Ushguli, Svaneti, June 2007

I'm off again to the mountains for a week, likely away from the blog all that time. Just before I leave, a few more photos.

A final walk before departure from Ushguli, to the Tamar's Tower fortress high above Ushguli. Always a slippery half-climb up a stream bed of sharp slate scree, but mercifully only about 45 minutes, including a most gratifying horizontal stretch to the fortress itself. Sunset a reward, then quick scramble down, flashlights in hand as we had ben expecting twilight to catch us.

Ushguli, Svaneti, June 2007

Bottom three: a view from, and two views of, the Ratianis' "Twin Towers", the only such pair of Svan towers. Anzor took us up for a look, dragging a ladder up all four floors. I envision three faces set into the windows in the same vein as my May 15, 2007 "Spirit of the Watchtower" composition, so the middle of these three shots is a reference picture towards that work.

Top four: Ushguli has so many different angles, obvious even during a short stay. The topmost picture had me almost lying in the puddle on the road, and I decided to leave a bit of my T-shirt and jeans in the frame (left edge). What a photographer will do for the unusual scene!

Shkhara Glacier Walk, Ushguli, Svaneti, June 2007

Jeff and I spent an "easy" day walking towards the Shkhara glacier at the top end of Ushguli - about 6 hours total, but at least there was little change of altitude to it! We did have to ford an icy , nearly knee-deep stream in bare feet, but Peter Nasmyth's great guide book, Walking in the Caucasus - Georgia, had prepared us for that. We didn't even reach the glacier, but were quite satisfied with the distance and the views. 2nd from the bottom is a wall of ice and snow (in late June!), 3-4 m thick, which we had to skirt going out; returning, I realised that this carried quite a risk of burying us if it fell over, so we went around it, much more sensible.

Three Sets of Critters, Ushguli, Svaneti, June 2007

The cow and chickens were relatively quiet. But the goat kid, peeking out from its 2nd-storey window, more than made up for them with its insistent bleating. Perhaps it was crying for rescue from becoming table fare; or perhaps just insecure at the unfamiliar surroundings and lack of family. In any case, its location near the room where Jeff and I were staying made us quite aware of it, regularly.