28 August, 2018

The story of the throat, or how we ended up on Mars

Category: Hiking

At 6 am on August 18, we gathered in Dedaeni Garden, packed up, and, laughing and giggling, we headed down to the village of Okrokana, where our unforgettable adventure began.

We walk uphill slowly, slowly approaching the sky, feeling our heartbeats racing, the huge mountains looming behind us quickly, the colors blending together, the sun playing with us, but not enough to burn us, and clouds cover our heads.

We had almost covered half of the way, there were still a few bends left before the trail began. We could hear footsteps from somewhere in the distance, and as we approached the bend a few meters later, we met a shepherd who was coming from the Khorisari plateau to bring water and a gun. When we asked him what he needed the gun for, he replied: A bear killed two of my sheep last night, and tonight I have to go and kill them. He promised to bring you water. The spring had dried up due to the extreme heat. The shepherd's story made all six of us tear up, and we all realized that a great extreme adventure awaited us. It was impossible to even think about retreating.

After meeting the shepherd, everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. At some point, we thought about what we wanted, where we were going. There was silence for a few seconds, but as soon as we turned off the road and the trail began, that's when every muscle, every cell, every nerve came to life and I took a deep breath so that my lungs would expand well, my heart and brain would receive enough oxygen, so that I could cope with my emotions.

We climb higher, higher, only the sky is visible, not the end of the pass. You think you've reached the top, but no, you still see the same thing you saw half an hour ago. The mountain is endlessly high. The higher I am, the more I feel the urge to go to the bottom, to see what's behind it, why it's so inaccessible, and why every step is so difficult for us.

Before leaving, I had heard a lot about the difficulty of the road, everyone warned me that if I wasn't physically well prepared, I wouldn't be able to do it with a heavy backpack. This, of course, was motivation to at least prove to myself - I can do it, I just have to want it and I will definitely succeed! I didn't need many admonitions, the motivation was already so great, I thought I would do it all with my feet and a heavy backpack, but with my hands, and this road, this pass, which allows me to get so close to it with such difficulty, gives me more incentive and makes my desire to climb higher even stronger.

Finally, it was over and we climbed to the edge of the sky. That was when I first felt where my esophagus began and ended in my body. A few seconds later, I realized that my mouth was open and my eyes were wide. The blood on my forehead was even more intense and I felt a hundredfold increase in energy, knowing that “I am still where I am”.

After a short break, we continued our journey. We crossed millennia-old volcanic rocks, ascents, descents, and reached the beautiful Khorisari volcanic plateau.

Imagine huge mountains.. A field at the foot of the mountains with lush green grass, perfectly straight and surprisingly calm. When you see such a huge peak looming over you, Mr. Khorisar , which sometimes trembles and is covered with clouds, you realize that nature is the only thing that will definitely drive you crazy with its wonders, nature is the only thing where you feel the closeness of every cell of your body to it and you realize how invisible and small you are against the background of its greatness. You feel every nerve, every vein and capillary, every atom that makes up your body. You open your nostrils wide to breathe in its amazing scent more, you don't move because you want to listen to its voice, you don't blink your eyes so as not to miss anything, and you stand there dumbfounded before it. You no longer feel tired, nor the weight of your bag, nor hunger, nor thirst. You walk with a shrug, trying not to accidentally disturb the peace that reigns around you.

Somehow I woke up and temporarily got rid of this emotion. We had to set up the tent before it started raining, we had to eat and sleep, we had a long way ahead of us. Ahead of us was a flock of sheep, fat ones walking here and there. This flock belonged to the shepherd we met on the road and who we were waiting for, although we didn't know that they were dogs, very vicious and very big. We set up the tents, talked a little, shared our emotions, and at that moment the rain started. We went into the tents. It was raining heavily for several minutes, we thought it would never stop, but nature, what nature does, surprises you - everything stopped in an instant and the bright sun came out. As soon as we were about to leave the tents and face the sun, we see five huge sheep coming towards us, barking and running. We decided to go back to the tents, staying outside would definitely end badly. They surrounded us. We talked to each other from tent to tent, they were more annoyed by our voices and attacked us worse. There was no other way, we couldn't go out until the shepherd returned, but when, no one knew. This was the first feeling of fear, although we still had everything ahead of us and we were all still waiting for the bear.

