I went out for a ride today from Omalo village, to watch the ongoing repairs which have just started on the Abano Pass, I didn’t make it far, only 20 minutes from Omalo village, when I came to the first section of missing road, this is the lowest section on the entire pass, most of the damage is much higher up, with up to 5km of landslides, where the road has fallen down into the river, from heights of 800ft, so there’s lots of work to be done, by using bulldozers to push shale stone into the river in order to rebuild the road, in the higher sections of the pass it’s impossible to use stone to rebuild the road due to the sheer height, so they will need to cut a new road into the side of the mountain, but the locals are experts at this, as it happens very often throughout the year, that’s why it’s in the top ten of most dangerous roads in the world.
Today 3 large helicopters arrived in Omalo, they are supplied by the Government for emergencies, as they are capable of flying at high altitudes in extreme weather conditions, so today all 15 tourists have been evacuated and flown back to Tbilisi.
We have decided to stay until the mountain pass is rebuilt and ride back, just hope it doesn’t take too long as the snow has come and it’s getting very cold 🥶 😊
Chris and Gabs World Cycling Tour 