Five guided ski days on the core terrain — Tetnuldi, Hatsvali, Koruldi — with two days of travel and weather margin built in.
The road up from Kutaisi is 4–5 hours and the flight into Mestia is cancelled often enough that we build in slack rather than lose a ski day to it. Suits strong intermediates upwards who want guided off-piste and are not committing a fortnight on the strength of a website.
Eight ski days is where a programme stops reacting to weather and starts using it. Terrain expands into Becho and Mazeri under Ushba.
You will ski Tetnuldi more than once, on different aspects, which is how you come to know a mountain rather than merely visit it, with a run east to Ushguli when the road is open. Suits confident off-piste skiers who want the full arc: storm, clearing, high pressure, and the settled day afterwards.
Twelve ski days across multiple valleys, run as a genuine expedition: we move to where the snow is, not commute to what is nearest.
Boutique accommodation is offered on this package alongside the 3★ upgrade. Fourteen days is also the only realistic way to get consistent value from the heli and catski add-ons, because both need a weather window. Expect long days, early starts and the fitness to do it again tomorrow.
Svaneti is the north-western corner of Georgia: a set of high valleys held between the main Caucasus watershed and the Svaneti range, reached by one road up from the Black Sea plain and one 17-seat aircraft that flies when the cloud allows it. Mestia, the regional centre, sits at 1,400–1,500 m. The wall above it runs to Ushba at 4,710 m and, at the head of the valley, to Shkhara at 5,193 m, the highest summit in Georgia. Between town and watershed there are two lift-served ski areas, two snowcat zones, a helicopter, and a great deal of terrain that has no name on any map because nobody has needed to give it one.
We are based in Mestia and we run three multi-day guided ski packages here. All three run with 4–6 guests per IFMGA guide and never more than six to one. Accommodation in a Svan guesthouse, breakfast and dinner daily, airport transfers from Kutaisi or Tbilisi, daily mountain transport and lift access where the day requires it are in the price.
What you ski is decided each morning, not in advance: Tetnuldi's 2,265–3,160 m of lift-served freeride, the forest at Hatsvali when the cloud is down, the Koruldi plateau at about 2,740 m, the touring lines under Ushba in the Becho valley, and the road east to Ushguli at 2,100 m. Weather governs all of it, and we say so before you book rather than after.
The other half of the proposition waits at the bottom of every run. Upper Svaneti was the last self-governed mountain society in Europe, never fully subdued, taxed by nobody, defended house by house from stone towers raised between the 9th and 12th centuries and UNESCO-listed since 1996. Douglas Freshfield, the English alpinist who opened this range to the outside world in 1868, described “a land where every man's house is his castle”. The towers are still standing, still lived in, and you ski down to them at four in the afternoon.
The season runs December to April, with the lifts turning from roughly 23 December to 11 April, 10:00 to 16:30. Mid-mountain at Tetnuldi a typical January daily maximum is around −7 °C. The first week of January averages about 38 cm of new snow; the statistically snowiest week of the winter falls in late March, at about 51 cm; peak depths reach roughly 2 m. What matters more than the totals is the combination behind them: predominantly north-facing slopes, a high base at 2,265 m, and a continental interior a long way from any warm sea. Cold, dry snow that is not rained on and does not go through a thaw–freeze cycle every ten days. Powder here is often three or four days old and still worth skiing, which is not a claim many ranges in Europe can make in March.
Tetnuldi has 13.7 km of marked pistes on five lifts. That is the small part of the mountain. The marked runs are essentially a lift system laid across an open freeride bowl, which is why Freeride World Tour qualifier events are held here and why the resort is regarded as the best freeride area in Georgia. Hatsvali adds 5.5–7 km of runs. The point is not piste kilometres; the point is that on a Wednesday in February you can ski a 600 m face and see one set of tracks on it, yours. Freshfield, returning in 1887 and 1889, wrote of “space, light and shadow”, still the most accurate three-word description anyone has managed.
