Georgia - Cat Skiing the Caucasus
The cat country in Adjara and Guria is fed by Black Sea moisture and sits low and forested, which makes it far more Japan-shaped than Alaska-shaped. The villages it runs out of are genuinely empty through winter. It is the most interesting thing in European skiing right now and almost nobody from Australia has been.
It is also harder than the brochure version. The precipitation is maritime but the snowpack is repeatedly described as continental, with persistent weak layers - deep, forgiving-looking snow sitting on a structure that is anything but. That is a combination that catches people who arrive calibrated to Japan.
There is no avalanche bulletin covering the terrain we would ski, rescue infrastructure is thin, and most Australian travel policies do not name cat skiing at all. None of that makes it a no. All of it makes it a trip that has to be run properly, with a written daily hazard assessment and an insurance requirement we will hand you in writing.
Being scouted now. Dan rides it before it is sold, and the operator due diligence has to come back clean before a seat is offered.
Is this trip for you?
We would rather talk you out of the wrong trip than sell you one. Read both lists honestly.
- Riders who want the frontier version of a powder trip rather than the polished one
- People happy in trees and low-angle forest terrain, which is what this country actually is
- Anyone who has done the avalanche modules and takes the daily hazard call seriously
- Riders who find the village and the culture as interesting as the skiing
- Anyone expecting Japan with fewer people - the snowpack structure is genuinely different
- Riders who want big alpine faces, which is not what the cat terrain here is
- Anyone unwilling to carry the specific insurance this trip requires
- People who need a published avalanche forecast to feel comfortable, because there is not one
LET'S BUILD
YOUR
ADVENTURE
Whether you want to surf Japan's legendary powder, ride the Old Telegraph Track to the tip of Cape York, or chase a New Zealand winter - tell us what you're dreaming about and we'll build the trip around you.