Gergeti Glacier Hike from Church Parking Lot
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 10.39 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3,970 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 3,970 ft
- Max elevation
- 10,804 ft
- TrailRank
-
65
5
- Min elevation
- 7,089 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 5 hours 43 minutes
- Time
- 8 hours 41 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2930
- Uploaded
- August 1, 2019
- Recorded
- August 2019
near Gergeti (Georgia)
Viewed 6890 times, downloaded 298 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Amazing hike! Definitely do this. You can go touch the glacier. It’s so cool and the views are gorgeous. Trail was reasonable — someplace between moderate and difficult for us.
Be sure to take the RIGHT HAND TRAIL soon after you get started going to the glacier, as it’s on the ridge line and gives you much nicer views.
Also, we wish we took the same trail back down to the church lot — we took the inner trail back down (ie, the left-hand trail going when you’re going toward the glacier or the right-hand trail coming back to the lot) and it was truly awful — extremely steep, over-worn, and well-trodden, we were slipping down almost the whole way. It was treacherous. Many people fell/slipped. There was no view since it’s in the gulley, and it was also super crowded, whereas the ridge line trail was quite peaceful and not too many hikers at all (but we don’t know how it would be coming back since we didn’t take it).
Toward the top, we made a detour from our path to the hut; at the time (Aug 2019), we were told there were no bathrooms or facilities. We offered to pay but they said there was no water.
Great viewpoint to eat lunch right after the tents / hut, looking at the stream, waterfall, and glacier in the distance.
As you approach the glacier, there are many different trail options to take and it probably changes weekly as the glacial streams shift. In the few hours we were there, the water level at the first bridge drastically changed!
We did not have waterproof shoes or hiking poles; neither are necessary but both would help. We saw people in full on mountaineering gear but also yoga pants, jeans and t-shirt, Teva sandals, the whole range.
We started at the Lower church parking lot and returned to the top lot. We took a long lunch and also hung at the glacier a bit. We were probably decent/average pace going up but walked more slowly down. It took us from 9:30am-2:30pm including stops to make it to the glacier. We were back in the lot by about 5:45pm. One of us got a little light-headed from altitude toward the top (the wimpy one!)
You can get a shared van-taxi back down to town for 10-15 Lari per person, as of August 2019.
THIS HIKE IS AWESOME, do it!
Be sure to take the RIGHT HAND TRAIL soon after you get started going to the glacier, as it’s on the ridge line and gives you much nicer views.
Also, we wish we took the same trail back down to the church lot — we took the inner trail back down (ie, the left-hand trail going when you’re going toward the glacier or the right-hand trail coming back to the lot) and it was truly awful — extremely steep, over-worn, and well-trodden, we were slipping down almost the whole way. It was treacherous. Many people fell/slipped. There was no view since it’s in the gulley, and it was also super crowded, whereas the ridge line trail was quite peaceful and not too many hikers at all (but we don’t know how it would be coming back since we didn’t take it).
Toward the top, we made a detour from our path to the hut; at the time (Aug 2019), we were told there were no bathrooms or facilities. We offered to pay but they said there was no water.
Great viewpoint to eat lunch right after the tents / hut, looking at the stream, waterfall, and glacier in the distance.
As you approach the glacier, there are many different trail options to take and it probably changes weekly as the glacial streams shift. In the few hours we were there, the water level at the first bridge drastically changed!
We did not have waterproof shoes or hiking poles; neither are necessary but both would help. We saw people in full on mountaineering gear but also yoga pants, jeans and t-shirt, Teva sandals, the whole range.
We started at the Lower church parking lot and returned to the top lot. We took a long lunch and also hung at the glacier a bit. We were probably decent/average pace going up but walked more slowly down. It took us from 9:30am-2:30pm including stops to make it to the glacier. We were back in the lot by about 5:45pm. One of us got a little light-headed from altitude toward the top (the wimpy one!)
You can get a shared van-taxi back down to town for 10-15 Lari per person, as of August 2019.
THIS HIKE IS AWESOME, do it!
Waypoints
Photo
7,428 ft
Comments (5)
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Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
A very nice walk
We did it, and it is a really nice hiking, my friend felt the lack of oxygen at some point so do not hesitate to take your time to climb.
In all cases, the view were amazing.
Can I use barefoot shoes to do this hike?
If you are used to waking in barefoot shoes, I don’t see why not. It might be a little slushy if you get right up to the glacier. Take the ridge trail it’s much nicer.
Thank you. Well explained.