Bakuriani ( ka, ბაკურიანი) is a daba and a

ski A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...

resort in the

Borjomi Borjomi ( ka, ბორჯომი) is a resort town in south-central Georgia, 160 km from Tbilisi, with a population of 11,122 (2021). It is one of the municipalities of the Samtskhe–Javakheti region and is situated in the northwestern ...

district of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It is located on the northern slope of the

Trialeti Range Trialeti Range ( ka, თრიალეთის ქედი) is an east-west mountain range of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains in the Samtskhe–Javakheti region of southern Georgia. The eastern edge of the Range runs along the western border o ...

, at an elevation of 1,700 meters (5,576 feet)

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

Geography

The region around Bakuriani is covered by

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

forests (mainly made up of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...

). The resort lies from

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 volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

. 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 moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

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.

Sports competitions

In March 2022, Bakuriani is the host city for

slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes 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. The disci ...

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 (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''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 The Georgian National Academy of Sciences (GNAS) ( ka, საქართველოს მეცნიერებათა ეროვნული აკადემია, tr) is a main learned society of the Georgia. It was named Georgian S ...

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-easter ...

People

It was the home town of

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

Nodar Kumaritashvili , nationality = Georgian , hometown = Bakuriani, Georgia , birth_date = , birth_place = Borjomi, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union , death_date = , death_place = Whistler, British Columbia, Canada , he ...

, who died during event training on the first day of the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

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 ...

, 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 Iason Abramashvili ( ka, იასონ აბრამაშვილი, ; born 26 April 1988) is a Georgian alpine skier from Bakuriani. He competed for Georgia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in the slalom and giant slalom. Abramashvili was Ge ...

, 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