Tetnuldi is high, open and alpine: 895 m of lift-served vertical, 19 km and about 30 minutes from Mestia. Hatsvali is 8 km from town, 1,868–2,347 m, and its trees hold both dry snow and visibility when the alpine turns into a white room. Having both inside half an hour is the reason a five-day programme here rarely loses a day outright. See the full winter programme for the single-day versions of each.
You finish skiing and you are in a working village, not a resort built to service one. Dinner is kubdari, hand-cut spiced meat baked inside bread and listed on Georgia's register of intangible heritage, and tashmijabi, potato beaten with cheese until it stretches. The towers outside the window are 900 years old and somebody's grandmother lives in the one on the left.
Five areas, all within reach of Mestia, all weather dependent. The morning briefing decides which one you get.
The main event and the best freeride terrain in Georgia: wide, open, north-tending faces above the treeline, obvious fall-line skiing, and enough choice of aspect to find cold snow days after a storm. Nineteen kilometres and about 30 minutes from Mestia. Freshfield called the peak itself “as high as Mont Blanc and as graceful as the Weisshorn”.
freeride on Tetnuldi →The storm-day answer: trees give you visibility when the alpine gives you none, and the forest holds dry snow long after the open faces have been worked by wind. Eight kilometres from Mestia, Zuruldi chairlift, panoramic restaurant at the top facing Ushba.
tree skiing at Hatsvali →The plateau above Mestia. Lightly forested, moderate-angle slopes that stay skiable in flat light. Also a catski zone: a snowcat carrying up to nine riders plus two guides, 6–7 runs of 400–500 vertical metres in a day.
a snowcat powder day →Here the programme changes character, from lift-served freeride to ski touring: longer approaches, no infrastructure, terrain judged entirely on the day's snowpack. The Guli Pass at 2,950 m gives the best view of Ushba available to anyone on foot — the mountain Freshfield called “the Caucasian Matterhorn… one Matterhorn piled on another, and then multiplied by two”.
ski touring →About 200 permanent residents, snowbound some six months of the year. The church of Lamaria, 9th–10th century, stands above the village with Shkhara behind it at 5,193 m, anchor of the roughly 12 km Bezengi Wall. Access depends on the road, the most weather-sensitive element in any itinerary we run.
Ushguli →What happens between those timestamps matters more than the times themselves.
The 08:15 briefing is not a formality. There is no public avalanche bulletin for Svaneti, so your guide builds the picture from recent snowfall, overnight temperatures, wind direction and what the team saw on the snow yesterday. The day's plan is stated out loud, including the aspects and elevations we intend to ski and the ones we do not.
The 08:45 equipment check is physical. Every transceiver switched on, every transceiver searched for, batteries confirmed, shovel and probe in the pack. It takes six minutes and it is not optional.
The 09:00 transfer is 30 minutes to Tetnuldi, 15 to Hatsvali, longer to Becho or Ushguli. Lifts turn 10:00 to 16:30, which sets the shape of a lift-served day. A touring day starts earlier and finishes when it finishes.
Between 10:00 and 16:00 the group skis as a group: one at a time through exposed terrain, regrouping at defined points, with the running order changing as light and snow change. Around 1,200 vertical metres in a day is normal; on a good day it is considerably more. These are the same guided freeride days we sell singly, strung together.
The 20:30 briefing is where tomorrow gets decided and where plans change. If the forecast turns, you hear it that night rather than at breakfast.
IFMGA — the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations — is the highest guiding qualification there is, and the only one recognised across the Alps, the Andes, the Himalaya and here. Reaching it takes years: assessed courses and examinations in alpine climbing, rock, ice, ski touring and avalanche rescue, a personal logbook substantial enough to qualify for entry in the first place, and continuing assessment to keep it current. GMGA is the Georgian Mountain Guides Association, the national body that trains and certifies to that international standard inside Georgia. A guide holding both carries the international qualification and the local mandate.
