For all its difficulties and negatives, Tetnuldi ski area delivers a unique experience that is worth travelling across the world for when the forecast says ‘SNOW’. Not at all a ski ‘resort’, the small collection of modern lifts, limited pistes and mountain restaurants are almost secondary to the road. It is the access road that truly sets Tetnuldi up as a ski destination. Everything else is a bonus.
And that road does have its moments. Generally a single lane, heavily covered in snow after a blizzard, hardpack ice a few days later, and then a mash of ice, soft snow, running water and mud in Spring, it is not a place for squeamish drivers. However the road was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. In fact there are probably way worse roads heading up to a few ski fields in New Zealand. However, there are some horror stories about this road, but perhaps they are based on the experiences of those used to driving on well graded, cleared, salted, gritted, two lane bitumen?
Maybe the Georgian drivers made it just seem not so bad (even though many of them do love to put the pedal to the metal and test the nerves of their passengers). The locals are expert drivers (mostly!), and the vehicles are all (mostly) 4WD with snow tyres. The biggest challenges on the Tetnuldi road occur when traffic is oncoming……then it gets truly interesting! It can ice up hideously too. You just gotta trust the driver and hope that a 180 spin is the worst that occurs.
The ski hill itself has one major issue (and is common to all the Georgian ski areas) – the lifts spin far too inconsistently. The first chair aside, there seems very little determination to actually prepare pistes, lift entry/exits and other skiing infrastructure so as to ensure lift operation on any given day starts in a timely fashion. Piste grooming will be happily conducted whilst skiers are already in a sector. Why the staff are not conducting preparations in the evening or early morning is beyond my understanding. With an official starting time of 10am (and usually 10.30am or later), it’s not like they are under any pressure. And it is a little disheartening to see the staff transport truck coming up the mountain at 10.30am. Anywhere else it would have been up already at 8am or earlier. But that’s ‘resort’ skiing in Georgia. It is all on GMT – Georgian Maybe Time. Relax and go with it because the alternative is …… well there is no alternative.
A great feature of the ski area is the ability to make long valley descents to villages such as Adishi & Zhabeshi (and hence avoiding getting driven down that road!). There are all sorts of routes down involving open mellow powder fields, perfect trees, tight trees, gullies, pillows & creeks. Some require a bit of skinning at the end, and even skiing through a mob or tow of cows, but all in all, they provide a wonderful adventure to the end of a Tetnuldi ski day.
The first chairlift, a hooded six-seater usually starts running by around 10.30am. The next lift to open is a quad chair which extends down to an adjacent valley. This is where to strike your first goal for powder. Open terrain that blends into birch woodland with loads of rolls & bumps with no real chance of avalanche. There are some holes & glide crack areas that we saw literally swallow up skiers & boarders alike. One of our group went chest deep into a random hole in the main gully, so always have your wits about you.
The next chair heading further up the mountain only opens in good visibility. It is a relatively easy skin up and beyond if it doesn’t open (which it didn’t for four days in a row when I visited). Another 120m vertical above it, the peak can be reached for stellar alpine freeride powder all the way down to the base of the aforementioned quad chair (600m+ vertical). One of the best powder runs I have ever done was with a great group of locals & internationals on an untouched canvas from the peak. You could just let it absolutely rip.
Tetnuldi is also the staging point for a host of incredible ski-touring journeys to once mythical locations like Ushguli village, plus a host of nearby mountain peaks. The options are nearly endless.
The Mountain Bar, just up from the main base at the bottom of the ski lifts, is the place to eat & drink. The prices are ‘ambiguous’ and appear to vary from day to day for certain things, but the food quality is excellent, the service is fast, and the cost, in the greater scheme of things, is negligible.
The Sky Bar has a fabulous swing which overlooks the mountains & valley. Good spot for a quick drink or snack. The local dogs enjoyed a cream bun that I purchased for them! They appreciate all attention & food. Give them some of each!
Other cafes exist, but all were of lower quality, or higher prices than the Mountain Bar.
When in the region the best place to base yourself is in Mestia. A fascinating town, with awesome guesthouse accommodations (& food), incredible fortified tower houses, cafes, restaurants & bars. Add in wandering cattle, pigs & some lovely local dogs with, Mestia combines chaos, history & that awful feeling that the world is finally catching up to it.
The piste trails are worth a mention while I am about it. They are seriously limited in number and scope. The main trail is under the first chair and is a nice beginner piste. Wide, well groomed and pitched. Powder can be skied either side of it in the upper sector. The bottom half goes past all the mountain restaurants. Wrapping around a ridge is a lovely intermediate trail to the base of the quad chair. Above that, when the 'second' chair is running, it has a reasonable intermediate piste with a short advanced variant. It can be wind scoured on occasion given its position on an exposed ridge. With the surface tow and the top chair not functioning, that about sums up the pistes. Definitely not a reason to come to Tetnuldi.
Despite a few nice piste trails and newish chairlifts, this is simply not a place to bring the family for a ski holiday (unless you are bunch of go-getting hard-hitters).
Lift passes here are quite cheap, and given the way the lifts run (or don't), perhaps they need to be. if staying for more than a week, get a season pass. It will cost less than a day pass would at a host of international ski areas!
As for crowds, we found that there were quite a few freeriders (200? one day) (& ski-tourers waiting for clear weather) chasing fresh lines at Tetnuldi. However there were no lift lines, and there was enough terrain and regular snowfall to mark this place as effectively uncrowded. I skied long, fresh, unmarked lines every day I visited Tetnuldi.
If you have a spare week, and the forecast says ‘cold & snow’ for Tetnuldi, get to Kutaisi on a midweek flight (they are way cheaper than weekend flights), link up with a guide (like our fabulous local partners), and let the adventure begin.
See our Tetnuldi Overview page for detail on the pros & cons of this ski area.