Powder Week
Guided Powder Ski & Snowboard Week in Svaneti Georgia
The 7-day Powder Week tour includes the best skiing in the core areas of the incredible Svaneti region of Georgia. Based in Mestia, ski powder at Tetnuldi, Hatsvali, Koruldi & beyond with IFMGA / GMGA certified guides, four to six guests per guide, and the emptiest big-mountain terrain in Europe. The Powder Week suits strong intermediates & upwards who want guided off-piste but are not ready to commit to a longer stay in this remote region.
Highlights
- Stress-free travel arranged from start to finish with a pick-up & drop-off at Kutaisi airport.
- Five ski days including resort-based freeriding, backcountry ski-touring and options for cat and heli skiing.
- Wonderful local guesthouse accommodation.
- Incredible, authentic cuisine & hospitality.
- Ski & wander amongst the Svan tower houses of Mestia & perhaps Ushguli too.
- Local Svan guides with up-to-date snow, weather & road conditions knowledge for the best & safest skiing & activities each day.
- Unforgettable ski week in a fantastic part of the world.
Make a Tour Booking Enquiry ->
Itinerary
What you ski is decided each morning, not in advance: Tetnuldi's 2,265m - 3,160m of lift-served freeride, the glades at Hatsvali when the cloud is low, the Koruldi plateau at about 2,740m, the touring lines under Ushba in the Becho valley, and the road east to Ushguli at 2,100m. Weather governs all of it.
Apart from skiing, 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.
For more information, see the Itinerary tab.
The Skiing
Five areas, all within reach of Mestia, all weather dependent. The morning briefing decides which one you get.
- Tetnuldi (2,265m - 3,160m, 895m vertical) is 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.
- Hatsvali (1,868m - 2,347m). 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. A 3km forest run is a fitting finale!
- Koruldi (~2,740m). 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.
- Mazeri and Becho, under Ushba (4,710m). 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 2,950m 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”.
- Ushguli (2,100m). Off-piste lines, quiet terrain, and no crowds in and around the core UNESCO village. About 200 permanent residents, snowbound some six months of the year. The 12th-century church of Lamaria stands above the village with the peak of Shkhara behind it at 5,193m, anchor of the roughly 12 km Bezengi Wall. Access depends on the road. A ski touring trip to Ushguli is the most weather-sensitive element in any itinerary.
Aside from the lift-served & ski touring undertaken on the tour, there are options for heliskiing, catskiing, horse ski touring, paragliding, plus having a professional photographer and drone operator to capture it all!
Lodging & Meals
Six nights accommodation is included, with the default lodgings at the authentic Svan guesthouse 'Mishgu Qor': 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. An upgrade option is available: a 3-star or boutique hotel for those who want a more conventional private setup - priced on request. For a first-time visit, a stay in a family-run guesthouse is almost an essential experience on the trip.
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 where restaurants are available on the mountain. 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. And lots of fresh salads.
Sometime during 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 cha cha are not in the package price but 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.
Ski Ability, Fitness & Gear
The tour runs best for strong intermediate or better skiers & splitboarders. You need not be an expert, but you must be able to ski a 30-degree slope in variable snow under control and stop where you are told to stop. Experience & ability in mixed snow off-piste conditions is essential.
A good level of fitness will make the tour more enjoyable for everyone! You should be fit enough to ski 1,200 vertical metres or more a day, between 1,800 and 3,200m altitude. 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.
Ski-touring & splitboarding gear (including avalanche safety equipment) are not included in the tour tariff. However, the tour operator does have a wide range of ski & snowboard rental gear available in Mestia. If you require gear, let the tour operator know when booking.
Getting There & Away
Kutaisi is the best airport for trips to Svaneti. Flight origins to Kutaisi are more limited than to Tbilisi but are doable from many airports in Europe & the UK, plus via Istanbul. Return transfers are included. The transfer to your guesthouse in Mestia will be about 4-5 hours, depending on road conditions. The private, comfortable transfers are in modern 4x4 vehicles and minibuses, with local experienced drivers, timed to your flight, and driven to the conditions, not the clock!
More Info & Booking
For booking, or if you have any questions, make a Tour Booking Enquiry ->