Ski mountaineering on the snowy slopes of Svaneti

Svan Hospitality

A plastic bowl, flour, water. Bare hands mix carefully, while the local cheese—a kind of fresh curd, more than just zero-kilometer—is crumbled without much precision. Under the watchful eyes of Gianni and Franco, the lady continues preparing the Khachapuri, considered Georgia’s national dish: a cheese-filled flatbread baked directly on a wood-burning stove.

With the Family

The hospitality of this family was exceptional: a house lost in the snow at the edge of the forest, reached by a road that was nothing short of prohibitive, squeezed between snow walls and clogged with skinny cows vainly searching for dry grass in the winter landscape.

The camping sign prompts us to ask if they’ll sell us a beer to end our ski day on a high note: they immediately invite us into their dining room—which also serves as a kitchen—with the inevitable little altar packed with Orthodox icons.

Here, the magic of this people’s hospitality comes to life: in no time, a lavish lunch is served—forget the beer!

Toward Ushba

The day in the village of Matzeri began with a beautiful skin up the mountain, guiding us through a spectacular pine forest.

The branches, still embroidered with fresh snow, frame the majestic view of Ushba: 4710 meters of grandeur, towering above a maze of rocky buttresses, carved by snowy gullies and hanging glaciers.

Further on, the gaze gets lost in the vastness of the Caucasus Mountains, which seem to have no end.

The Vastness of the Caucasus

“Vastness” is truly the word that best suits these places.

You hear it often echoing in conversations and comments, as the panoramas unfold before us: endless sequences of snow-covered peaks and ridges, sinuous buttresses plunging into deep valleys covered in dense pine forests.

Here and there, remote villages in this wild nature—all inhabited.

Livestock roam freely through the streets, and children, early in the morning, wait outside their homes for a ride to school.

It’s a way of life that recalls the lives of our grandparents in the Alpine valleys.

Today, compared to the comforts of the Western world and the depopulation of our valleys, it seems almost impossible.

Yet, here they endure.

People and animals live with little, face a harsh winter, and await spring with patience and tenacity.

Today’s outing was peaceful and scenic, ending on a summit surrounded by the immensity of the Caucasus.

Then the descent: after the first open slopes, we entered a forest of sparse, twisted birches, ancient beyond guessing.

Lower down, back among the firs, with steep slopes and fallen trunks that became natural ramps for jumps in the snow.

Snow so powdery it welcomed the skis gently, guiding them into ever-new turns… all the way to the village!

Turns and Powder

The amount of snow in the Svaneti mountains is truly impressive.

Here, when the snow walls along the road barely reach a meter high, locals call it a “dry winter.”

Snow- and ice-covered roads are the norm, requiring a solid 4×4 to travel.

And then there’s Powder—that blessed light substance skiers adore for the sensations of lightness and freedom it brings.

Here, it never fails.

At worst, just head into a north-facing valley and you’ll find immense slopes, dizzying spines plunging from the peaks amid plays of light and shadow, snow-laden fir forests offering daring trajectories and turns, always cushioned by a soft layer of snow.

Peaks and Mysteries

Most of these peaks don’t even appear on maps—which are still surprisingly inaccurate.

The mountains of Svaneti are made of deep, often winding valleys, and at their bottoms hide improbable villages, where small clusters of people somehow survive winters so long you wonder how it’s even possible.

Men and beasts manage in a harsh, unforgiving nature that offers no respite.

Georgia’s mountains offer incredible skiable terrain, much of it shrouded in mystery due to its inaccessibility from the valley floor.

You find yourself in a land that invites you to return, even in other seasons, to understand it better, to see if spring will make it easier to venture into those grand, remote, and inaccessible valleys.

Old House

The driver starts the engine and enters the icy road… he makes the sign of the cross.

Well, fingers crossed!

In these lands, steeped in religiosity since ancient times, the gesture of crossing oneself is constant: repeated at every roadside cross and votive pillar.

In just over an hour, crossing deep valleys, hills, and impoverished villages with chimneys smoking in the cold morning air, we arrive in Ushguli.

A mythical place, located near a pass closed during winter.

Just south of the village, a vast horseshoe-shaped basin surrounded by peaks slightly over three thousand meters offers north-facing slopes with dozens of potential ski lines.

Just looking at it, your imagination and hunger for Powder turns get lost among countless bumps, ridges, gullies, and slopes of varying steepness, descending from peaks with nearly unpronounceable names: Gvibari, Gorvashi, Mount Rama.

To the north, the spaces widen dramatically: high moraines lean against rocky buttresses, between which suspended glaciers plunge.

Sunlight floods the peaks of Shkhara, which at 5193 meters is Georgia’s highest summit.

We enter the Old House, a charming guesthouse that, like ancient homes, sits beside a Svan tower, right in the heart of the village.

Here too, Georgian kindness—by now familiar—is ever-present and continues to pleasantly surprise.

Enough chatter: we head toward a beautiful unnamed peak overlooking the village.

With each switchback, the panorama becomes more grand.

The wall of Shkhara blocks the view to the north, but then Elbrus—the giant of the Caucasus, entirely in Russian territory—emerges in the distance, with its two summit craters reaching 5600 meters.

Tetnuldi Ski Resort

The Tetnuldi ski resort offers endless space for freeride and ski mountaineering.

With short ascents, you reach hidden valleys, far from groomed slopes, leading to remote villages like Adishi, lost at the bottom of deep valleys.

Located about an hour from Mestia, Tetnuldi is a great opportunity to “warm up the engines”: here we focus mostly on the descent, letting ourselves be carried by the snow and the wild landscape around us.

Laila Peak

The name sounded familiar… maybe I’d read it in some old magazine or book, who knows.

Then, in a bar in Mestia, I hear it mentioned.

I check the maps, do a quick scouting drive, and there they are: the Laila peaks rising high against the sky, suspended above vast pine forests, as elegant as their name.

And so, here we are in the village early in the morning.

The road, covered in at least thirty centimeters of ice, drops us right in front of the schools, where groups of colorful children are arriving.

We climb the steep path winding through the houses, passing kids heading to school, people watering livestock, women busy hanging laundry in the sun.

Then the village ends, and the pine forests wrap around the steep slopes, offering a lovely shaded ascent that opens up high above onto vast, dynamic slopes, always steep and occasionally carved by enormous “whale mouths.”

The space opens toward the Laila peaks, and we choose a small summit over three thousand meters as our goal, tracing an elegant line through the untouched snow.

All around, the panorama fans out with unique photo spots: from Ushba, right in front of us, to distant Shkhara, all the way to Elbrus and beyond.

Just enough time for a few shots, then down again into the powder that wraps your knees, lifts you with every turn, and gently welcomes you, launching you into the next near-dive… down to the pines, to the village, and to the delicious local beer—a perfect ending.

In Summary

• Skiing in grand, vast terrain, with large slopes and endless skiable lines
• Powder snow almost always present, even into March on shaded slopes
• Ushba constantly in sight (or rather, towering above)
• The hospitality of the Svan people matched only by the kindness of those who live here
• Tours almost always start, end, or pass through populated villages, offering a unique and authentic immersion in local life
• Adjectives to describe the nature of Georgia’s mountains: vast, harsh, mysterious, complex
• Mestia: a lively town filled with skiers from around the world
• Ushguli: an isolated village, sometimes unreachable, dotted with dozens of Svan towers. A precious gem for ski mountaineers and travelers
• Tetnuldi Ski Resort: a great option for freeride and uncertain weather days, along with the small Mestia station, just five minutes’ walk from the Guest House