Description

Technically not difficult, fascinating route with almost always perfect snow and diverse terrain, a bit hidden from the superficial glance of most freeriders.

There is a great possibility of finding good dry powder and diverse terrain on this route.

The slopes are not much affected by the wind, and it’s rare that someone ascends from the Cross Pass, and when ascending from the resort, one descent from Bidara is often enough for most freeriders, not many think about the second, additional ascent.

The way along the route is accompanied by spectacular views on the Kazbek and Deda Ena mountains, and from the top point of the route incredible views on the Georgian Military Road, Gudauri and Lomiskiy ridge are revealed. There are two options — you can ascend by a ski-tour (30-50 minutes) from the direction of Gudauri resort to the Bidara ridge and descend to the starting point of the ascent on the «Pentagon», or arrive by the car to the route starting point from the direction of the Cross Pass. If you start this route from the road side instead of the resort side, it starts from the small parking lot on the right and a little further away from the ancient stone bridge (not currently used), approximately 2,5 km.

away from the pass itself. If you ascend from the Cross Pass side, from the described above parking lot (42°31’10.3”N 44°28’3.4”E), walk a couple tens of meters along the road in the opposite direction, clip in skis/splitboard and ascend by the wide flat slope in the direction of Bidara up to about 2500 m., then stick to the right and, passing the couloir, start ascending the steep part of the route. Descent to the Georgian Military Road, along the trajectory of the ascent or to the left (west) of it. Before starting the route, make sure that the road through the Cross Pass is opened and that drive-through and return to the resort are possible.

If the Pass is closed, returning to the resort by foot will take 1,5-2 hours. Ascent to the Pentagon route after descent from the Bidara ridge from the resort side is suitable for a physically strong group – in this case descent from the «Pentagon» will be the second descent and the total difference will be more than 1000 m.

In this case, in order to return to the resort, you need to call a taxi and ask the driver to pick you up under the Cross mountain, 500 m.

away from the Cross Pass in the direction of Kazbegi.

It’s convenient to call a taxi, standing on the route’s top point – there is a connection here, and the driver will need approximately the same amount of time to come from Gudauri as you’ll need to prepare for the descent and descend to the road.