Ice sculptures 2010

Every year, during the holiday season, there are beautiful ice sculptures to go see in Novosibirsk. By the Ob river, one can see the ice-city, a type of city fair built in ice, with a different theme every year; and in downtown, artists from different Russian cities compete for the best sculpture. This year, we waited for the weather to warm up a bit before going there. We finally gave in and drove to the city last night once we understood that the thermometer would not exceed -25C for the next few weeks.
The ice-city by the river was built around the "ice age" theme, very appropriate for the season. I wished I took more pictures, but the battery of my camera did not like the -28C and lost power really fast. Still, you can see that the statues of the main characters of the ice age movie were pretty well done. I was impressed and I did not regret paying the 100 ruble entrance fee, even if we did not stay more than 10 minutes before we rushed back to the car to warm up our frozen fingers and toes.






The sculptures in downtown are more artistic. See the slide show below:



I believe the sculpture which won the contest was the butt-like pair of pears, but don't quote me on this one.
If you want to see these sculptures, don't worry, no need to hurry up. They are exposed until it gets warm.

The truth about Belokurikha

We decided to spend the week-end of January 1st in Belokurikha, a resort at 450km south of Novosibirsk. As we prepared our trip, and talked with others, we heard a lot of interesting rumors about this place:

1-There is a micro climate in Belokurikha because it is exposed to southern winds from Kazakhstan that keep the place warm. In the summer, they even grow water melons.

A picture of the microclimate in Belokurikha,

with the slopes in the background.

2-The website shows that the skiing is great there, with one chairlift... but at the same time, we heard from acquaintances that it is a terrible place to ski: the slopes suck and the lift up costs ca. 250 rubles per ride (ca $8).

3-There are lots of prostitutes in the street who hand you their contact card.

Myths or facts? Here are my conclusions:

1- If the wind was coming from Kazakhstan, then I'll have to conclude that winters in Kazakhstan are also cold. Yes, the weather was warmer than in Novo, but we still had to ski by -28degC in the morning. When I was on the chairlift, I was really hoping for that Kazakhstan wind to stop, because it was F** cold. Katya's nose was so cold that it built a white layer of frost.

That's Katya and her white nose.

2-The chairlift says in big letters that the ride is 250 rubles. But if you read the fine print, it says that with skis or snowboard, it is only 100 rubles. Too bad for our acquaintances who, 2 weeks ago, did not read the fine print and decided not to ski because of the cost.

100 rubles is a good price for a very slow 25-minute ride uphill, on a metallic chair with an excellent heat transfer coefficient, optimized to suck your entire body heat by the time you reach the top. We got so cold that at each ride, we had to stop for a 130 ruble glut wine on top of the hill, and then again at the bottom. So in the end, the ride up is expensive.

The chairlift of Death.

The skiing in Belokurikha is OK. The slope is steep, so it only takes 7 minutes to reach the bottom and be ready to sit again on the chairlift.

3- I did not see any prostitute in the street. I would not have been able to take their contact card with my hands frozen in my mittens anyway.

Our reservation in the hotel had everything included. After our first prison-like lunch (see picture below), we skipped the other meals and went to the restaurant instead. It turns out that the resort is nice, with good restaurants.

All inclusive meal at the hotel.

Cabbage soup and beef tongue.

In the end, on a scale from 1 to 10, I'll give the place a 5, mainly to reward their nice effort. I can't really blame the place for not getting more of that warm Kazakh wind. To make it a world class resort (as it is claimed in the resort's website), I suggest they work on the reliability of their power grid, so that 'all inclusive' also includes the electricity with the meal at the restaurant. Eating Chinese food in the dark with chopsticks was tricky.

More pictures of Belokurikha here: