Gudauri (Georgia)

Bedankt voor het delen! Benieuwd wat 'ie nog meer gaat melden, ik ben daar met de kerstdagen.

Inmiddels de eerste verslagen.
Kaartje staat hier https://gudauri.com/about-gudauri/ski-lifts.html

Eenmalig doe ik een tekst copy paste vanaf het Engelse forum. Overtypen is nogal zinloos.

Vanaf nu post ik alleen plaatjes, en meld wanneer er een nieuwe update is.

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I’m trying to put prices in where I remember. Nearly 3GEL to one euro.

Day 2
Strange sleeping so out at 10.15. Glorious weather. About 6 stray dogs raiding the rubbish outside. I walk to the end of the road, preparing for the dodgy track that will take me to the piste, and bash the snow off my boots. The dogs take offence and surround me snarling and barking, with one or two trying to take a tug of the back of my jacket. Some shouting and well swung poles and they lost interest and wandered off. Down, up the lift and the dogs are there again, they then took offence at a lone boarder and tried the same technique. We shouted from the lift and then some guys came over from nearby. Pistes pretty much empty so not much close support. I guess they wandered off again. I noted them or similar dogs later in the day and on my evening walk into town.

Other than that, conditions on piste crispy corduroy, visibility maybe 30 miles from the top lift. Crowding level; maybe one in six chairs has 1-2 people on.

Went back up the top (3000m) of Kudebi, found that dropping off the back is a lovely curvy red that takes us round to the front of the hill and back to the lift. Noted the chair to the left, Sadzele, still not working. But a cable car further left is. This is Kobi pass, leads to a black free ride area. Had to try. And get to the top of that and hey, there’s another cable car coming up from the other side! So I dropped down back and followed the piste to the base of it. Really a blue-red, but too new for most maps. Smooth fields of snow on the side with the occasional rock, to dabble. I dabbled and was informed that my off piste/ powder crust needs improvement. Tried jump turning but the mind was more willing than the thighs, which could sometimes commit me to an unwanted trajectory, so I went back to the groomed, and back up to the pass again. Just shows this resort is bigger than maps suggest. Sign where the two cable cars met says last lift 17 something so the resort seems to run a bit late. Came back down the front, around what looked like a perfect bowl which I think is marked as a freeride zone. But pretty much untracked and I have no idea why, considering how much else here is tracked. Decided I wouldn’t be a Pioneerski and went back to my usual cafe for lunch at 2pm. Simple but tasty tomato soup and croutons for 28GEL.

Spent the afternoon playing on the front side trying to see what tracks led where, and noting a working chair to my far left looking downhill, but no obvious route to it. By the time I’d worked out a route by 4pm they were running it backwards and stacking the chairs! A few more attempts at playing over the side of the groomers, sometimes for kicks and some for cut-throughs, but my skills really aren’t up to it, more energy sapping than confidence boosting. Called it a day at 1700 with all but the very base still in sunshine, much better than Andorra which was well shaded by this time. Paused for a quick sweet mouthful of hot chocolate (5 GEL!) near the base, before happily following the cut through directly to my hotel that I’d located in the morning (canine capers aside).

Several British voices heard on the lifts and slopes today; parents and 8 year olds, student types, etc. Who knows if they’d come directly from UK or live closer.

Went for a walk “into town” after that to find a cash point as my card was occasionally problematic. So 15 mins down the hill in the poorly lit roadway shared with several of the trucks plying trade between perhaps Moscow and Iran - or Volgograd-Armenia, who knows - and their smell of low quality diesel and burned brake pads. Got my cash and turned back thinking the town centre won’t be competing with Morzine yet. Back to the hotel for a massive cheesy pasta.

Ziet er wel fenomenaal mooi uit. Bakken sneeuw, en strakblauwe lucht.

Mocht je ooit de gelegenheid hebben om naar Gudauri te gaan: DOE HET!

Ik heb het geluk gehad om daar op 8 maart 2020 een dag te kunnen snowboarden. Enorm leuk gebied, geeft een beetje een Frans gevoel met de ski-in en -out. De bergen eromheen geven een Zwitserse Alpen cq Italiaanse Dolomieten vibe.
Hier is mijn verslag ervan: https://www.wintersport.nl/forum/topic/515438

Mocht de regio zich daar uiteindelijk echt stabiliseren, verwacht ik echt veel groei voor de Georgiesche wintersport.

Hier nog een mooie live video feed vanaf het top station https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1…