6 Days Cat Skiing

6 day cat skiing trip

Every one of our 6-day cat skiing trips is unique. Our plans will always vary depending on the group, the weather, the development of conditions over the winter season and appropriate terrain choice. Our professional guides decide where to ski and ride each day, after considering these factors. The tour plan below is one of our recent cat skiing trips and a great example of what you can expect.

Day 1: Arrival and transfer

Kutaisi is the closest airport to Bakhamaro, and it’s usually the easiest travel option for our guests. However, you can also fly into Batumi or Tbilisi. Our driver will collect you from the airport and drive you to Chkhakaura village. Transfer times are 1.75 hours from Kutaisi airport, 2.5 hours from Batumi airport and 6 hours from Tbilisi airport.  From Chkhakaura, there’s only one way to get to Bakhmaro: snow cat! One hour of ploughing through the snow, and you’ll arrive at Terrace Bakhmaro – our cabin home for the week.

Day 2: Safety checks and cat skiing

After breakfast, our cat skiing trip begins in earnest! We will run through safety checks with the group. Following the safety briefing, we will run a 2-hour practice session on avalanche search and rescue to make sure everyone is familiar with their kit and you know what to do in case of an accident. Find out more about our safety, and get in touch if you’d like to know or learn more. Our guides will do a transceiver check, then we’ll load our skis, snowboards and people into the snowcat, and set off for our first runs! Mount Buksieti (2400m) is a 20 minute snowcat ride from our lodge. After several runs in this area, and a lunch stop, we move on to Mount Gadrekili (2508m) for some more fresh lines.

Day 3: Forest cat skiing

Beech Forest is one of our favourite freeride areas in Bakhmaro. The north-facing, tree-covered slopes mean it’s a great spot for cat skiing in almost any conditions. We always head here when the weather closes in, as it has such good visibility and amazing snow. Shorter pitches, weaving through the trees, we get lap after lap of powder and big grins. Frankly, it’s joyful!

Day 4: Cat skiing at Sakornia

Mount Sakornia (2950m) is the highest peak in the Bakhmaro area. It’s a beautiful peak, visible from the lodge, with the longest run giving us 1000m of vertical descent. It offers a large variety of aspects, pitches and slopes for us to ski. And on a clear day, the views are spectacular – you can’t beat it! It takes 50-60 minutes to get to the top of Sakornia from our lodge. Kick back, enjoy the views – and maybe break out some tunes on the way up. Once you’re over there, the snowcat trips back up to the top will only take about 15-25 minutes.

DAY 5: CAT SKIING AT PAPARA

Papara is one of the closest mountains to Bakhmaro. It takes about 20 minutes to reach the summit in the snowcat. We can ski a mix of open slopes, wooded areas and weave through snow-buried cabins; when conditions are mint, we’ll scout out powdery drops and jumps to play amongst.

Day 6: Cat skiing trees and gullies

For those of you who like something a little more technical in the mix, there are several spots where we can lap gullies and slightly steeper forest pitches. If bushwhacking isn’t your thing, then we can cruise beautiful open powdery pitches instead for some hero skiing and party runs.

Day 7: Cat skiing and evening transfer

The final day starts earlier to get the most out of our mountain time. We’ll head up  Sunset Mountain, and get some turns in before skiing the trees at Sajavakho forest. Getting back to the lodge around 3pm means there’s time to pack, shower and eat before the transfer back to Kutaisi. Dinner and an overnight stay in Kutaisi are organized and  included (or Batumi or Tbilisi if flying out of one of those airports) so enjoy your time in one of the oldest cities in the world.

Day 8: Departure

And so our cat skiing trip ends. We drive you from the hotel to the airport. Safe travels home! There is no fixed itinerary, as our guides decide where to ski each day, depending on the weather and snow conditions. This gives you a flavour of a typical trip and an idea of what to expect. We aim to freeride different areas each day when possible – with your safety and enjoyment (in that order) guiding our decision-making. Because the Bakhmaro region is so vast and wild, we can discover and explore completely new areas where no one has skied before.