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Racha Backcountry Ski or Splitboard Week, Georgia

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Spend 8 days exploring the amazing Racha backcountry, and enjoy skiing or splitboarding in Georgia! This exciting program combines camping and skiing, with some local culture and rest in lovely Georgian villages, plus you will learn Avalanche safety and have exceptional IFMGA guides making sure you are at all times cared for in the mountains!

Group

Caucasus

8 Days

Jan, Feb, Mar

Fit

Intermediate


Highlights

  • Discover the gorgeous Racha backcountry in Georgia.
  • Join a great program that balances exciting runs and rest.
  • Explore historical Georgian villages and enjoy the warm local culture.

Description

Join a unique ski or splitboard week in the amazing Racha backcountry! We will visit amazing ski spots and lovely local villages on this comprehensive winter tour in Georgia.

The fun begins with an airport pickup at Tbilisi or Kutaisi airport. From there, we will travel by 4×4 van to the city of Oni, in the Racha region. We will check into a local guesthouse where we will have dinner and a safety briefing and gear check. The next day, we will depart to our first campsite in the Racha backcountry.

Once we set off, we will enjoy eight days of amazing skiing or splitboarding in the beautiful Caucasus mountains. On your 8 day trip, you will visit 3 camping/skiing locations on overnight trips, and also visit 3 historic Georgian mountain villages for rest and recovery. You can find a day-by-day itinerary below.

Additionally, we will also spend a half-day on avalanche training.  We will cover topics including why and where avalanches happen, how to approach risk management in the backcountry, and other important considerations. You will learn from highly qualified IFMGA guides. We will discuss theory and do practice drills.  Burial and recovery, search patterns, multiple burials, and communication are all part of the training.

When the trip is over, we will deliver you to any airport or city in the country after a fun farewell party. If you would like to continue skiing somewhere else in Georgia, we can make arrangements for you, we have a great extended program with amazing options in the Racha backcountry. Finally, we will edit a short video from the footage we took during the trip and give it to you.

Are you ready for this exciting adventure in the Caucasus mountains? Then contact us today and let’s start planning your ski/splitboard week with us!

Price includes

- Guiding fee

- Accommodation included

- Transportation start and back

- Transport during the trip

- Luggage transfer

- Drinks

- Clean drinkable water

- Mountain guide expenses

- Breakfast

- Dinner

- Snacks

- Camping equipment tents

- Camping equipment sleeping bag

- Camping equipment sleeping pad

- Camping equipment cooking utensils

Price details

Price also includes:

All accommodations and basecamp logistics

IFMGA certified guiding and avalanche forecast services


Itinerary

Day 1: TOUR TO BASECAMP ABOVE GLOLA

Approximately 800 m vertical

Day 2: SKI FROM GLOLA BASECAMP

  • Approximately 800m vertical maximum, terrain varying from easy to very challenging.

  • After a full day of skiing, we plan to descend to the village for a rest.

Day 3: ASCENT TO NEXT BASECAMP

  • Minimum 1000 m vertical, ending with a ski run to the basecamp. Climbing higher on the ridge above the camp during approach can add another 300m vertical for a longer run if you feel up to it.

Day 4: SKI SECOND AREA

  • Vertical from 500 — 1000 m possible, with terrain ranging from very easy tree runs above the camp to very challenging steep lines.

Day 5: ASCENT TO CHIORA RIDGE, DESCENT TO CHIORA VILLAGE

  • Approximately 500 m vertical.

  • Option for an extra 250 m vertical and a ride on the spine wall (challenging).

  • Very easy skiing down the ridge to the village.

Day 6: GHEBI BASECAMP ASCENT

Approximately 800 m vertical.

Day 7: SKI GHEBI BASECAMP AREA

  • Vertical from 800 — 1200 m, terrain from easy to very challenging

Day 8: WEATHER DAY / REST DAY / CULTURAL EXPERIENCE / GOODBYE PARTY

This day can be placed anywhere in the schedule to have an extra day of rest with some more time to explore the villages or more time to ski in a particular area.

 

Details

Accommodation

Local guesthouses and campsites, included in the price.

