Mount Kazbek

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Mount Kazbek

Elevation	5,047 metres (16,558 feet)
Location	Georgia
Range	Caucasus
Coordinates	42°42′N, 44°31′E
Type	Stratovolcano (dormant)
Last eruption	approx. 750 BC
First ascent	1868 by Douglas Freshfield, A. W. Moore and C. C. Tucker
Easiest route	basic snow/ice climb

Mount Kazbek (Georgian: მყინვარწვერი, Mqinvartsveri), is a volcano and one of the chief mountains of the Caucasus. It is located in Georgia near the border between Georgia and Russia, dominating the town of Stepantsminda. It is the third highest mountain in Georgia (after Mount Shkhara and Janga) and the seventh highest peak in the Caucasus Mountains. Georgians call the mountain Mqinvari meaning "glacier" or "Ice Mountain".

Kazbek is located on the Khokh Range, a mountain range which runs north of the Greater Caucasus Range, and which is pierced by the gorges of the Ardon and the Terek. The mountain itself lies along the edge of the Borjomi-Kazbegi Fault (which is a northern sub-ending of the Anatolian Fault). The region is highly active tectonically, with numerous small earthquakes occurring at regular intervals. An active geothermal/hot spring system also surrounds the mountain. Kazbek represents a dormant volcano, built up of trachyte and sheathed with lava, and has the shape of a double cone, whose base lies at an altitude of 1,770m (5,800 ft). Kazbek is the highest of the volcanic cones of the Kazbegi volcanic group which also includes Mount Khabarjina (3142 metres).

Owing to the steepness of its slopes, the glaciers of Kazbek are not very large. The total combined area of all of Kazbek's glaciers is 135 km². The best-known glacier is the Dyevdorak (Devdaraki), which creeps down the north-eastern slope into a gorge of the same name, reaching a level of 2,295m (7,530 ft). Kazbek's other glaciers include the Mna, Denkara, Gergeti, Abano and Chata. The recent collapse of the Kolka Glacier, located in a valley between Mt. Jimara and Kazbek in 2002 was attributed to sulphuric volcanic activity along the northern slope of the mountain, although there was no eruption. At its eastern foot runs the Georgian Military Road through the pass of Darial 2,378m (7805 ft).