The Abano Pass impassable by Volkswagen T2
Locals say it isn’t possible, they call us crazy, look at us with doubt. Call us crazy but we have believe in the power of Alexine. We have no doubt whatsoever that she can manage to climb up a pass, located at 2900 mtrs, also known as one of the most dangerous roads of Georgia. Or the world for that matter.
Still, all this didn’t scare us. Sometimes we feel fearless, and so does the van. Because we had to skip one of the most beautiful parts of Georgia (Svaneti) we thought this would be a good second.
Late, was the hour on which we arrived at the bottom of the pass. We decided to drive up for a while and find a nice camping place. Little did we know that we just passed the last possible camping spot before the pass. And so, steady, slowly but strongly we drove up.
Little sharp stones everywhere, hairpin corners all around and steep steep climbs. We have no 4×4, but we have the engine in the back and that helps a lot. The beginning of the pass is a lovely, rocky, ride next to the river through a beautiful forest.
Something to note; this pass is open only 4 months a year and in these 4 months it happens often that people die driving the road. The locals call it ‘inexperienced driving’, but however experienced you are this is a pass you shouldn’t mess with.
Once we’re out of the forest and leave the treeline behind us the road gets less rocky but more dangerous. There are bumps in the road so deep a mini would fit in it entirely. Other than that one has to drive through many water streams coming from falls of which some are quite deep. On the one side there are the steep rocks of which some have rollen off and located themselves in the middle of the road. On the other side is the deep ascend. When I write deep, I mean deeeeeeep. Some corners are quite narrow and incredibly steep. Alexine manages, but just.
At 8PM we arrived at the top of the pass, it took us about two hours to get here. That’s two hours for 25km’s. You can imagine how quick it goes. But, we made it to the top, at last. Because we moved quite late in the day we didn’t have a lot of oncoming traffic. There are some places to pass but there is not too much space, so we are happy we didn’t have to pass a truck or anything else big enough to make us drive backwards.
We slept at the top of the pass. A lot of wind and rain at night, but other than that a good relaxing stay. The next morning we were welcomed by a shepherd, who looked astonished. Not at us but at the van.
Today we would go down a bit, feeling quite confident we hit the road early and managed without too much difficulty. Alexine is quite high on her wheels which is definitely helpful at some of the deep holes in the road. We pass some motorbikers, some hikers but most we pass tourists in 4×4 minivans, all have the same astonishing look on their faces as the shepherd. The people in the villages here mostly live from tourism, they all have minivans with which they pick up tourists on the other side of the pass and bring them here to one of their guesthouses. Some tourists rent a car themselves but most go by minivan and have a great hike in the valley.
We will tell more about Tusheti National Park in another post. This post is all about the incredible road to and out of this somewhat remote area of Georgia.
Cause, we were in Tusheti now. Very nice, but will we get out? And more important: will we get out without any damage?
Fast forward; the way back!
We slept at the rangers station right before the pass to go back. At 9 in the morning we decided to hit the road. Not much of a road, more like a path, a rocky pathway through the mountains. The way up from the Tusheti side is a lot shorter, also a lot steeper? We would find out. Going down is of course very different from going up.
Some of the corners on this side were so steep and were covered with big stones in the middle of the road that one time Alexine couldn’t make it and we needed to back up a little. Luckily at some of the corners they made space to back up and try it again. But that was about it. She did well and it almost looked easy. From far away. From the drone, maybe. It wasn’t, we can tell you that.
At the top of the Abano pass we had a break and enjoyed the scenery. The hardest part is behind us, right? Then it was time for the descent. Not very eventful. Alexine did what she had to do, although she doesn’t really like to go down in gear 1 or 2, or any gear at all, and she struggled a little bit. Struggled in the sense of; turning off her engine and sputtering. But other than that, it went quite easy. There was a lot more traffic now then on the way up but nothing that we couldn’t pass or handle. After half way we decided to check out the medical water of Georgia as Alexine deserved a rest and our muscles as well. We stopped at a little house on the cliff and drank home made brandy and chacha (a local drink, quite strong and not recommended when one drives the most dangerous road, but well, it calms the nerves) and had some pears. We checked out the baths, which were quite nice actually. Refreshing and with a very beautiful view.
Fresh and delighted we started the last part of the trip down. The road is worse on this side and some moments we feared for the wellbeing of Alexine and her tires. But, after one hour we arrived at the bottom of the mountain alive and well. High five time.
So, we made it! A Volkswagen T2 can actually drive over the Abano Pass, one of the most dangerous roads, for us definitely the most dangerous one we ever drove. A friend of us said that we are probably the first Volkswagen T2 in Tusheti National Park. Wow, wouldn’t that be amazing? Alexine being the first T2 to cross the pass. I’m sure the name giver Alexine would be proud of her. An explorer by heart & engine!
Liefs, Milene & Yuri