Monomad: Attempting to climb a mountain

In turns out I'm in a pretty populated area of Tbilisi right now. I booked the Airbnb last minute having struggled to find something that wasn't overpriced and generally suited my interests. This very road appears to be a tourist attraction for the fact that it leads to a church on a mountain, with a cable car service that runs up over. It already feels like I have been in Georgia for weeks, but in actuality it has only been a few short days. The thing is, these days have been so chaotic, with so many things going on at once, that I haven't had a chance to actually get out and explore yet. Only a minor walk yesterday in the evening as the sun had already set, and in a very dense area I had already somewhat explored. There's a track that leads up through the mountain behind the Airbnb, and I wanted to get up there with the drone and take a few videos and stills of the area. One thing I really want to do in this part of the world is really build a videographer portfolio with the drone, really promote the travel aspect of the area and find ways to build some online revenue from it all. 4K drone footage is a great way to do so. So it made sense that I'd walk up the mountain and find a nice, safe viewpoint to fly from, in attempt to also not bother the locals.

I walked up the steps, one at a time, feeling the intense sweat starting to build, it became one of the hardest walks I have ever take in my life. The insane levels of steps that had me taking breaks whenever, feeling my heart rate really going. And so drenched that at times I thought it was already raining. Such a nasty feeling, and one I will probably soon feel again as I attempt to film the area more before moving into my apartment in another area.

There seemed to be a lot of other people walking the same trail, some were with children, others just small families. Each of them equally appeared to be having the same struggle. Stopping often or just really taking each step slowly. I could feel the struggle myself. I could feel that the general want to go as high up as I could was also there. But I couldn't do it. I had to find a specific spot that felt quiet enough to take off with the drone and not bother anyone nearby. But I knew I also had to go high enough that most people would've already given in and few would stumble across me and the drone, especially in the realm of potential security. Drone regulations are normal here, and I ensured I stuck to them, another reason for going a bit higher up, as to avoid homes nearby and not fly over them and invade the privacy of locals. The photographs that do show a closer perspective were shot with my digital camera, with the Helios lens which has a 58mm focal length to it. In fact, I believe all of the photographs were actually taken with it. The drone ones are yet to be exported.

I reached the point in which the cable car station was found. And it seems most walk to that point and then take it the rest of the way up. I can't blame them for that. And I was curious as to what was on the other side of the mountain. I've looked briefly on Google Maps but it doesn't reveal much in the context side of things. Another day I'm sure I'll go up over it.

There were moments I got up a certain set of steps and felt like I could quit. Moments where I just looked up and tried to find a break in the trees that would be good enough to take off and land from. Though this never happened. It felt that the higher up I got, the more dense the trees. And I loved that for the nature side of things. So much shade, such clean air, and the insane sounds of Cicadas going utterly mad all around. I had never seen them before, and I still didn't manage to. But wow, those things screech to no end. This is something I didn't experience in Armenia at all, so I was surprised to learn what they are. Eventually I did find a break in the trees, a bit of an open area with a nice view of the city. At this point I felt that I had gone up a bit too much. With the buildings growing smaller and smaller. I figured that this was the best spot to stop and set up the drone, and so I did. I got nervous for some reason though, and I'm not sure why. Partially because I suspected something would go wrong. Either getting caught doing something I might not be allowed to do, or somehow losing the drone with some issue.

Annoyingly I did encounter a gimbal overload issue which made the camera flop all over the place, but the drone was still very much in view so I could manually land it without needing to see the way back or how to place it with the camera. But that was a bit of a spook that didn't help my confidence in such a dense area of cliffs, dense treeline, and an upcoming threat of rain. To which I started to feel some drops here and there, but so hot and sweaty, I assumed this was just the droplets of my steps landing on my shirt. Nasty, right?

I was wrong, though. The drops continued. And I started to have the question, as my drone was finally in the air and way out over the mountain, that the drops would soon land on it rapidly. To which it'd damage the drone and completely ruin it. These things are made relatively cheaply contrary to their high price of purchase. Who would've thought? I took a few short photographs and some videos of the area, trying to be quick while the nerves increased and my heart rate was more focused on the flight problems rather than the horrible walk up the mountain. I think I got a few decent clips, one of which I already uploaded to a few sites. Hopefully these clips I create start generating a bit of revenue soon! But with this, I began to hear the cracks of thunder. I flew the drone all the way back to me, and through a small gap in the trees. A single raindrop was found on the body of the drone. This was the thing that confirmed the upcoming rain, and my walk up the mountain and attempts to shoot things was ultimately a failure. Soon, the rain really began.

Fortunately I made the decision to cut the flight short and pack everything up before. But I knew that I would like to return on a clearer day and photograph things properly. There's some beautiful perspectives in the area.