Neither certificate is the actual product. The product is that our guides grew up here. Where no bulletin is published, snowpack history is not something you look up; it lives in the memory of people who have been on that snow all winter, every winter. Which gully ran in 2019 and why. Which face holds a persistent weak layer into March. Which road closes first when it warms. That knowledge does not transfer to a visiting guide in a week.
The ratio is 4–6 guests per guide, six absolute maximum. Below four the logistics stop working; above six a guide cannot watch everybody in exposed terrain or dig you out quickly enough if something goes wrong. Larger bookings are split across additional guides at the same ratio rather than stretched over one. Guides work in English, carry radios, a first-aid kit and rescue equipment, and are the final authority on the hill. More about how we work.
Start with the uncomfortable fact. There is no public avalanche bulletin for Svaneti. No forecast centre publishes a daily danger rating you can read over breakfast, as you would in Chamonix or Davos. The knowledge exists, held by local guides who track the snowpack through the season, but it is not a document, and any operator implying otherwise is selling something they do not have.
At 08:15 the guide team presents the day's picture: recent snowfall, wind loading and direction, temperature trend, freezing level, and field observations from the previous day. From that comes a decision on which aspects and elevations are in play.
Slope angle, aspect, wind effect, terrain traps below the run, test slopes and hand shears where they tell us something. The plan made at breakfast is a hypothesis and it gets revised at the top of the first pitch.
Transceiver, shovel and probe, checked every morning, no exceptions. Airbag packs are strongly recommended and rent locally.
Read this twice. We will cancel objectives, change valleys and occasionally not ski at all. Weather dependent means what it says. A guide who turns a group around below a loaded slope is doing the job correctly, and that decision is never open to negotiation.
Insurance is neither optional nor decorative. Georgia has required medical travel insurance for foreign visitors since 1 January 2026, and for this product you want a policy that names off-piste or backcountry skiing explicitly and includes helicopter evacuation. A standard piste policy will not cover you here.
Freshfield's porters, caught on a fogbound glacier in 1887, prayed to the sun: “they were as persistent as the priests of Baal, but with better success. The mists lightened.” We plan for the days on which they do not.
Accommodation is included on all three packages. The default is an authentic Svan guesthouse: family-run, in Mestia, wood-panelled rooms, hot water, a stove, and in most of them a sauna waiting at 17:00. This is not the compromise option. It is why a good number of guests come back. Two upgrades are available: a 3★ hotel for those who want a more conventional private setup, and, on the Ultimate Caucasus Expedition, a boutique property. Both are priced on request — see our mountain hotel in Mestia.
Breakfast and dinner are included every day, along with a welcome dinner and a farewell dinner. Mountain lunches are optional and charged separately; most guests take one on touring days and skip it on lift days.
Dinner is Svan, a distinct cuisine even within Georgia. Kubdari: hand-cut spiced meat sealed inside bread and baked, on Georgia's intangible heritage register. Tashmijabi: potato beaten with young cheese until it comes off the spoon in ropes. Svan salt on most things, ground from garlic, fenugreek, coriander and red pepper. Bread, cheese, pickles, soup after a cold day.
Somewhere in the stay there will be a Svan supra, the Georgian feast, led by a tamada who proposes the toasts and sets the pace of the table. Wine and chacha are not in the package price and are rarely absent from the room. This is a society that governed itself by open assembly for a thousand years, and it shows at dinner: Freshfield noted of the Svan assemblies that “a late comer could reopen the debate”. The same is broadly true of the toasts.
None of these are included. All can be arranged with notice, and all are weather dependent. Prices on request.
The obvious addition and the least predictable to schedule: flights need visibility, wind inside limits and a stable snowpack. Book it as an intention rather than a fixture. The longer your package, the better your odds of a window. Heli-assisted descents →
Two zones. Koruldi runs a snowcat for up to nine riders plus two guides, 6–7 runs of 400–500 vertical metres. The Tetnuldi alpine zone uses a Pistenbully for up to thirteen riders plus two guides. More reliable than the helicopter and cheaper. Snowcat days →
Svan horses tow skiers along the valley floor to the foot of a line. A working local practice rather than a novelty, and the most efficient approach to parts of the Becho terrain.
