Ski resort Gudauri to host winter season with two new ropeways

Georgia’s popular resort of Gudauri will host winter enthusiasts with two new ropeway systems during the coming winter season, the Ministry of Economy said on Friday.

Six-seater cable cars operated on 1,249- and 1,369-metre-long ropeways will carry 1,800-2,400 passengers per hour, with the new infrastructure set to be installed in the New Gudauri area of the resort.

The ropeway complexes and related infrastructure will diversify the services of the Gudauri resort and contribute to its rapid development. [The new infrastructure will help host] the growing number of visitors and support international events”, Irakli Burchuladze, the Director of the Mountain Trails Agency of Georgia, said.

The skiing area is also set to be expanded, with Burchuladze saying a new six-kilometre-long track would be added to the existing 70-km track to “create a completely new skiing space for visitors”.

Photo: Mountain Trails Agency

The construction is being carried out by the Austrian-Swiss company Doppelmayr Garaventa Group.

The Ministry said development of sports tourism was “one of the main priorities” of authorities, and noted Georgia successfully hosted the 2023 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships and took an “honourable place on the world sports map”. 

• Bakuriani, Gudauri ski resorts marked as permanent hosts in FIS calendar

This led to the fact that the International Ski Federation included Gudauri and Bakuriani in the annual calendar among the leading countries, and now for the first time, the stage of the international World Cup in snowboard cross will be held in Gudauri”, the Ministry said.

The Snowboard Cross World Cup will be hosted in the resort between February 3-4.