What do you want me to do?

We complain and feel sad that the dogs didn't get us the sun and we encourage each other by shouting from the tents. Time passed.. We had completely given up hope that the shepherd would come and we got used to staying in the tent until morning. After a while, we heard whistling, it was clear that a person was whistling and we started to hope, maybe it was a shepherd or someone else and the dogs would divert their attention there. The shepherd returned. We clapped our hands in unison, we shouted, or whatever. In short, no one was happier than us at that moment. The dogs started up in unison and ran towards their owner, and we also came out of the tents. We were happy like little children, we breathed deeply in the air, congratulating each other.

The shepherd approached us and brought us the promised water. He told us stories of mountain life. I don't think so, and you will probably agree with me that the most sincere people in the world are shepherds. Despite the fact that they spend almost their entire lives in the mountains, in wild conditions, watching only sheep, and every night brings a high probability of dealing with game, they are still the most humane and warmest. They have plenty of time to think. They are far from betrayal, hypocrisy, and all kinds of falsehood. They are at one with nature and live by the laws of the mountain.

He told us everything in a short time. He offered us coffee, tea, and food, showed great attention, and encouraged us, saying, "You are welcome, call us early in the morning and everything will be easier for you, don't be afraid. If you need anything, I am here and will be by your side." We also gave him everything we could, although this was not enough for the great generosity we felt from him.

The shepherd went to the flock, the sheep greeted him with a bleating, mee, mee, a scene like that of a long-gone parent returning home and rejoicing with the children. We slowly recovered from our impressions. We were cold, and we hurried into the tent to get warm clothes. As we left, a grand procession met us.

We ran like crazy, took a million photos near the fog, we were happy, we loved it, we were happy. In the meantime, it was night, we returned to the tents, we are all afraid of bears, but we don't tell each other. In principle, we don't even tell ourselves, although we know exactly what each other's thoughts are.

Tired, we soon fell asleep. We had a long way to go and we definitely needed rest to regain our strength, but still, we all waited for the bear and cheered on the shepherd, who was about to sleep in the flock of sheep.

It's midnight.. My ears are ringing from all the noise, I can feel the blood rushing to my forehead and my own heartbeat vibrating so much, I've pulled my sleeping bag up to the brim so I can somehow drown out the noise. I'm reassuring myself that if anything happens, I'm not alone and I'll wake someone up, or something will come to my tent and do a thousand stupid things..

As soon as I fell asleep... Suddenly the dogs were barking, the flock was noisy, it was clearly a stampede, we were all expecting the sound of gunshots, we knew for sure that the bear had visited the shepherd again. I felt that every cell in my body was boiling, my heart was about to burst, I felt a heat in my face, my mouth was completely dry and I couldn't find the words to say anything, or even make a sound at all.

As suddenly as the noise erupted, it instantly became completely quiet.. There was no sound, as if the earth had swallowed them all together. My breath was burning, my heart was pounding, my bones ached. I still felt the heat on my face and my whole body. I slowly calmed down, my emotions were tiring me, my heart was also tiring me, I wanted to sleep. Despite this terrible moment, I didn't think at all that it was over and that this was my last night, or that something could end badly. On the contrary, I wanted the dawn to break soon, the Kelitsadi Lake was waiting for me ahead.

The warmth of the sun wakes me up from my slumber, a wonderful morning has dawned, warm and bright, as if nothing had happened last night, as if nothing had ever happened. Perhaps that's how it is in the mountains - the day is very happy, the night - very dangerous. However, all this changes into such a contrast that during the day you can't imagine the horror of the endless night, and at night you can't even imagine how the sun can warm your blood boiling with fear.

We came out of the tent, took a deep breath of air, and congratulated each other on the start of a new day. Morning grace is always associated with coffee for me, so coffee in the mountains has a completely different taste. For complete bliss, coffee was accompanied by a completely different view of the Queen of the Gorge, Mrs. Mkinvartsveri. Of course, as always, she stood above us with slightly rolled clouds and wished us a peaceful morning.

We had breakfast, took down our tents, got ready. We set off on the road... the road that led to Lake Kelitsadi . We went around the Khorisar volcano on the left. We crossed the slope. We slowly began to climb higher.

