After a long and difficult trip the team could finally start working with the first scientific investigations on the “Chalaat” Glacier

The team finally arrived yesterday, July 30^th, at the base camp in Mestia, a small village of the Svanezia region, in Caucaso. The little plane Tbilisi-Mestia took 4 flights to move the huge amount of equipment necessary for the expedition. In this regard a special thanks for the indispensable help with transportation go to the Italian Embassy inGeorgia and to the Georgian Government.

The team realized today – after the necessary phases of organization, negotiation and study of the details with the local guides, the jeep guides, and the porters – a first exploration and some scientific analysis to the Chalaat Glacier terminus. The terminus of this glacier reaches the lowest level of the wholeGeorgia(1860 m) and in the latest years it strongly regressed.

The meeting with some researchers of the Tbilisi Institute of Geography was a very nice surprise for the team, who established with them strong bases for collaboration during the expedition. In the next days, despite the logistic difficulties due to the almost complete absence of street and trails, and to the big flow of the streams (often impossible to cross), the team will began the shooting of the first comparative photos and of the documentary.