Svaneti | Mestia -- All the Basics!

As a flying location, Svaneti has the potential to become big, very big. It is spectacularly beautiful, scenic with its ancient towers, retains a unique flavor, and its remoteness makes it even more enticing.

In terms of flying, the valleys are broad, offering many good landing locations. The valleys lean up against the main Caucasus range, with several mountains about 5000 m, and some reportedly vying with the Himalaya in difficulty. The Twin Peaks of Ushba, for example, regularly claim the lives of experienced climbers.

Not much flying has been done up there so far. Doing some distance shouldn't be hard. Maybe the best time is in late August and September.

Mestia itself offers a good launch site, just above the town (see evening photo, and impossible to miss). It is accessible by car, and about 900 m above town. Once you get some thermals here, you can go on and on.

The site is fairly difficult until early afternoon, with a very steep drop. At around two o'clock (September) a nice breeze sets in from the west, and this clearly is the preferable launch direction. Not for beginners, though.

Depending on the wind direction, pretty much anything seems possible. The airport offers a huge landing site, nicely aligned against the valley winds. Not much that can go wrong here.

Difficulty
Nothing for beginners, since this is not a forgiving environment; even experienced pilots should take precautions, have a detailed rescue plan, good communications, and know that external help is unlikely, and may take days to arrive. Perhaps not the place where you want to take risks close to glaciers. Beware of the strong NorthWest winds blowing across the Caucasus.

Logistics
The Mestia Tourism Center can help to organize a vehicle and a place to stay; Zaur Chartolani from the center was one of the first Georgians to fly a paraglider in the late 1980s (but currently is no longer flying); the center lists the following numbers:

• Ia (+995 77) 42 49 62 (german, russian, english);
• Zaur (+ 995 99) 41 93 53 (russian);
• Shorena (+995 95) 358049 (english, russian).

Mass tourism hasn't arrived, so providing basic services remains expensive -- your money will help people through the winter. Generally, exemplary behavior by paragliders important to help secure future goodwill. Camping is not a good idea. Wikipedia info on Svaneti gives you more background.