Great, but challenging trip. Be ready for long walking hours in the snow and be rewarded with the great views and finally the summit. Our guide Levan was very good and helpful. Everything was very well organised starting with the airport transfer, including accommodation, the summit, transport etc. I would definitely recommend this trip.

Exceptional and challenging experience. Our guide Levan was highly skilled, great communicator, and ensured our success reaching the summit.

Amazing trip to an amazing country. It’s a tough trip with weather playing a key role in the success but the guides were excellent by providing training and support to help you get to the top.

Overall a fantastic trip with great guides. The ascent up Mount Kazbek is spectacular but not to be underestimated, given the high altitude and glaciated terrain! My group's ascent was unfortunately hampered by challenging weather conditions, but I had a great experience nonetheless. Most of the trip was spent staying at Altihut which is a very comfortable, though the night spent at Meteo hut is much more basic. It was great to spend some time in Tbilisi at the end of the trip, sampling some of its night-life and exploring the old town.

This trip was nothing less than a 5* experience, a perfect adventure!

After getting your kit squared away at the meeting point, the guides then take over and you begin an incredibly scenic drive to Stepantsminda and the Trinity Church. From here, it's all hiking!

I personally found the kit to be spot on, and there are only a few changes that I would make for myself only as I build my experience at Altitude. We were lucky with the weather so the water didn't freeze in my camelbak on the summit day and I didn't pull my down jacket out once. But I can absolutely understand why that kit is listed as the weather is not normally so perfect (same as any mountain).

I didn't experience any altitude sickness thankfully, and I think that's both in part due to my approach to hydrate as much as possible, rest well, and move slowly, and it's also in part due to the guide's acclimatisation hikes and their advice.

There are no showers from your first day until you return to Stepantsminda/Tbilisi (depends if you use the reserve day). It was no issue for any of us, I'd recommend bringing wet wipes and deodorant to stay reasonably fresh.

Altihut was wonderful. It's built like a small wooden refuge in the Austrian Alps. The staff are incredible, and the views even more so. Really happy with the food too. The room was just one large room and I chose the top bunk bed that looked out the window and had a wonderful view of the sun coming over the mountains the following morning.

At the Meteo Station, aside from the staff and food, it is the complete opposite, but in a borderline humourous way. After all, you are in the mountains, 3650m in the air; what do you expect? Basic facilities, toilet block is 50m away from the main building for obvious reasons when you're there. But again, the people, views, and adventure just keep you smiling!

There are charging opportunities at both places, so if like me your phone is your camera you will be able to charge it each day.

The guides were truly incredible. So comforting, knowledgable, down-to-earth, and professional. The training they gave us before summit day was brilliant too. Make sure you listen to them!

This isn't an easy feat, it really does live up to the max rating MBA offer. The other hikes were tough but perfectly fine for me. The summit day, however, is the hardest physical thing (but possibly the coolest thing?) I've ever done - and I'd do it again! If you're a good hiker and approach acclimatisation with respect then it can be done - but it goes without saying the fitter you are, the easier it'll be. Besides, as we were struggling and pushing on, the guides were perfectly fine, not out of breath, and ready to support when you needed it!

I feel I was also lucky to have all brilliant people on the trip. We all gelled well and worked as a team. A view that was echoed by everyone.

Lastly, every single moment of my week spent here was some of the best I've had and I couldn't recommend this trip more! Book it ASAP, treat the trip with respect and an open mind, and thank me later!

It’s 1am and to be honest yesterday was a hard day. Getting from the Metio to advance base camp meant getting to an altitude of 3600m. Feeling still good and no altitude sickness. Last night found it hard to sleep but I did eventually. Can’t stop thinking about the final push today. We had breakfast at 2am and starting our journey at 3am. Final 1400m to go. Wishing I don’t get altitude sickness. I must get this. I have to. Journey will start on rocks then followed by trekking 800m on glacier. Final push will be 600m incline with crampons and ice axe. It’s 1.12am - Getting up soon. I can hear the wind ands its cold.

17/08/22 3am We started our accent very early and for me the experience of hiking in the dark was bit daunting. It was like entering an uncharted territory that required more than just physical fitness and mindset. More hiking especially in the dark is what I must do. Confidence of foot placing is what’s needed in order for me to build confidence in trekking up steep slopes especially in the dark. This is just a requirement especially when the ice is hard before sunrise.

