[1] Prince Ioane of Georgia, in his manuscript Kalmasoba, mentions Yosif as the first to ascend the mountain peak of Kazbek (Georgian: მყინვარწვერი, romanized: mq'invarts'veri; Ingush: Башлоамкорт, romanized: Bashloamkort) in the late eighteenth century during the reign of Heraclius II of Georgia.
Famous climber Yagor Kazalikashvili reported in the early 20th century, with reference to the information given by elderly inhabitants of the Kazbek region, that “the pioneer was an Ingush hunter from Gveleti who was looking for the treasure of Queen Tamara”, a rumor which had long existed among local mountaineers.
[3] The first documented attempts to conquer Mount Kazbek were made by German travelers Moritz von Engelhardt and Friedrich Parrot in 1811, but they ended in failure.
[4] In 1868, Kazbek was officially conquered by English climbers Douglas Freshfield, Adolphus Moore, Charles Tucker and French guide François Devouassoud.
This time with Vladimir Kozmin, the first Russian climber to climb this peak, and 3 Ingush guides from Gveleti, including Tsogol Buzurtanov's son Isak.