I improved my skiing in powder during my vacation in Sheregesh, but Katya (the cameraman) thinks I can still use some work on estimating distances. Look closely and watch how I managed to take off my skis and snatch her wallet in the process though.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Going to winter sports is more interesting here
I spent part of the holidays in the ski resort of Sheregesh, 600 km south east of Novosibirsk. If you google for the word "Sheregesh", this is what you can find:
"If you are not a Siberian, you will probably have the only single reason to go to Sheregesh; the local snow, which is unique. Starting from the beginning of November until the beginning of March there's at least 1 m of high quality snow. The local powder is dry and fast and is considered to be the best snow in Russia. However, the snowboarders have to survive [...] the famous Siberian frost, and lack of apres ski. Sheregesh is a remote miners settlement in Siberia near Novokuznetsk (Kuzbass mines). About twenty years ago the ski resort was built at the nearby Zelenaya mountain. With the growing popularity of ski and snowboard in Russia the town itself has been transforming gradually. It is expanding with new cafes and hotels, catering for more and more tourists each year."
(http://www.worldsnowboardguide.com/resorts/russia/sheregesh/index.cfm)
With all my respect, I would like to bring a few nuances to the description from "world snowboard guide". My first comment is that in "transforming gradually", the keyword is "gradually": Sheregesh is not Dubai. Let's say that in the last 20 years, Sheregesh managed to keep its soviet charm and identity while growing at a controlled pace (pretty much the pace of a conservative UNESCO world heritage site). The pictures I am bringing back show the highlights of Sheregesh: not so much new cafes and hotels, but more the Khrouchtchovkas (buildings from the Khrouchtchev era) and chimneys spitting smoke and fog in the skies of the gornaia choria. My advice to the traveller (snowboarder or not) is to rent an apartment in the city of Sheregesh rather than a room in the hotel. Renting an apartment implies busting the owners out of their lodging for a few days, who kindly leave all their belongings in the apartment against a small pile of cash: that includes wet towels in the bathroom, curly hair on the soap, and art pieces of a taste that is surprisingly... "avant-gardiste" for a miners settlement. Living directly in the city also allows enjoying local life, which seems to revolve around drinking, watching TV and making shashliks.
So overall, there is much more than one only single reason to go to Sheregesh... See you there!
"If you are not a Siberian, you will probably have the only single reason to go to Sheregesh; the local snow, which is unique. Starting from the beginning of November until the beginning of March there's at least 1 m of high quality snow. The local powder is dry and fast and is considered to be the best snow in Russia. However, the snowboarders have to survive [...] the famous Siberian frost, and lack of apres ski. Sheregesh is a remote miners settlement in Siberia near Novokuznetsk (Kuzbass mines). About twenty years ago the ski resort was built at the nearby Zelenaya mountain. With the growing popularity of ski and snowboard in Russia the town itself has been transforming gradually. It is expanding with new cafes and hotels, catering for more and more tourists each year."
(http://www.worldsnowboardguide.com/resorts/russia/sheregesh/index.cfm)
With all my respect, I would like to bring a few nuances to the description from "world snowboard guide". My first comment is that in "transforming gradually", the keyword is "gradually": Sheregesh is not Dubai. Let's say that in the last 20 years, Sheregesh managed to keep its soviet charm and identity while growing at a controlled pace (pretty much the pace of a conservative UNESCO world heritage site). The pictures I am bringing back show the highlights of Sheregesh: not so much new cafes and hotels, but more the Khrouchtchovkas (buildings from the Khrouchtchev era) and chimneys spitting smoke and fog in the skies of the gornaia choria. My advice to the traveller (snowboarder or not) is to rent an apartment in the city of Sheregesh rather than a room in the hotel. Renting an apartment implies busting the owners out of their lodging for a few days, who kindly leave all their belongings in the apartment against a small pile of cash: that includes wet towels in the bathroom, curly hair on the soap, and art pieces of a taste that is surprisingly... "avant-gardiste" for a miners settlement. Living directly in the city also allows enjoying local life, which seems to revolve around drinking, watching TV and making shashliks.
So overall, there is much more than one only single reason to go to Sheregesh... See you there!
For the sake of completeness
Three weeks ago, I wrote about how Russia was a great country for soups... well, that was before we ordered the fish soup from a restaurant that was recommended to me. Here is what we got:
If you are not sure about what you ordered because of the language barrier, this soup has the advantage of being self explanatory: it is indeed a fish soup. The recipe? I can't tell for sure, but that must include boiling water, adding onions and a fish, and serving hot. This soup is called "Ucha", certainly named after the sound that people make when they choke on a fish bone (Ucha! Ucha!).
I wonder what the chicken soup looks like in that restaurant.
If you are not sure about what you ordered because of the language barrier, this soup has the advantage of being self explanatory: it is indeed a fish soup. The recipe? I can't tell for sure, but that must include boiling water, adding onions and a fish, and serving hot. This soup is called "Ucha", certainly named after the sound that people make when they choke on a fish bone (Ucha! Ucha!).
I wonder what the chicken soup looks like in that restaurant.
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