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Thread: Georgia
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03-17-2020, 10:39 PM #1
Georgia
Catching up w some more TR's from previous trips
Went to Georgia and then Norway last year. Ill start w Georgia.
Flew into Tbilisi and rented a vehicle from these guys. 1 - an SUV is beyond mandatory. 2 - cheap as chips (at least compared w Norway) 3 - you will be terrified at least once whilst driving in this country
super happy with the vehicle, this button right here pretty much set the tone for the trip
At some point in the trip we wandered around the city
First destination was Gudauri, hoping to do some wicked high peaks, assuming the ski resort was just alright. Well, the ski resort was re-god-damn-diculuos and had some pretty mental terrain accessible from the lifts. There were 2 brand new gondola's not even on the trail maps yet. Aaaand, the place was empty.
No photos from the morning pow sesh bc everyone was chomping at the bit on some ridiculous in-bounds spine skiing (way to go on some of those lines ladies, if you are on here).
Some entrances were spicier than others and stayed fresh late into the day
Pretty great snow for spring
Lots of stuff to huck, although we 3 were all on a semi injury train and kept er on the ground (for the most part)
Huge amounts of terrain, making skiers look tiny
Dropping cornices over an inversion is always awesome
Sun and pow for a few days
Day 2 got a wee bit too warm, but the morning was gangbusters
One last lap before pointing at stuff we would love to attempt if a window allowed it.
Peaks over 16,500. Not this time.
Weather got reeeal warm followed by a storm so we packed up and headed to the next destination.....
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03-17-2020, 11:43 PM #2
Mestia - not too bad of a drive.
Tetnuldi - not sure how the road up there is legally open. Our vehicle barely made it, with a few serious tokyo drift/slide/backwards/holy shit moments on the way up. The lifted Delicas were killing it though
Pretty sure I mixed the ski resort photos in with the Guduari photos, oops. So here are some touring photos from Mestia.
Roads in Georgia will have an animal on them. Cows even graze on medians around the cities. Insane to see. But here is what most roads were like in Mestia, that were passable.
Dogs are literally everywhere as well. Most of them are pretty cool. But not as cool as this guy. He was super friendly and decided to follow us, bag some peaks, drop a cornice or two, and shred all the way with us. Not sure how long or how much vertical we logged, but holy shit this guy could give it. Would have gladly taken him home with me......
Skin track stoke. These towers are old. And badass. Such a cool backdrop. Feels just like Vail, haha.
Vast
Long skins = long decents. Lines in every direction as well.
Doggo would always eventually catch up
Going way out there - can barely see the 2 specs
Reaping the rewards. One of the best pics of the trip
Trying to tire this guy out
Id like to think we gave him a run for his money, but he could have been humouring us to think he was beat
Back to the car
Time to head down and have another ho-hum Georgian meal. JK, every meal was a feast. These people know how to eat, and could not be more generous and kind. Typical spread, with more on the way
Expecting some more weather we headed back towards Guduari.
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03-18-2020, 12:01 AM #3
Went up to a monestary on a down day. Brought the skis but it wasnt worth a ski
Apparently this place is old or something
If you get here before the roads are passable you can deliver goods to the monks who live here and they reward you with booze. We were too late for that, but sweet spot nonetheless
The mountains here are huge. Kazbeck is behind us, towering over 16,500. So these little guys pale in comparison
Snowed some more, so we skied some more around Guduari area.
Considered setting up camp out here, but never had the window of consistent weather we were looking for. Could easily spend a week here smashing lines
Some more random photos
Top of ski resort again
Georgian bath houses, DO IT!
Cant tell its snowy down here
One of our many humble abodes
Thats a wrap
After Norway closed this year due to corona we tried to go back to Georgia but our boots on the ground there convinced us otherwise. It is an amazing place that I will love to go back to. Lift tickets were around $15 for pretty insane playgrounds. Food was cheap, beer was cheaper, and the people amazing. If she is on your list of destinations, do it.
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03-18-2020, 12:06 AM #4
Oh yeah, heres a video of the trip. Japan and Norway are also included.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIXbFQdE8Nc
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03-18-2020, 02:25 AM #5Rod9301
- Join Date
- Jan 2009
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- Squaw valley
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- 4,667
What a great trip.
I climbed kazbek with my wife 10 years ago, in June, unfortunately without skis.
Would've made a great descent.
I loved georgia, my favorite country during that year long trip around the world.
I would like to go ski there, but logistics are tough with two kids, 8 and, 11.
In a few years.
Btw, I'm in the French Pyrenees now and skiing is fantastic. Tons of steep couloirs and nobody skiing them.