Getting up to 3200m was tough but as every step led me into new experiences I kept positive. The whole adventure was carefully thought through my MBA and the guides were amazing.

On the final push hiking on very narrow cliffs edges covered with ice was just something I needed more experience with.

In the end I got up to nearly 4000m with 1000m to go. I took my friend Duchi’s advice and made that difficult gut renching decision to turn back.

It wasn’t easy as my eyes filled up with tears and broke down in front of my guide. My Guide my friend was so right. The most difficult decision is when to turn back as the safety of others is always first. The guides here have been encouraging and supportive.

I didn’t make the summit but the journey to self discovery is priceless. I have climbed 4000m without altitude sickness. I remember I struggled on Ben Nevis few years ago. I have now climbed 3 x the height of Ben Nevis and felt I could do more.

The lessons I have learnt are so valuable and this is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

If you want to pursue a dream then MBA can make it happen. In ways I can’t explain i started my journey based on my experiences in life.

Our experiences don’t define us but it is what we learn from experiences shapes us into the people we are.

My goal was clear I want to make a small change to the lives affected by cancer. I have a JG page and MBA and my new friends on my adventure have been true friends and supported me.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/neil-sarpal

The guides, my amazing team of people I met were so encouraging and I felt welcomed along every step the way.

With your huge kindness this is what I am trying to achieve. So at the bottom of my heart thank you so much my journey will continue❤️

Thank you from the bottom of my heart Anil😀

Outstanding trip. If you want to really push yourself, test your legs on every kind of mountainous terrain and your lungs at altitude this is it. The mountain is largely not technical so a great intro to high altitude mountaineering as well as acclimatisation process, staying in nice and not so nice mountain refuges / huts and not showering for 5 days! It’s a great gateway to an expedition feel. The climb is hard and rewarding and the other treks you do around it make the trip worthwhile alone. The guiding company used is second to none - extremely professional, experienced and fun. The whole trip; accommodation, food, times, transport was organised seamlessly.

A few tips - bring a small filter, like a Salomon crushable filter for the glacier water at the Meteo station. Otherwise it’s like drinking sediment. Maybe even bring a few juice drops like Robinson’s for the water too to make it taste good. And some purification tablets. Bring everything on the kit list otherwise you’ll end up buying it in Georgia for a lot. Even if the weather looks like you won’t need something.

Absolutely fantastic trip that was really made by the professionalism and friendliness of the guides. I’ll definitely be coming back to Georgia at some point in the future.

Firstly, the mountain itself and the landscape in which it sits is stunningly beautiful, and whether you make the summit or not, it's a pretty life changing experience just to trek and climb in that environment. This trip is rated at the top end of the difficulty scale for good reason. I trained pretty hard for months in advance, and on the day I had to turn back 250 m short of the summit due to absolute exhaustion rendering it unsafe for me to press on. At 41, I certainly wasn't the youngest in the group or the fittest, but please understand that as the guides explained to us, 5054 m is a significant challenge, and Mount Kazbek is anything but an easy climb. There is not a lot of time to acclimatise, and personally I think one extra day in order to rest would've given that preparation for the summit attempt.

I brought equipment with me I use for winter mountaineering in Scotland, but was advised by the guides that my gloves and boots were not warm enough, and that the technical axes I brought we're not appropriate. I would recommend to anyone coming that it's easier to rent the equipment from MPlus if you have any doubt whatsoever about the suitability of your equipment for this kind of a mountain. Don't underestimate just how brutal the wind and cold can be.

Georgia is absolutely beautiful, their people (the guides were great and very helpful), their food, their mountains, I totally recommend this trip!!! Unfortunately a few of us in the trip didn't make it to the summit due to pretty harsh weather, but I would like to try to do it again soon. I personally found it harder than climbing Mont Blanc which I did about 2 years ago. Expect not to have a shower for about 6 days (until you get back to Stepantsminda) as there are no shower facilities at any of the 2 mountain huts (of course you can always use wet wipes to clean yourself but def. not showers). At Meteo Station expect super basic accomodation, only toilet outside in the cold a few metres away from the hut which was basically a whole in the ground, there is a tap to get water (very very cold) coming from the glacier to wash hands, drink, etc... there are no changing rooms or anything like that, so hardly any privacy (dorms/rooms were mix). The rooms are super small, there is hardly any space left to leave your backpacks and equipment, specially if you are in a group of around 6 - 8 people (we were 8). Although it was hard, I would def. like to go again and hopefully summit next time.