Anna Dularidze

Mountain Guide

I grew up in a small town in Georgia during difficult times. I was two years old when my country seceded from the Soviet Union. Post-Soviet Georgia suffered from economic crises, ethnic conflicts, political instability and wars. As a child, I experienced how poverty and it’s limitations can lead a person into creativity. Since I did not have the opportunity to try different things in life and figure out what I liked to do most, I started dreaming. I tuned out and started to enjoy looking at the mountains from a distance (on my way home from school I could see the far away mountains of the Caucasus). I had developed the dream of becoming a mountaineer and climber... After graduating from school, I moved to the capital city for studying, where I found a group of mountaineers and joined them. Since then I have made breakthroughs in climbing grades and mountaineering, got a bachelor's and master's degree in archaeology and became the first certified female mountain guide in Georgia. I’m currently giving climbing courses for aspiring mountain guides, I coach climbers and I do route setting for commercial gyms and competitions within Europe.