A stray dog ​​follows a skier and together they accomplish a feat in the mountains

“This is the story of a dog, a Georgian dog deep in the Caucuses…”. Thus begins the story of a chance encounter, of a shared adventure, of an indelible memory. And it was written by Colter Hinchliffe, a professional skier and climber based in Colorado, who shared his experience with a stray dog ​​on his social media.

“I thought I would be alone this day as I wandered 1200 meters above the town of Ushguli (historic region of Georgia), and off into a valley behind, but a village dog insisted on joining me,” explains Hinchliffe, describing how he “ tried in every way to dissuade him” going so far as to “rebuke him and even throw snow at him”. But the dog wasn’t determined to follow him: “He just moved further back until I welcomed him to the top of the ridge. To tell the truth, I was happy to have a friend, I was just worried about his ability to complete the long trek. tour I had in mind.”

Colter Hinchliffe is a person very used to extreme situations: from driving off-road vehicles on rough roads to skiing in complicated places, he loves the risk of adventure: “Coming down from the summit far from the city meant that I had to take a long exit of 12 kilometers slightly downhill, or go up another 700 meters to a high saddle and return to the city through a 3 kilometer flat valley – he explains in the post – having already climbed 1200 meters with my heavy set-up, I was inclined towards the more exit long but downhill… until my new Buddy came with me. And I thought the climb wouldn’t be as difficult for him as the pure distance, so we walked up and down.”

The dog continued to follow him, of his own free will, as the climber is keen to point out: “I didn’t feed him until we were stuck in the valley… Until then I didn’t feed him so as not to encourage him to follow me. I fed him when we committed to continue! continues Hinchliffe who explains that he also had moments of difficulty to face such as the breaking of a cornice at the top of the ridge, the low temperatures even dropped to -12° and the three kilometers to be covered, yes on the plain, but digging deeply into the snow .

“In the end we made it! And I gave my new friend all the food from my car, including 2 eggs and some bread – concludes the climber -. I would have liked to have more food for the ‘boy’, since these dogs are essentially strays but the townspeople treat them well and feed them the leftovers. He’s the one who needed the leftovers more than he thought! following me! This was the third dog following me on a ski tour in Georgia. They know what’s up, they just take each other for a walk and they are the sweetest dogs ever. I miss my friend and I hope so is enjoying a new adventure with another lucky skier.”

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