Featured image: Sheregesh gets a new cable car. Source: Runknown.
It was a YouTube video seen ’round the world that changed the landscape – and the potential – for Sheregesh, a Siberian ski resort that has risen up from an ore mining town to become one of the most talked-about resorts of the year.
The clip, showing bikini-clad girls and burly shirtless men effortlessly snowboarding to Shakira in 77-degree weather, would draw enough attention from ski enthusiasts and (more importantly) serious investors to dramatically change the resort’s future.
Once viewers realized that Sheregesh indeed supported on-slope sunbathing (that it wasn’t, as they had feared, just Siberians sporting an inhuman resistance to sub-zero temps), interest in the three-gondola resort spiked, as first reported by Russia Beyond the Headlines. The resort, Russia’s most popular, is known for its mass bikini events, a draw that currently lures skiers from Germany, Spain, and Venezuela in large numbers. An estimated 1 million skiers now visit the resort annually.
A luxurious all-season resort will now grace the mountain, funded by a potential $130 million investment, which may put Sheregesh on the international map.
Current plans for the expansion detail a path toward world-class status by 2021, with a target of 1.5 million visitors a year.
Have a hot tip? Get in touch.
Luxury Ski Magazine 