IN 2006, Andrew, Tony and Brian decided on a heli-boarding holiday. First option, Alaska, proved just too prohibitive. Instead, the Caucuses were chosen.
The seven day stay in Russia turned out to be quite an adventure!
As the name suggests, heli-boarding involves use of a helicopter. Tony takes up the story, “The great thing about heli-boarding is that you can really get off the beaten track, visit remote places.
“The helicopter takes you to a designated point, high up a mountain, a steep wooded slope, something like that. A place which would ordinarily be difficult to reach. Then you snowboard down. And that’s it. The copter takes you back to the top. And then off you go again. It’s great because you’re travelling into unchartered waters – if you see what I mean! You get the chance to snowboard on fresh, untouched snow.
“We all met in Schiphol, Holland. I flew there from Manchester, Andrew from Leeds and Brian from Glasgow. From Schiphol, we caught a flight to Moscow. The Russians are big, hefty people, the men especially, something we quickly noticed. All these Russian men were getting on the plane at Schiphol. They looked like Bond villains!
“Moscow was the same, giant men – and the women are quite large too! All in long, ankle length mink coats. That’s one of my abiding memories of Moscow, so much fur on enormous people.
“Then we took another flight to Sochi. The countryside got more and more epic, beautiful but wild, as we headed out. One thing you quickly realise about Russia is its sheer size. I mean, you know it’s a big country. But nothing prepares you for the reality.
“Krasnaya Polyana really felt like a frontier town. This was before the Winter Olympics and all the urban development that goes with it.
“The main road wasn’t much to write home about. Well I say that, you couldn’t actually see the road because it was soooo snowy. Fortunately, our transport was up to the task in hand. From the Soviet era, I suppose, they were what you would call snow-mobiles. Sort of a cross between a bus and a tractor.
“First impressions of the village: Little wooden houses, some rather ramshackle. And there were pigs all over the place. They roamed the streets, snuffling about in the grass verges. They were quite audacious, these pigs. They attacked dustbins and ripped them apart. We bumped into quite a few scavenging pigs. Andrew became quite attached to a couple of them, even gave them names.
“Our ‘hotel’ was a curious affair, just a little wooden house, really. Cosy enough. But a bit cramped. Yes, it all seemed a bit of a backwater. Mind, having said that, many of the Russians were dressed in really posh ski-wear. There was an impressive array of brands to see: Armani, Prada, none of it cheap.
“Andrew had warned us about the Vodka. On the first night however it was Andrew who fell victim ….. The thing is with Russian Vodka, it’s so easy to drink, it’s delicious, so smooth. It gets you very high, you feel great. But the next day – not so good. And Andrew really suffered with a colossal hangover.
“The snowfall was so heavy, that for the first three days, we didn’t go anywhere. A Russian blizzard is quite something. We get snow here in the UK. But it really doesn’t compare to Russia. A blizzard out there is total white-out, just a sheer, white wall of snow. It pounded the hotel for day after day. At night, lying in bed, I sometimes thought the roof would come off, the gale was so strong. The timbers and beams and walls, the floor, all creaked like mad in this blizzard.
“At other times, everything was still and quiet. But the snow kept falling, indeed it did. Didn’t stop. It created a magical landscape. The snow piled up, higher and higher, until I thought it would cover the house. The village was truly cut off from the outside world then. There was no traffic, no cars or buses. People walked – and were well wrapped up! And all around us were the mountains and the great forests and the icy mists. These clung to the trees. You could hear wolves, I swear, howling at night, in the moonlight. It was just like Dr Zhivago. Well, maybe I exaggerate. But really, it’s such an amazing place. Russia.
“On the fourth day, the blizzards stopped, a break in the weather, at-last!
“We packed in a lot of heli-boarding, those few days. It was magic. The ski-lift was a bit antiquated, to put it mildly …. The skiing equipment … it was so old! Some of it dated to the 1950s and 60s, I’m sure.
“A man with a monkey on a leash stood at the chair lift. He was there every day, asking for roubles. The monkey was this cheeky little thing, bright mischievous eyes. It hopped up and down excitedly and screeched like a banshee. Part of the act. To get roubles from the tourists. I think so.
“As for the helicopter … Well what I can say about that ….! The copter was from the Soviet era, that’s for sure. In fact we weren’t sure the thing could fly. It was like two thirds of a single-decker bus chopped into another two thirds. Which then had rotary blades stuck on top. And hey presto, a helicopter. The primitive nature of the machinery was quite something. I think it was the will power of the pilot that kept the helicopter airborne!
“Worth it though, for the snowboarding. Magic.”
(Extract from a Life Story Book)
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