As soon as the plateau ended, a multitude of huge, tightly packed rocks began to rise. These were volcanic rocks that were formed tens of millions of years ago and have been here ever since, huddled together.

The terrain turned out to be more difficult than we thought. Jumping over boulders with a heavy bag was not easy, we couldn't keep our balance well.

We climbed 1 hill. We thought it was over and now we would start descending, but no, at the end of the climb, two more huge boulders awaited us. I must admit that my strength was running out and my bag was making me lose my balance, but I had no other choice, I had to go through this. We finally crossed it. Now there was a gray, crumbling stone cliff in front of us. It was very scary to see. When I thought about it, I felt my heart sink. The road went to the right, again full of boulders and it went on forever. I was glad that we had bypassed the cliff, but walking on the rocks, along with my hands and feet, also hurt my nerves. We climbed endlessly, up and up... Perhaps we were too high. Suddenly, the fog fell and nothing was visible at all, and after a while, it started to rain. We were getting wet, the wet terrain made it even more difficult, it was dangerous to walk on wet rocks. We fell behind the team. We kept going. Suddenly, we saw Irma and Shota sitting on a large boulder, covered with a large parka. We also took cover and waited for him to take a picture. We sat like that for about 40 minutes - under the parka. The rain would stop for a few seconds, we thought he would take a picture, but suddenly it would come down in torrents along with the fog. It did this about six times, I counted. We were also worried about Gocha and Kote, they were much ahead of us, but we didn't know where. The rain slowed us down a lot and took up a lot of time.

The rain has stopped. The fog is not going to go away, our vision is difficult, we are walking very slowly on wet stones. After walking a short distance, we began to encounter relatively small, reddish stones that were not close together and disappeared into infinity with the tread of our feet. We are wet, we are cold, the weight of our bags bothers us, but this is no longer important. The main thing is to walk a little faster, so that we can get down and see the road, and find Kote and Gochats.

We climbed another hill. The fog cleared up a bit and the road became relatively easier for us. We followed the road to the end. We reached the edge, from where the descent began. The first fierce emotion of the gorge - not far away, lying in the mountains, covered with clouds above, awaits us. It was a sight that you will not see anywhere else, it was an emotion that nothing can make you feel. Very tired, wet, and frozen, we forgot everything. We were crying like little children and waving our hands towards the lake.

It was getting dark... We had to reach the lake by all means before it got completely dark. We were cold, our legs were weak. We still couldn't see Kote and Gocha. We started to descend.

The climb is difficult, but the descent is equivalent to death. Stones, stones and more stones. Here it is already mixed - in some places loose, in others thin, in others tightly packed. I am cold. My bag weighs me down, my knee hurts, I can tell that my legs cannot react in time, my reflexes are broken, my movements are slowed down. My hands are numb from the cold, frozen. With every step I thought, I can't go any further, I can't go all the way down, I have no strength, I can't feel my knees... The end is not in sight, I don't know where I should go down, it is foggy, but I can't see anyone around, I am alone. No one hears my voice, I don't have the strength to call out to anyone.

I tried my best to hold myself in my hands. I looked at the lake...there were no clouds above it and it was beautiful, turquoise, calm, carefree. I'll come to you anyway - I told her and gathered all my strength. I landed, I stepped on my feet, but my reflexes still don't work well, although I'm brave. I look at the lake - I'm filled with hope, I'm going down. I thought, I can't stop here, I don't know who is where, I can't see anyone, I can't hear anyone's voice, there's only a whisper that comes from the clouds and motivates me.

As soon as I got down a little, the fog was gone and I saw Kote and Gocha who had come down, their sleeping bags spread out and waiting for us. The rest were scattered down, I was the last one and there was a long distance between us. Seeing them gave me the last bit of strength and I finally got down. I got down very quickly, I put my bag in the bag, as soon as I straightened up, I didn't say anything to anyone and I immediately lay down. I don't know if it was from pain, happiness or something else, but tears came to my eyes involuntarily. The guys made me some anakomi soup. Believe me, I couldn't have eaten it so deliciously in any high-class restaurant. I was in complete bliss, I wasn't cold anymore, only my knees hurt, it was beating right in my heart. We still had a long way to the lake ahead...

