The Caucasus Mountains stretch between the Black and Caspian Seas in Europe, featuring the tallest mountain in the continent (Mount Elbrus) and spanning through Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. They’re stunning, full of long and deep history, and, in some areas, are becoming a hotspot for ski tourism.
Wildlife in the Caucasus Mountains is broad, including quite a few large mammals like goats, deer, leopards, wolves and bears. Specifically the Syrian and Eurasian brown bears can be found throughout the region, though they’re extremely weary of people and generally aren’t spotted by visitors and recreators. IFMGA & GMGA Certified mountain guide Shako Margiani did manage to capture some pretty incredible footage of a brown bear crawling its way through some snow high in the mountains, though.
The bear was filmed digging through the deep snow, likely in search of food, while Shako and crew were out on a training run. According to his recount, the bear was likely hunting East Caucasian tur for lunch, a mountain-dwelling caprine found in the eastern section of the Greater Caucasus mountains.
Later on the tour the group spotted some goats hopping through the rocks and snow, showing how well adapted they are to these conditions. You can lear more about guided skiing and snowboarding in Georgia over on Shako’s social media pages.
