The road to Tusheti is shut for the season, and the park service says helicopter only

The official Tusheti Protected Areas page describes the Abano Pass as operating only a few months a year, from late May to October, and says heavy snow then closes the road for about six months, leaving the helicopter as the only way in. It gives the pass at 2,926 metres, calls it the highest motor crossing in the Caucasus, puts the route at 72 kilometres and the drive at roughly four to five hours, and says it is for off-road vehicles.

There is no fixed closing date. A travel guide published in September describes closures usually arriving in late September or October, with autumn snow able to shut the pass quickly, and no fixed opening day in spring either — snow, storms, landslides and inspections decide it, usually in June. A road at nearly three thousand metres with a single way in does not wait for a calendar.

For an operator holding a November enquiry, the honest answer is that the high Tusheti villages are a June-to-September product and selling them now is selling a helicopter charter. The lower Kakheti valleys are open, reachable on ordinary roads and at their quietest; so is the Alvani side of the same region, about two and a half hours from Tbilisi by the guide's reckoning, without the pass.

The practical consequence of a season this short is that Tusheti dates sell out early and a client who wants it should be booked for a window with slack in it, not the first week the pass is rumoured to open. The guide is blunt about the vehicle: a genuine high-clearance 4x4 with an experienced local driver, not a compact rental or a two-wheel-drive SUV. Confirm the opening with local sources rather than a published date before you commit a group to the drive.