Mountain Biker Discovers Ultimate Snow Riding Playground in The Caucasus Mountains
Riding your mountain bike in snow can be tricky in the best of circumstances with variable conditions and speed being a dangerous combination. There are plenty of ski resorts around the world that allow bikes on groomers, somewhat mitigating the dangers of soft spots so you don’t have to be constantly vigilant of punching through and going over the handlebars but confidently ripping your mountain bike downhill in a snowy backcountry setting for anything more than short stints is pretty rare.
That is why Hungarian adventurer Viktor Zichó was absolutely blown away when he discovered he could comfortably rip downhill through literal kilometers of snow in Svaneti, a mountainous province in northwestern Georgia. With the snowbound Caucasus Mountains laid out before him, Zichó hopped on his mountain bike and experienced something that he will never forget:
“I don’t want to exaggerate anything, and I think I’m not used to speaking in superlative about average things. But now I’m confident to say: this was the ultimate snowy ride of my life. Hard to believe that the snow was so homogeneously hard everywhere that I could ride my bike for kilometers without dipping in. I absolutely loved the view, the colors, the slope, and the majestic mountain in front, the Shkhara with its prominent 5200 meters. I love Svaneti, I love the Caucasus! I had a minor problem with my rear brake, it lost the pressure point for a while so I needed to pump it all the way to have braking power.” -Viktor Zichó
Here are a few more scenes from Viktor‘s eye opening experience bikepacking though Georgia’s backcountry. This place looks incredible, fertile ground for the adventurous.
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