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With modern resorts, mounds of snow and legendary hospitality, Georgia is a hidden gem for thrill-seeking skiers.
ADVERTISEMENTWhen Taylor Beckwith-Ferguson first visited Georgia in 2015, he thought he would spend a few days on the piste.It didn’t take long for his plans to change.“I found that Georgia has skiing that’s similar quality to the Alps but cheaper. There’s good infrastructure and good snow, and it’s not crowded,” he says.Add the untouched backcountry and legendary hospitality, and Beckwith-Ferguson soon discovered all the reasons why this nation wedged between the Black and Caspian Seas might be Europe’s best-kept secret for snow sport disciples.Now, he is preparing for his tenth consecutive ski season in the Caucasus. It will also be his eighth season as the owner of Vagabond Adventures, a ski school and adventure tour company based in Gudauri, the country’s premier mountain resort two hours north of the capital Tbilisi.Gudauri is a dream for novice skiers like me. There are no trees threatening my survival, but there are plenty of inns and lodges, bars and restaurants, and ski schools such as Vagabond. Not to mention a wall of snow-capped mountains jutting out through the clouds in every direction. The opportunities for adventure are endless. As a more recent arrival to Georgia, I can understand how Beckwith-Ferguson felt when he arrived. “I had no intention of staying, and no plan to start a business,” he tells me. “Georgia is a place that just draws you in.”High mountains and plenty of snow: Georgia’s geography rivals the best ski spots in EuropeIf you’re looking for mountains, you’ve come to the right place. Beyond the Black Sea coastline and vine-strewn valleys in Kakheti, Georgia’s main wine region, you will struggle to find any flatlands at all.Towering 5,000-metre peaks frame the border with Russia. On clear days, you can see some of them, including 5,054-metre Mount Kazbegi, from your hotel room in Tbilisi.Even the lowest-lying ski resort – Bakuriani, a four-season destination surrounded by pristine pine forests in central Georgia – is higher than 1,700 metres above sea level.But it isn’t just that Georgia has mountains. It’s that these mountains get snow. Lots of it.ADVERTISEMENTExcluding the pandemic-affected 2021, Gudauri has opened before the New Year rush eight of the last nine seasons without requiring artificial snow, an expensive and carbon-intensive measure that many resorts in Europe have turned to as climate change has disrupted business.“Some of the lower ski resorts in the Alps are closing and basically turning into mountain bike resorts year-round,” says Beckwith-Ferguson.For now, at least, Georgia doesn’t have that problem. In Goderdzi, 109 km from Georgia’s bustling second city, Batumi, the Black Sea dumps so much snow, and so regularly, that the resort can open as early as November.ADVERTISEMENTIt sticks, too. Ski season in Gudauri and Goderdzi usually goes into April, Beckwith-Ferguson says. In the backcountry mecca Svaneti – one of Europe’s newest skiing regions and home to the Tetnuldi and Hatsvali resorts – there’s snow even into May.It’s a wild, wild country, but access to quality skiing is second to none in Georgia For almost every skier and snowboarder, all roads lead to Gudauri. A 30-year-old ski resort set above the treeline, Gudauri has everything you could want: ADVERTISEMENT76 km of groomed runs, several ski schools, on-piste bars and restaurants serving Georgia’s famed wine and khinkali (soup dumplings), not to mention the electric afterparties.It’s also close enough to the capital that you can fly in for a ski weekend without using your annual leave.“It’s an easy day trip. You can be skiing in the morning and out with friends in Tbilisi at night,” says Nino Kurtskhalia, a lifelong skier and former hotel manager from the capital.Like many Georgians, Kurtskhalia has embraced the sport wholeheartedly.ADVERTISEMENTResearch firm PMCG reported that in 2023 nearly 325,000 domestic tourists – almost one in 10 people in Georgia – visited Bakuriani, the most family-friendly resort featuring a skating rink, sleigh rides, and carnival games. Nearly 319,000 visited Gudauri.Kurtskhalia has gone to perhaps the greatest length to be one of the regular visitors. Each winter, she makes at least one pilgrimage from her current home in Bangkok.“It’s a must,” she says. “I have to ski.” Modern infrastructure with lower prices, Georgia’s ski resorts offer value for moneyAccess isn’t the only selling point. Over the past decade, the Georgian government, which owns the country’s ski resorts, has invested millions into improving infrastructure.ADVERTISEMENTGudauri, for example, now has more than a dozen lifts – including enclosed gondolas – made by Doppelmayr and Poma, two of the world’s top ski equipment manufacturers.“The lift infrastructure is amazing. It’s better than anywhere I’ve skied in the US,” says Beckwith-Ferguson. “[The resorts] keep adding new lifts.”They have done so without inflating prices, too.In 2023, seasonal passes offering access to all five resorts cost GEL 650 (€225) for adults, and day passes were just GEL 70 (€25). ADVERTISEMENT“Georgia is probably the most budget-friendly ski destination in Europe. Lift passes, gear hire, accommodation, and apres-ski are a fraction of the cost you find elsewhere,” says Emily Lush, an Australian writer and the Georgia expert behind Wander-Lush.org.“Thinner crowds are also a big part of the appeal,” she adds. “Stepping directly onto a ski lift without having to queue is the norm, even during the peak months.”Georgia has culture and wilderness you can’t experience anywhere elseBeckwith-Ferguson, Kurtskhalia and Lush can all agree on one thing: Georgia shines brightest off-the-beaten-path.“Backcountry skiing kept me in Georgia the first couple of years,” says Beckwith-Ferguson.ADVERTISEMENT“In most places, easy-access ski tours where you just drive up to a trailhead, hike, and ski a nice line back down would be crowded,” he explains.But in Georgia, you’ll find “true backcountry, true wilderness, with almost no other people around.” That’s true whether you’re cat-skiing (riding up a mountain on a ‘snowcat’ machine) in Goderdzi or ski-touring (hiking up, skiing down) around the mediaeval stone towers in Svaneti – one of Kurtskhalia’s favourite winter escapes. Sometimes, you’ll find Georgia’s best adventures off the piste entirely.ADVERTISEMENTThe country claims an 8,000-year winemaking tradition, millennia-old monasteries, and festivals nearly every month. Not to mention a belief that every guest is a divine gift.You won’t have to come back in the summer to see this side of Georgia, either.“Tbilisi is an excellent winter destination, especially around December and early January when Christmas and New Year festivities are in full swing,” says Lush. “Cellar visits in Kakheti, museum-hopping in Kutaisi, Georgia’s cultural capital, exploring the monasteries and cave cities around Kartli and Samtskhe-Javakheti – it’s all possible throughout winter.”ADVERTISEMENT
