Ski Georgia

Georgia, which has been independent since 1991 and has an illustrious history stretching back for millennia before the Soviet empire has a handful of ski areas in the Caucasus – so you can easily ski Georgia. Some of these Georgia ski resorts were developed during Russian rule in the last century, others are very modern with a lot of potential for future growth, the Georgian government believes. As well as a reputation for good powder, some of the ski areas are on the same latitude as southern Italy meaning the climate is quite gentle.

Georgia ski areas include Gudauri which is in the former category, as it was developed as a luxury destination for the Soviet elite. It is now rather dated and was touted by a British tour operator as a destination in the early 1990s but nothing came of that. It has however built a reputation as a low cost heli-ski destination with descents of around 1000 vertical metres possible from 4000m landing points.

Mestia, at the other extreme, is a brand new resort on which more than $150 million (US) was lavished in 2010-2011 with Austrian designers, modern lifts and infrastructure.