Tandem flights from the ridges above Mestia, cloud base permitting. Tandem flights →
A dedicated shooter who skis at your level, works stills and drone footage through the day and delivers an edit afterwards. Most worthwhile on the 10 and 14-day packages. Filming →
Towers, the museum treasury and the festival calendar sit five minutes from the guesthouse door. Svan culture and towers → · Ski and snowboard lessons →
Guiding, group safety and rescue equipment, first aid, radios, daily transport and lift access where required.
Skis, splitboards, boots, poles, transceiver, shovel, probe, airbag packs. Send sizes at booking and the kit will be waiting on arrival instead of being sorted out on the first morning. See the rental shop and ski service and tuning.
Nothing here is unusual for backcountry skiing anywhere. The one thing visitors consistently under-pack for is cold: a continental interior in January is colder than a maritime range at the same altitude, and you will be standing still through briefings and regroups.
Kutaisi — the nearest useful international airport, 4–5 hours by road. Most guests fly here. Transfer included.
Tbilisi — 8–9 hours by road, transfer included, but it is a long day.
Train plus road — the day train leaves Tbilisi at 08:20 and reaches Zugdidi at 14:21; from Zugdidi it is a further 3–4 hours by road.
Zugdidi — about 3 hours by road from the Black Sea coast.
By air — Vanilla Sky flies from Natakhtari into Mestia's Queen Tamar Airport on a 17-seat LET-410. Roughly one hour, roughly 90 GEL.
The rule: never fly in on the day the tour starts. Weather cancellations on the Mestia flight are routine rather than exceptional, and the same cloud that grounds the aircraft slows the road. Arrive a day early. Every itinerary we sell is built with that margin in it, and the guests who ignore it are the ones who miss a ski day.
Full detail on every route, including timetables and current fares, is on how to get to Mestia. Airport transfers are included in all three packages; additional legs can be booked as a private transfer.
Prices quoted are per person and are starting prices. The final figure depends on package, dates, room type and any upgrades.
Fit enough to ski 1,200 vertical metres or more a day, five to twelve days running, between 1,800 and 3,200 m. On lift days that is leg endurance. On touring days you should be able to walk uphill for two to three hours carrying a pack. If you can do three consecutive full days in the Alps without needing the fourth off, Powder Week is within reach.
Confident off-piste skiing in ungroomed snow of every texture. You need not be an expert, but you must ski a 30-degree slope in variable snow under control and stop where you are told to stop. Powder Week suits strong intermediates upwards; the Ultimate Caucasus Expedition is aimed at experienced off-piste skiers.
We change the plan, not the price. The morning briefing moves the group to whatever is working, usually the trees at Hatsvali or the lightly forested slopes at Koruldi, both chosen for flat light. The longer packages carry buffer days for exactly this. Terrain is weather dependent and no itinerary is guaranteed.
Yes. A splitboard is necessary for the touring days in Becho and Mazeri and can be rented in Mestia. On lift-served and catski days a solid board is fine. Tell us which setup you ride when you book.
Yes. Medical travel insurance has been mandatory for visitors to Georgia since 1 January 2026, and for this trip the policy must name off-piste or backcountry skiing and cover helicopter evacuation. We check policies before departure.
Four to six guests per guide, six absolute maximum. Larger bookings run with additional guides at the same ratio rather than stretching one guide over more people.
Yes, and many do. Solo guests join a scheduled group and share guesthouse rooms; a single-occupancy supplement is available on request.
The season runs from late December to early April. January is coldest and driest, with a typical mid-mountain maximum near −7 °C. Late March holds the statistically snowiest week of the winter at roughly 51 cm, with longer days. Mid-February brings Lamproba, the torchlit festival, which is the one date worth planning a trip around.
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