He was a seven-time national champion climber who earned the nickname the "Tiger of the Cliffs"[a] for his ability to rapidly attack difficult routes.

As his Russian climbing instructors could not pronounce Chumlian, they renamed him Mikhail, which he retained as his legal name throughout adulthood.

[citation needed] In 1952, he and Shaliko Margiani shared the title of USSR Climbing Champion in Yalta.

[3][5] In the summer of 1969, Khergiani and a group of Soviet climbers including Vyacheslav Onishchenko and Mikhail Anufrikov travelled to the Italian Alps for a series of climbs, the last of which was the summit of Monte Civetta.

[7] 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.