Bakuriani ( ka, ბაკურიანი) is a daba and a ski resort in the Borjomi district of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. It is located on the northern slope of the Trialeti Range, at an elevation of 1,700 meters (5,576 feet)

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

Geography

The region around Bakuriani is covered by

coniferous Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

forests (mainly made up of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

). The resort lies from Borjomi and is located within the so-called Bakuriani Depression/

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

. The resort is connected with Borjomi by an electrified narrow-gauge railway. The present-day area of the town was built up by

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

flows from the nearby Mukhera volcano.

Winter sports

Ski resort

The ski area of the resort is split into two separate parts: Didveli and Kokhta/Kokhta-Mitarbi. Mount Kokhta provides a maximum skiable altitude of , whereas the highest lift in Didveli reaches . The first ski base was opened in 1932. From Bakuriani to Kokhtagori Mountain () and Tskhratskaro Pass () there are ski lifts, ski tramps. There is artificial snowfall on Didveli skiing routes. Bakuriani is a year-round resort area, with highly developed health tourism. Due to the high demand, the number of accommodation and catering facilities has been increasing.

Sports competitions

In March 2022, Bakuriani was the host city for

slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes skiing, ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. Th ...

during the 2021–22 FIS Snowboard World Cup, taking place in Georgia for the first time.

Climate

The climate of Bakuriani is transitional from humid maritime to relatively humid continental. (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfb'') The winters are cold and experience significant snowfall while the summers are long and warm. Average annual temperature of the town is . The average temperature in January is while the average August temperature is . The annual precipitation is . The depth of snow from December to March is . Bakuriani is also home to the Botanical Garden of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.

Infrastructure

The Borjomi-Bakuriani railway "Kukushka" uses track gauge. A few km south of Bakuriani lies the trajectory of the

Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline is a long crude oil pipeline from the Azeri–Chirag–Gunashli oil field in the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. It connects Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan and Ceyhan, a port on the south-easte ...

People

It was the home town of

luge A luge () is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds Supine position, supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the Ca ...

r Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died during event training on the first day of the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Canada. He lived in Bakuriani for much of his life, and the street he lived on was named in his honor after his death. Georgia's flag-bearing athlete at the opening ceremony, alpine skier Iason Abramashvili, also resides there; he thought of withdrawing, but ultimately decided to compete to honor Kumaritashvili's memory.

Gallery

References

External links

www.bakuriani.ge
{{Authority control Cities and towns in Samtskhe–Javakheti Ski areas and resorts in Georgia (country) Tourist attractions in the Soviet Union