Mikhail Khergiani

Mikhail Vissarionovich Khergiani (, , born Chumlian Minan Khergiani, 20 March 19324 July 1969) was a Georgian mountaineer. He was a seven-time national champion climber who earned the nickname the "Tiger of the Cliffs" for his ability to rapidly attack difficult routes.

Early life Khergiani was born Chumlian Minan Khergiani in the village of Mestia, in the historical province of Svaneti of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. His father, Vissarion Khergiani, was one of the first well-known Svan climbers. He scaled the two-peaked Georgian mountain Ushba in 1937. His uncle and cousin were also mountaineers, and the family introduced Khergiani to the sport early in life. After graduating from secondary school, he attended the Soviet School of Mountaineering Instructors in 1951. As his Russian climbing instructors could not pronounce Chumlian, they renamed him Mikhail, which he retained as his legal name throughout adulthood.

Career and death In 1952, he and Shaliko Margiani shared the title of USSR Climbing Champion in Yalta. He travelled to England in 1960 at the request of John Hunt, Baron Hunt, leader of the 1953 British Mount Everest expedition. There, he was nicknamed the "Tiger of the Rocks". Khergiani's fame was such that after his death, songs were composed that described Dali, the Svan cliff-dwelling goddess of the hunt, in mourning for him. In 1971, the Khergiani Rock Climbing Prize was established in the Soviet Union in his honor, and several peaks and climbing routes have been named for him.