I Fell in Love With Skiing Again at This Resort in the Caucasus Mountains-and Only Spent $60 a Day

"I gave up skiing in my early teens for what I can now admit were pretty stupid reasons. I didn't like the clothes-sweaty base layers weren't my idea of a good time-and I couldn't abide the cold. I continued going on my family's annual ski trips to Killington, Vermont, but let them enjoy the slopes without me. While they were exploring increasingly difficult runs, I would curl up with adventure books back at the resort."

"My prospects of returning to the sport improved just over a year ago, when I felt the last stretch of warm weather slip away while traveling in the Caucasus in November. I'd rented a little cabin by the Black Sea in Georgia, but there was only one day when it was sunny enough to go swimming, so I mostly stayed in and wrote."

"The lingering seagulls offered no ideas, so I caught a minibus inland to the spa town of Borjomi. Built as a resort for 19th-century nobility, the town still has plenty of stately vistas, particularly striking after a snowfall. At Cafe Iggy, over a Chicken Shkmeruli that kept me warm and cozy, I realised how appropriate Georgian food is in frosty weather. I took a couple of brisk hikes around the town, but still couldn't shake that languid feeling that clings to resorts of this vintage."

The narrator abandoned skiing in early teens because of discomfort with sweaty base layers and cold, choosing to read while family skied. Later inspiration from adventure stories returned interest, but adulthood and U.S. costs for travel, rentals, and lift passes made skiing impractical. A November trip to the Caucasus renewed prospects: a rented cabin by the Black Sea yielded mostly indoor writing, then a minibus ride to Borjomi introduced stately, snow-illuminated vistas. Warm Georgian dishes like Chicken Shkmeruli provided comfort, and brisk hikes contrasted with a lingering resort languor, leaving the narrator poised for change.

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