from a jaunt I made up to a favourite spot for viewing Ushguli. Jaunt? The snow was up to 2 1/2 feet deep and I was wearing rubber boots, plus 7 layers on my upper body. But I got there and shot the photos and some video too. Going back down took about 10 minutes as opposed to about an hour. This was because "up" needed me to tack (zigzag) up the relatively steep hillside in that deep snow; whereas "down" was straight, buoyed up by all the same snow. Wonderful! The bottom shot is towards Mts Shkhara (left) and Lamaria (right) and the upper parts of the village, where I live; the top shot is of the lower part of the village, the angle I trudged up to get.

Ushguli, late October-early November 2007

Top: Vittorio Sella's late 19th century picture of this hill from the other side shows four of Tamar's towers; now, about 120 years later, one is complete at right, and another ruined at left. I was told there were nine in the Middle Ages.

Second down: the carved wooden door of the church second from the top in the village.

Bottom two: a view of Mt Shkhara through autumn leaves, the day before our great snowfall, as seen in the final shot for today.

Greetings Vietnam - 64th country to view the blog! Yesterday, under "Viewers by country" I added:
- a del.icio.us button for those who wish to rave about the blog;
- a world map showing where it's day and night;
- a weather report for Mestia, Svaneti, which is as close as I could get to Ushguli, some 44 km away. Now you can get an instant, daily idea of what the climate is like not far from where I'll be spending this winter.

Ushguli, August 2007

The same as yesterday, only different.

Shkhara Glacier, Svaneti, August 2007

Walking towards the glacier, above Ushguli, alongside rocks stained iron-red and a mighty little river fed by the meltwater.

Svaneti, August 2007

Today may be the first time I've synchronised video and photographs - same time, same place.

Above, with my 2 American friends on a walk towards Mt Ushba (which hid soon after we saw it) from Mestia.

Below, on another walk, this time towards the magnificent glaciers of Mt Shkhara above Ushguli.

Ushguli, August 2007

Mt Shkhara... Lamaria Church... and, above, a church bell.

Ushguli, August 2007

Bottom: One of the village's churches.
Middle: The school where I plan to teach English this winter, starting in early November if my Georgian visa comes through.
Top: Lamaria Church and Mt Shkhara at the top of the village. Every day new weather, new light to show off the familiar in new ways.

Svaneti Walk, June 2007 (top to bottom)

Above Ushguli.

Top clip: crossing another stream as we walk towards the Shkhara Glacier. It was as cold as the histrionics indicate.

Bottom clip: another look at the unbelievable amount of snow remaining in June.

Ushguli, July 2007

We're back in Ushguli from K'ala after Kvirikoba. The afternoon return walk of c. 10 km was much hotter - and dustier, thanks to all the cars making the trip as well - than the walk down had been. Enough so that by the end of it I could beat choking clouds of road dust from my clothes.

Bottom - an old church lock worthy of The DaVinci Code.

Then, church bell, followed by Mt Shkhara.

Top - an Ushguli tattoo for you.

Svaneti, July 2007

Some of the scanned images from my early morning walk up above Ushguli which resulted in the 2-shot pond reflection panorama of a few days ago.

Bottom, Tamar's Tower fortress at about 7 am.

Next up, part of the Shkhara glacier wall towering over a tiny Lamaria Church.

Then: Ushba at top left of the frame; part of Ushguli at bottom centre, and the Tamar Tower fortress at bottom right.

Next up, the entire Shkhara wall and Valley, again with tiny Lamaria Church at bottom.

Finally, above, the Shkhara pond reflection again, a single-frame shot.

What a privelege to have such scenery to photograph, and such good weather for it! Is it any wonder that I feel driven to do what I do when I'm in the mountains?