Guides · Gudauri
5 Best Ski Slopes in Gudauri
By Tomas Achmedovas · CEO and co-founder
CEO and co-founder
The best ski slopes in Gudauri are spread across two valleys and roughly 1,280 vertical metres, so picking the right five saves you a lot of aimless lift-hopping. This guide covers the runs that justify the ride up: the expert black pistes off Mount Sadzele, the red terrain under Mount Kudebi, the long gondola-served descent into the Kobi valley, the Mount Bidara freeride lines, and the beginner slope served by the Pirveli chairlift in lower Gudauri.
Each entry lists an address, coordinates, the lift that gets you there, the distance from Gudauri village centre, and a Pro Tip with a concrete price, time or lift name. Prices appear in Georgian lari and euro, based on Gudauri Ski Resort rates for the 2026/27 season, which is scheduled to run from 19 December 2026 to 18 April 2027.
We have ordered the list by difficulty, hardest first. A sensible day works the other way round: warm up on the Pirveli green slope, ride the Gudaura gondola to the blue runs, then push east to Kudebi and up to Sadzele once your legs and the light are good. The Kobi valley descent and anything off-piste deserve a full morning, not an afterthought at 15:30. Wind and visibility close that descent and the Sadzele bowls far more often than a thin snow base does, so check Gudauri weather the evening before and keep the lower gondola runs as the fallback. Almost everyone arrives on the Georgian Military Highway from Tbilisi, about two hours north when the road is open and considerably longer when it is not. The hotels in Gudauri strung along the highway put you on the first lift, which is the difference between fresh snow and tracked snow.
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1Sadzele Black Runs - The Highest and Steepest Pistes in Gudauri
Mount Sadzele tops out at 3,307 m, and the black pistes falling from the upper station of the Sadzele chairlift are the steepest lift-served snow in Georgia. The chairlift is a four-seat fixed-grip unit built in 2008, 1,410 m long, carrying you from about 2,770 m to just under 3,280 m in ten exposed minutes. There is no bubble and no shelter at the top.
What waits up there is a wide open shoulder with sustained pitch, scattered rock bands and wind-scoured sections that can go hard by early afternoon. Link the black runs into the pistes below and you can ride roughly 1,280 vertical metres down to the base of Gudauri Ski Resort, one of the longest continuous descents in the Caucasus. February is the most dependable month up here; earlier and later the Sadzele chairlift often sits idle in high wind. The whole of Gudauri Ski Resort lies above the treeline, so flat light rather than gradient is usually what turns people back. Background on the resort's layout and history sits on Wikipedia.
2Kudebi Red Runs - Advanced Pistes and the West Face Off-Piste
Mount Kudebi rises to 3,006 m on the eastern flank of Gudauri Ski Resort, and the red pistes beneath it are where competent skiers spend most of their day. Two chairlifts serve the sector: Kudebi 2, a six-seat detachable installed in 2018 and 1,279 m long, and the original three-seat Kudebi chair from 1986, a 565 m survivor that still turns. Both start around 2,850 m and climb roughly 290 m.
The gradient here is consistent rather than brutal, which makes the sector good for building speed, but it is not beginner ground. The pitch is steep enough that a lost edge means a long slide across open snow. North-facing aspects hold cold powder far later into the afternoon than the base-area blues do. The west face of Mount Kudebi is the most accessible off-piste at the resort, reachable in a short traverse from the top station, and it tracks out fast after a storm. Gudauri Ski Resort operates no avalanche patrol, so treat that face as backcountry rather than a side-country shortcut.
3Kobi Valley Descent - The Longest Run at Gudauri Ski Resort
The Kobi valley descent hangs off the three-section Poma gondola line that opened in 2018 and connects Gudauri Ski Resort to Kobi village on the Georgian Military Highway. The sections are named Firni (1,992 m), Kobi (2,271 m) and Truso (2,837 m), a shade over 7,100 m of cable in total, crossing the Kobi Pass at roughly 2,900 m and covering 1,217 m of elevation difference in about fifteen minutes. Each of the 213 cabins carries ten people.
