We attempt the Abano Pass to get to Omalo

From the Military Road we took the shortest possible route to get to Lechuri, where the tarmac ends and a 60km long dangerous road over the Abano pass with 2,826 metres starts.

The route from Ananuri at the Military Road via Tianeti to Achmeti and finally to Lechuri was a nice route through the lower mountains, just that between Tianeti and Achmeti, many bits without tarmac slowed us down.

Finally we reached the turn off for Omalo, 10 more km of tarmac and then the road into the mountains started. As it is the only connection of the region of Tusheti with the rest of Georgia, this is the road, where now in October the cattle and sheep are brought down to their winter pastures. We got stuck many times, surrounded by the already tired looking animals.

The road to Tusheti is the highest road in Georgia. It is only for 4×4 vehicles and that only during the summer as the road will be closed from mid-October till mid-April, depending on the snow amount and road conditions. We knew we had only 3 more days before snow was already predicted for the pass.

After we had tackled 8 of the 60 km, taking us 45 minutes, we decided to turn around. The road was bad, but we had not even reached the higher parts. Already here, we noticed, that it was very steep, especially around the hairpins. Because our car is high, we tend to rock and lose traction. The stony ground was an additional problem.

This video gives a better impression of how difficult this road is to drive:

We think it was the right decision to turn around. We know we don’t have the right car for every off-road track there is. And it wouldn’t be much fun to get in a difficult situation on this road or stress the car to its limit. We are looking for the next adventures in Georgia now – for sure there are many more!