Skiing Georgia’s Svaneti Region: Notes from the Caucasus

We sat down with IFMGA-certified guide Tim Dobbins to get his take on the Georgia Ski Expedition. Tim has skied mountain ranges around the world, from the Alps and the Andes to well beyond. What stood out to him most about Svaneti was how distinct it is from anything else he’s experienced. The Svan people have their own language, their own alphabet, and roots that trace back to the Bronze Age. Here’s what he had to say.

The Svan People and Their Villages

The Svaneti region takes its name from the Svan people, the indigenous mountain community who have inhabited this valley for thousands of years. Every village has a cluster of defensive towers, stone structures built between the 9th and 12th centuries from local materials, and most of them are still in use.

We spent a day off on a tower tour in the Betjo Valley, where a local family had restored their tower and opened it to visitors. They walked us through the ground floor, which still held cattle feed and grain storage, and up through the levels where the family had lived for generations. The hand-carved woodwork throughout had never been replaced. I asked our host when it had been made. He said 10th century, and the family was still using it. It is living history in a way I haven’t encountered many other places.

The Terrain

The Svaneti valley floor sits around 5,000 feet, with peaks pushing to 15,000 feet. That vertical relief, combined with the variety of aspects and a snowpack fed by moisture from the Black Sea, gives our guides a lot to work with regardless of conditions on any given day.

Tetnuldi is the main ski area, built just a few years ago with support from European development programs aimed at strengthening rural economies in the region. It hosted the Freeride World Tour in 2023. Side country off the top lift puts you beneath a 15,938-foot summit with almost no one on it. Hatsvali is a smaller ski hill right above the town of Mestia, and it holds snow well on variable days, with tree skiing that gives us a storm option when conditions above treeline aren’t cooperating. For ski touring, the options are extensive. In eleven days, we covered a fraction of what’s available.

The range of what’s possible on this terrain in a good snow year is something we’re still learning.

The Hospitality

We stayed in a guesthouse in the valley, which in Svaneti means staying in someone’s home. Our hosts served breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, packed lunches for us each morning, and drove us to whatever trailhead we wanted to ski from. Our host would wait all day. When we went to Tetnuldi, he had never been, so he spent the day touring the ski area himself while we were out. At the mid-station, a group of men, including our host, broke into traditional Svan polyphonic singing. It was completely unplanned and one of the better moments of the trip.

The Georgians are proud of their country, their language, and their heritage, and the Svan people are no exception. Everyone we met was genuinely glad we were there.

The Food and the Wine

Every morning started with khachapuri, fresh bread, local cheese, and strong coffee. Georgia is widely regarded as the birthplace of winemaking, with a tradition going back 8,000 years, and the local bottles are worth exploring. The old town in Tbilisi, where the trip begins, rewards a full day of walking and the restaurants are excellent. The overall cost of food, lodging, and transport in Georgia is significantly lower than in comparable ski destinations in Europe.

Ushguli

I haven’t made it to Ushguli yet, but it is high on my list. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the highest continuously inhabited settlements in Europe, with ski touring right out of the village and peaks that, by all accounts, are among the most striking in the range. It is on the Georgia itinerary for good reason.

Why I’d Go Back

The eleven-day format we run is the right length. It gives you enough time to ski the main objectives, visit Ushguli, and settle into the rhythm of the valley. It is a little like what I imagine the Alps were a hundred years ago. The infrastructure is new, the crowds are not there yet, and the mountain culture underneath it all is very much intact.

Tim Dobbins is an IFMGA-certified guide and one of the lead guides on Alpenglow’s Georgia Ski Expedition.