Skiing the far side puts you on wide north-facing intermediate terrain that stays quiet even in February half-term, with the Mount Kazbek massif filling the horizon. Kobi village itself sits at 1,970 m, some 20 km from Stepantsminda. Non-skiers can ride the line purely as sightseers: a return ticket cost 45 GEL (about 15 EUR) for adults and 35 GEL (about 12 EUR) for children aged six to twelve in winter 2025/26. The gondola doubles as a public link when snow closes the Jvari Pass road.
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4Mount Bidara Freeride Lines - Guided Off-Piste Above Kobi Pass
Mount Bidara is the freeride objective most Gudauri guides name first. It carries two summits, Didi Bidara at 3,174 m and Patara Bidara at 3,011 m, and the standard approach starts from the Kobi Pass gondola station at roughly 2,900 m. That leaves a short skin or boot-pack to the ridge instead of a full touring day. From the top you can drop east toward the Gudauri Ski Resort lifts or west down to the Georgian Military Highway, with over a kilometre of vertical either way.
The window for it runs January to April. Georgia's national tourism board is blunt about the terms: the Mount Bidara ski tour suits skiers already experienced in untracked snow, and even they are urged to hire a certified guide. Transceiver, shovel, probe and ideally an airbag pack are standard kit. Mount Chrdili and the west face of Mount Kudebi give shorter alternatives on the same lift ticket, with the same absence of any resort avalanche service.
5Pirveli Green Slope - Beginner Terrain and Night Skiing in Gudauri
The Pirveli chairlift anchors the beginner terrain at Gudauri Ski Resort, in lower Gudauri at around 2,000 m. Installed in 2018, it is a six-seat detachable, 946 m long, rising about 150 m over a broad green slope that is the gentlest pitch on the mountain. This is also where the resort concentrates its snowmaking: 29 cannons cover roughly 15 percent of the ski area, mostly the runs under Pirveli and the neighbouring Soliko chairlift, which keeps the sector skiable through thin Decembers.
Night skiing runs on the Pirveli slope on Friday and Saturday evenings from 20:00 to 22:00, priced separately at 30 GEL (about 10 EUR). Higher up, the three-seat Snow Park chair from 1986 climbs 772 m from a base of 2,700 m and serves the terrain park, where the jumps, boxes and rails are sized for progression rather than competition. Ski school groups work the magic carpets and the short Baby and Alpina bar lifts at the bottom of the slope.
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CEO and co-founder
Tomas is the co-founder and director of trip1, an European company specializing in reservation services. He launched the company in 2025 with a focus on building scalable, efficient operations.
5 Best Ski Slopes in Gudauri - FAQ
Yes, especially for confident intermediates and freeriders. The resort spans about 1,280 vertical metres, all above the treeline, from the Pirveli green slope to the black runs off Mount Sadzele at 3,307 m. The Kobi gondola adds a long, quiet descent into the Kobi valley. The catch is wind and flat light, which close the upper lifts more often than thin snow does.
Very little by Alpine standards. An adult day pass at Gudauri Ski Resort costs 70 GEL (about 23 euros) and juniors aged 6 to 18 pay 35 GEL (about 12 euros). Night skiing on the Pirveli slope on Friday and Saturday evenings is 30 GEL (about 10 euros). Rental gear and a certified guide for off-piste days cost extra.
Not for skiing in autumn. The 2026/27 season is scheduled to run from 19 December 2026 to 18 April 2027. Snowmaking covers about 15 percent of the ski area, mostly the runs under Pirveli and Soliko, which keeps the lower slopes open in thin Decembers. February is the most dependable month for the high Sadzele runs, and the freeride season runs January to April.
Gudauri. It sits on the Georgian Military Highway about two hours north of Tbilisi, and its lifts reach close to 3,280 m below the Sadzele summit. The ski area joins Kobi village by a three-section gondola over the Kobi Pass, and heli-skiing and guided freeride tours on Mount Bidara operate from the resort.
About two hours by road along the Georgian Military Highway when the road is open, and considerably longer when snow or traffic slows it. Shared marshrutka minibuses leave Didube station in Tbilisi from around 08:00 for about 15 GEL (5 euros) and take two to two and a half hours. Hotels along the highway put you on the first lift.
Tbilisi International Airport, about 135 km away. From there it is roughly two and a half to three hours north on the Georgian Military Highway, by taxi, transfer or hire car. Kutaisi airport has cheaper flights from some European cities but is much further from Gudauri, so most skiers fly into Tbilisi. Allow extra time after snowfall, when the road can close.
