Emergencies in Gudauri

Good to Know

• Save 112 in your phone before heading up to Gudauri — it's the only number you need for police, fire, or medical emergencies anywhere in Georgia.
• Gudauri is a mountain resort roughly 2 hours from Tbilisi; while 112 dispatch is centralized, response times for ambulance/fire in a remote mountain area can be slower than in Tbilisi, so it's worth knowing the location of the nearest clinic/pharmacy in the village itself.
• The 112 app's SOS/GPS features can be especially useful in Gudauri given patchy landmarks off-piste or on mountain roads — sharing your exact coordinates helps responders find you faster.
• Gudauri's on-site medical facility can treat minor ski-related injuries (sprains, minor fractures) but is not equipped for serious trauma — anyone with a severe injury will be stabilized locally and then moved to Tbilisi, roughly 2 to 2.5 hours away.
• Ambulance response and equipment standards outside Tbilisi may be more basic than what nomads from North America/Western Europe are used to — for a serious injury, a private car or taxi to Tbilisi is sometimes faster than waiting for an ambulance.
• Always carry travel/ski insurance that explicitly covers winter-sports injuries and medical evacuation, since Gudauri's local clinic is really a stabilize-and-transfer point rather than a full hospital.
• There is no dedicated avalanche rescue service at the resort, which is a related safety gap worth knowing about if you plan to ski off-piste.