Скачать или смотреть LOMISA MONASTERY - Ski Touring in a very special place of Caucasus

There are very few places in the world which are as difficult to reach as the Lomisa Monastery, an isolated monastery on top of a mountain, which house a single monk who chooses to live there alone all year round. The only way to reach this monastery in by trekking up the mountain. In winter time, this means going up the slopes in skis – and that was what I did with my friend, Alex, when we were there.

After a short 15 minutes’ drive from Gudauri, we arrived at the village of Kvemo Mleta. We walked through the village and later put on our skis to start our climb up the mountain, following the trails. Thanks to the popularity of this destination, a ski track has already been made by previous skiers, and this made it easier for us to follow the track on our way to the Monastery.

The trail soon entered a steep forested section and then flattened out a bit as we reached the top of the forest. About 15 minutes after the forest ended, we found a small cross and took a short rest whilst enjoying the perfect panoramic view of the ridge of Caucasus. From this point, we could clearly see the Monastery on the ridge.

We continued and did a few more switchbacks into the final steep incline before we finally reached the Monastery. Lomisa was a pre-Christian deity in this region, most likely associated with the Lioness. Later, this cult was associated with the deity of the moon. After the Christianisation of the country, a Christian church was built on the site of the Temple of the Moon and the signs of a pagan cult got associated with St. George. There are many more legends and stories related to the foundation of the Monastery and we were hoping to find out more from the only monk who lives there.

As soon as the monk heard us approaching the Monastery, he came out to welcome us. Unfortunately, he speaks only Georgian and due to the language barrier, we did not have the opportunity to establish a proper communication with him, to discover more things about the place. We had so many questions for him, like how he survives living alone in such isolation for the entire winter at 2,220m!!!

Despite nor being able to communicate fully, he invited us indoors of a small container for tea.

We spent some time drinking our tea and then, I decided to fly my drone to get some panoramic shots of the area. Everything went smoothly during my flight, but when I was trying to land my drone, all three dogs (who accompanied us from the village) became very irritated by its noise and they were attacking my drone!!! Without the help of the monk, there was no chance I could have landed my drone! I owed him a lot for rescuing my drone for me.

After all these emotional moments spent with the monk, we continued ascending the ridge of the mountain. The panorama of the Valley and of the multiple summits of snow-covered Caucasus became more spectacular. We spent a few minutes to rest before looking for the right place (gaps in between the trees) to start our ski downhill through the untracked snow.

We finally did 800 metres of altitude drop through the virgin snow, which offered us exhilarating moments of ski through the panoramic slopes and beautiful forests. That was definitely one of the most unforgettable experiences for me. Once that I will cherish for the rest of my life!