Sent from my Redmi Note 8 Pro using Tapatalk
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03-18-2020, 07:59 AM #6
Fantastic pictures.
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03-18-2020, 09:12 AM #7
excellent, thanks for sharing.
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03-18-2020, 03:28 PM #8
got damn, amazing. good photog work
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03-18-2020, 03:46 PM #9I climbed kazbek with my wife 10 years ago, in June, unfortunately without skis.
Would've made a great descent.
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03-18-2020, 06:26 PM #10
That was great. Thanks.
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03-19-2020, 01:11 AM #11Rod9301
- Join Date
- Jan 2009
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- Squaw valley
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- 4,667
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03-19-2020, 05:46 AM #12
Beautiful..!!
what's so funny about peace, love, and understanding?
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03-19-2020, 01:27 PM #13
Nice! I'm supposed to visit Georgia in September. Will depend on how the current hCov-19 situation pans out, I suppose.
Daniel Ortega eats here.
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03-19-2020, 03:34 PM #14
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03-20-2020, 12:47 PM #15lysterine
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
- Posts
- 670
Very awesome. Georgia is on top of my places to visit in the near future. Have some in-laws that live a short flight away from there, so hopefully can earn some family kudos by visiting them and Georgia in the same trip.
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03-20-2020, 10:58 PM #16Registered User
- Join Date
- Feb 2015
- Location
- Bozeman
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- 14
Spent three weeks in Georgia this February. Incredible country! Favorite place that I have traveled to. We managed 13 days of great skiing, mostly touring (self-guided), despite the nearly record-low and super sketchy snowpack this year. Planning on returning before long
Skied with the same dog in your video (pretty sure)...and many many others across the country!
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03-21-2020, 04:56 AM #17
haha, thats Awesome!
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03-21-2020, 11:20 AM #18
Great pics, nice report.
Have to ask about the dogs 'causer I've heard this described before. Any thoughts why they cling to people, ... food, companionship, activity? Where they go for the night, sleep in the streets, and how do they stay (in whats looks to be) healthy, not emancipated or sickly or under feed?
Have heard stories form people hiking in other eastern your up mountain regions and stories about the local dogs sounds very similar.“The best argument in favour of a 90% tax rate on the rich is a five-minute chat with the average rich person.”
- Winston Churchill, paraphrased.
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03-21-2020, 11:32 AM #19
this guy was highly motivated by food, which we found out only after one monster lap.
they seem to be cattle dogs where we were. lots of cows and chickens and a few goats and sheep roaming around. the lil guy followed us for 3 peaks up and down and then all the way back to the little village. when we got to the car and packed up he walked up the road a few hundred meters and plopped himself down in front of a house. the locals seem pretty warm to the dogs, not shooeing them away with sticks like in other places ive been.
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03-22-2020, 04:12 AM #20Mike Pow
- Join Date
- Apr 2005
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- Between a rock and a soft place. Aberdare and The Brecon Beacons, Wales
- Posts
- 3,214
Great TR, great country.
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03-22-2020, 04:20 AM #21
Awesome TR. I’ve been two Georgia a couple of times, but never managed to ski. Love the place.
Props to the pups too...
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
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04-02-2020, 10:57 AM #22
This is an outstandingly good TR. Thank you.
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04-02-2020, 03:52 PM #23
very cool, thanks for putting in the time. that video is outstanding.
j'ai des grands instants de lucididididididididi
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04-03-2020, 08:19 AM #24Registered User
- Join Date
- Mar 2015
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- 555
That is a great video. The exotic places that some of you peeps go to and the photos and edits you make are what I love best about this forum.
Sorry about that injury though. Curious at one point within the video, you captioned that you love your new bindings and showed a couple of crash's. Was it a pre-release that lead to a crash that caused your foot break?
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04-03-2020, 10:12 AM #25
Biking broke my foot. Overshot a landing by a hair, didnt really crash, just the impact exploded my foot. Lisfranc injury, Kelly Slater did the same thing and helped me learn about the type of injury since I never heard of it.
The pre-releases never led to an injury thank christ. Just very frustrating. Any sideslipping through serious chatter and those things pop off. Ended up LOCKING them out b/c of this and that is when I re-injured my foot and had to end my trip a few days early in Norway. Skis didnt pop off on an icy road ski out and twisted my leg really bad. Knees stayed in tact but brought me back to the emergency room in Tromso to make sure I didnt totally fuck my hardware.
Before
After
Not 100% positive the crash broke both screws, but it felt like it.
Lesson learned, only lock out my Dynafit Rotations in fall and die situations.
Sorry for the lengthy response, corona has me pretty bored ha
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