SOVIET UNION

SOVIET UNION / СОЮЗ СОВЕТСКИХ СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКИХ РЕСПУБЛИК.

Soviet Mountain Climbing.
Mount Kazbek (now in Georgia).
Second stamp in a set of 3, issued on 28.12.1964.
Face value: 6 kopek.
Design: N. Kruglov and E. Aniskin,
Printing: Photogravure.
Print: 4,000,000 copies.
Size: 40 x 38 mm.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 3003.
- Scott No. 2983.
- StampWorld No. 2794.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 3078.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 2900.
- Zagorski No. 3056.

Mount Kazbek (or Kazbegi; in Georgian, მყინვარწვერი (Mqinvartsveri, "Glacier Peak") is a dormant stratovolcano (although potentially active) located on the Khokh Range, which runs north of the Greater Caucasus, on the border with the Republic of North Ossetia (Russian Federation). It is the third-highest peak in Georgia and the second-highest volcanic summit in the Caucasus, after Mount Elbrus. Its altitude is 5,054 m (16,581 ft). The Terek River originates on one of his glaciers. The summit was first climbed in 1868 by the Englishmen Douglas Freshfield, Adolf Moore and Charles C. Tucker. This mountain is associated in Georgian folklore with Amirani, the local version of Prometheus, who was chained on the mountain as punishment for stealing fire from the gods to give to mortals. The area around Mount Kazbek was designated a nature reserve by the Soviet government in 1979.