After a short rest, we packed up again and got ready to leave... It started pouring rain again, we took shelter in Shota Park again, and we lost a lot of time waiting to take pictures. The sun hadn't set yet. We prepared flashlights, thinking we would have to walk at night, but we were lucky, Elia spared us and Mrs. Kelitsadi showed us around in broad daylight.

I don't know how to explain to you, how and in what words to convey what I felt after seeing it. First of all, I couldn't believe that I was 3068 meters above sea level and looking at this merciless beauty. I couldn't believe that I could touch it with my hands; I couldn't believe that I could smell it and hear its voice... I don't know, I can't describe my feelings to you, so I won't bore you anymore.

We are in a completely different world. In front of us is Lake Kelitsadi , huge, turquoise and calm. The peak of Sherkhota rises above it. We approach it with shuffling steps, avoiding it. We all become silent together, I can hear my own breathing...

We set up our tents. It was cold. We had dinner, shared all the emotions we felt on the way, what we experienced when we arrived at the lake, and fell asleep sweetly.

The night was calm, not cold, but it was raining. In the morning, the sun shone on us for a while, trying to dry our wet clothes from last night and covering the clouds. The cold was also slowly clearing its forehead, as if it didn't like the unexpected guests. We got up... We had our morning coffee, had breakfast, sat by the lake, took photos from all angles, set up our tents and happily set off for home.

We followed the road. We crossed the pass. Beyond the pass, we found a completely different world. In my opinion, this is exactly what the planet Mars is like. Untouched and untamed wildlife, towering mountains, volcanic rocks, lakes... Sherkhota is also following us, he hasn't yet hidden his eyes. I come and look back and forth, I can't take my eyes off him and I can't believe where I am.

We checked the GPS almost every half hour, hoping that we wouldn't get lost or take unnecessary detours. For some reason, we didn't even remember the GPS when we left the lake. Well, that's where we made a mistake, for which we bitterly regretted it.

We crossed the pass, small volcanic hills. Eventually the terrain leveled out and we crossed a rolling field. We came across a river on the way, cold and bubbling. Since we had plenty of time (we thought so at the time), we stopped and rested, showered, sprayed our faces, and warmed our feet. We had everything for complete relaxation.

Now it was time to look at the GPS and decide whether we should hurry or not... We looked at the GPS and saw that we were at a dead end, we saw that we were in Java, which is an occupied territory. There was a river valley ahead. Going this way would have taken us to some village in Samachablo, which would not have been good. The other way that the GPS showed us was a large, very hard and gray rocky massif, impassable... It was impossible to get there, the terrain was very bad, loose stone and a steep slope. We sat down at the foot of the cliff and thought about what to do, where to go. There were two extremes. Opinions were divided, Gocha and Shota said that we should return to the lake and go back the way we came... I stubbornly refused this path and was ready to go down to Samachablo or at least stay here. I could not physically walk that path, I could not walk on those stones and those slopes again. We all unanimously decided to call 112, but in vain. The call was going through and the operator answered us in Russian that we were dialing the wrong number. Well, because we were in occupied territory.

In short, there was no other way, Kote said, we had to get our heads down and climb this massif, there would definitely be a way in somewhere. This was the hardest thing to hear and then imagine for me. I had no other way, I really couldn't stay there and I couldn't turn back. We gathered all our strength and set off, slowly climbing the height sideways. The climb began to get steep, the stones were falling, it was impossible to climb there on two feet, you had to be on all fours. No sideways movement. With every step, a stone would slide, it was very dangerous. The slightest backward tilt and my bag would make me lose my balance. I would fall into such an abyss, probably no one would find me, or if they did, I would be covered with stones.

There was no point in complaining, we all started climbing without hesitation. It took a huge effort to drag the bag and body up the hill together. My hands hurt, stones cut me, my legs burned so much that they hurt, I was bleeding, I couldn't help myself, I couldn't take off my bag. The sun was beating down, I wanted water, I couldn't get any water, I couldn't straighten up. There was a huge distance ahead, covered by the steps of a tortoise. I couldn't think of anything except that I had to get to the end. Along the way, I came across bear tracks, and new tracks. This stressed me out even more. There was no time to give up, no time to complain. Every second was of the utmost importance. We shouldn't get up late, we wouldn't find our way and we wouldn't stay there.

