This story appears in the October 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine. The men gather at dawn near the stone tower, cradling knives in callused hands. After a night of snowfall—the first ...

Preserved by its long isolation, the Upper Svaneti region of the Caucasus is an exceptional example of mountain scenery with medieval-type villages and tower-houses. The village of Chazhashi still has ...

For decades, fraught geopolitics and poorly marked trails gave all but the most intrepid hikers pause about the Caucasus Mountains, an area known for its jaw-dropping geography. But the ...