Skiing in Georgia – fewer people and a fraction of the cost of the Alps

The chairlifts at Tetnuldi serve what must be the most remote ski resort in Europe.

A pedant might take issue with the assertion we are even in Europe – the Greater Caucasus Mountains are generally considered to be at the geographic intersection of the conti­nent and Asia – but there’s no doubt that Tetnuldi, in Georgia, is “out there”.

We arrive after a nine-hour drive along increasingly potholed roads from the cosmo­politan capital city of Tbilisi. The journey has taken us up the deep Enguri Gorge, dammed during the Soviet era, through thick forests that are home to brown bears, wolves and lynx, and beneath rugged mountain peaks higher than anything found in the Alps to our base, the historic “townlet” of Mestia. Had the weather been kinder, we could have flown in by light aircraft from Tbilisi.

Mestia is known for its many Svan towers, sturdy rectangular defensive structures rising several storeys and dating back to the 12th and 13th centuries. Few of the stone towers remain in use but, together with the town’s thick-walled buildings and cobbled streets, they bestow a medieval feel upon Mestia. Small, lively bars and restaurants serve traditional Georgian dishes such as khachapuri (a kind of pizza) and khinkali (meat dumplings eaten by hand) along with excellent wines, as might be expected from the country that was the birthplace of viticulture.

The next morning sees us “enjoying” another drive; 30 minutes along a snowbound dirt track accessible only by a 4WD vehicle to reach the ski resort, which lies in the shadow of 4,858 metre Mount Tetnuldi. It’s no surprise to find that the four chairlifts and the slopes they serve are hardly being used. But given a recent fall of fresh powder and almost 1,000 vertical metres of terrain to slide down, Tetnuldi is shaping up to be a very exciting prospect.