More info

The team manages all the tents, food, and other logistics so you can avoid carrying a heavy backpack to the basecamps. We can choose terrain that suits any experience level without any problem.

Meeting point

Airport pickup at Tbilisi or Kutaisi airport.

About the guide

We specialise in wild backcountry ski touring trips. We choose our guides based mainly on their proficiency in avalanche safety as we operate in remote areas without a regular avalanche forecast. Usually for each trip we try to have one IFMGA guide plus one avalanche forecaster with high levels of qualifications in that area.

Our clients are mainly two types: People who are learning to skitour but have not taken the step to try winter camping and overnight tours, and would like to have that kind of adventure, and very independent groups who would like the chance to ride big, unridden lines or who are just wanting to totally escape crowds.

Languages

Russian | Italian | English | Czech

Certificates

IFMGA


What people are saying about Explore-Share

Kumari Selvakumar

5.00

Sept 14, 2022

I’m extremely happy with the ease with which I could book via your site reliable and experienced guide. Thank you so very much, and I’ve started to recommend your site to my friends. Dimitris is not only an awesome guide, but a wonderful person who was always looking out to give me the best experience I can have when he found out how much I love climbing! He is the Best!

Niklas Warren

5.00

Sept 6, 2022

I am very pleased with Explore-Share! This was my first international climb, and the communication and response time were great. Herbie is a very skilled guide and very efficient. The entire booking process & payment was smooth. I will definitely use Explore-Share again. Thank you.

Greg

5.00

Aug 23, 2022

I was looking for a local guide for a hike I was planning and came across Explore-Share. They seemed to have good reviews and so decided to give them a try. The experience was very positive and completely happy with their service. I will be using them again for next trip.

Colin Finnegan

5.00

Aug 17, 2022

Easy to set up and find the perfect trip. Informative site that is easy to use. Guides are all great to work with and communicate all arrangements needed. As simple as can be!

Lesley Weber

4.00

July 16th, 2022

Thank you explore-share for a wonderful via feratta experience. We have been wanting to learn for a long time but don't have the facilities in Scotland. The guide Mitja was extremely helpful and knowledgeable, answering all my many questions and providing advice. On the day head to take another group but he quickly arranged another guide Borut, who was brilliant. We had a fantastic morning learning via ferrata at Hvadnik in the gorge. It gave us the confidence to later hire our own equipment and go out in Mojstrana. Altogether a five star + experience. Thank you.

Richard Scrivener

5.00

July 20, 2022

Hello! I have been thoroughly impressed by the service and assistance that explore-share have provided the past couple years in helping to plan my trip to the High Tatras in Poland. I really appreciated the flexibility that they provided in allowing me to rearrange my trip twice owing to covid. They were responsive and communicative throughout. This trip was part of my Stag weekend celebrations and explore-share connected me with an outstanding guide in the form of Marcel - he was an excellent recommendation and we really enjoyed our guided hike in the High Tatras with him. Marcel was an outstanding professional, placed a high focus on preparing well and staying safe, and was also a great guy! Highly recommend. Many thanks and best wishes - Richard

Yvonne Morrison

4.00

May 8, 2022

Our first time with Explore-Share. An absolutely fantastic experience from start to finish. Extremely good value, very well organised with attention to detail. We travel widely and this has by far been the best of experiences. Well done to all concerned. We are already looking at booking another trip!

Mark Stone

5.00

April 14, 2022

Great service by explore share. Our guide, Fred, gave us a fantastic day. Totally wild adventure that would be impossible on our own. I’m really impressed. Thank you very much.

James Dempster

5.00

March 9, 2022

I can’t recommend this enough. Great service, great price and the on the ground team was top notch. Top marks all round.

Leonardo Rodriguez

5.00

March 4, 2022

Everything went very well! Above our expectations! Thanks Explore-Share and Thanks Kiliholidays! Great support from all you! Thanks for the hard work and excellent level of commitment.

Daniel Martinez

5.00

Feb 2, 2022

Excellent job making your platform available to all mountain lovers. Our guide Gabrielle was an excellent companion

 

 

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