Dykh-Tau Dykh-Tau Dykh-Tau or Dykhtau (, that is derived from Turkic "dik dagh" which means Jagged Mount), is a mountain located in Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia; its peak stands about north of the border with Georgia. Dykh-Tau is the second highest of the Caucasus Mountains, after Mount Elbrus, and is the second highest mountain in Europe. Dykh-Tau is best accessed from the north (Russia). Bezingi village may be reached from Nalchik in Kabardino-Balkaria with infrequent public transport, here a 4WD vehicle must be hired. Thus Bezingi Alpine Camp is reached at 2180m. From here it takes a further 2 days to reach the
Mount Elbrus a popular sport of the populace, and there was tremendous traffic on the mountain. On 17 March 1936, a group of 33 inexperienced Komsomol members attempted the mountain, and ended up suffering four fatalities when they slipped on the ice and fell to their deaths. During the Battle of the Caucasus in World War II, the Wehrmacht occupied the area surrounding the mountain from August 1942 to February 1943 with Gebirgsjäger from the 1st Mountain Division. The Nazi Swatstika was placed on the summit of Mount Elbrus on 21 August 1942. A possibly apocryphal story tells of a Soviet pilot