Zura was walking ahead. Having climbed halfway, he left his bag to see if there was a way down, if our orange had any sense. He barely climbed and called us from there that it would be possible to go down. It would be difficult, but he would go down. We couldn't leave his bag on the middle of the rock. Kote grabbed Zura's bag along with his 18kg bag and continued down the terrible path. I couldn't help him in any way. I had no strength left. We only encouraged each other with words. Finally, we reached the top. We looked back and what do we see - a completely steep descent, sandy with a relief of broken stones. A place where it was absurd to hold on to your feet. Imagine, a cliffside that occasionally got sun and the snow had melted. The sides were completely covered with ice. Sliding down the ice was like tearing your body to pieces. Ahead was a dry riverbed, filled with huge, jagged boulders.

Zura was the first here too. He dropped his bag and warned us not to come down... He himself ran down with some unearthly strength and was down in a few minutes. We started to stumble, the stones were falling very quickly and dangerously when we were going down. We couldn't all go down together, we had to go down separately so that the stones wouldn't hurt anyone. This was also taking up our time unnecessarily.

As I mentioned before, going downhill is like death to me. But it was still a miracle. I couldn't put my foot on anything, choose the right trajectory, or follow a path, or step on someone's foot. Everything was falling apart and I was going down. My hands were stuck in the ground, trying to keep my balance. I couldn't stand. Kote was dragging his bag and Zura's bag together. He didn't roll it, he pulled it back, the stones were like razors. Kote and I had covered very little distance, the others had almost fallen. I had no strength left, neither in my arms nor, especially not in my legs. I forgot about the weight of the bag, my shoulders were numb. I was completely focused on maintaining my balance. When I couldn't stand, Kote would barely reach me with two bags and scoop up dirt with his hands, fisting me, "Put it here..."

Partial view of the descent and full view of the valley from the summit

It was getting dark... it was getting colder... when we finally arrived. From above, it looked like the river valley was close. We headed towards the river valley. As we turned back, the darkness was joined by torrential rain. We found another large rock and covered ourselves with a parka. Of course, this also took us a lot of time, it was raining non-stop for at least 1 hour. We couldn't walk on the boulders and rocky terrain in the rain, visibility was almost zero. Even when we turned on the flashlight, we couldn't see anything because of the fog. We all tried to call 112 one by one, but the phone wouldn't pick up, it wouldn't go through. It's already 9 o'clock. We have a locust called in to Ketris, we should have arrived by this time if we hadn't been stranded. In this situation, it was impossible to even move, the rain was pouring down and the thunder was thundering...

Finally, the rain stopped. We followed the river valley. Stones and gravel, no handholds, huge boulders. One small mistake and somewhere the darkness would swallow us up. We all walked in pairs, holding hands, keeping each other's balance. Every 5 minutes - Kote, look down, what does the GPS say, will we arrive soon?

There were so many ups and downs, I couldn't even count them, and finally it was over. The road wasn't over... After each downslide, the sound of the river got louder and we realized we were close. Again - Kote, look at the GPS, will we get there soon?

The terrain was already green, we moved onto grass, but there were hills. Because of the tall grass, I tripped many times, and my knee pain was compounded by ankle pain. We had no strength left. That's all we ate in the morning, we hadn't eaten anything at all, and the stress had completely drained our energy. We weren't going to break. We definitely had to go to a camping site. Even if there was only one place for a tent.

The sound of the river is getting louder, the wind is blowing, damp and the smell is felt, we realize that we are close. One small hill... Zura went up and shouted that there is a campsite, we are setting up the tent here. It is already 00:30. It is not so cold anymore. Everything is wet... We suddenly set up the tent, congratulated each other on our survival. I don't remember how I fell asleep.

The weather was good in the morning. We didn't get up early, no one woke us up, we were tired. We had breakfast, had our morning coffee, wrung out the last of our clothes, undressed, and set off.

I had a feeling as if I was about to start hiking, I was full of energy. My legs hurt, I was walking slowly. ?

Tags: #Lake