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Russia’s 2025/26 Ski Season Opens at Elbrus as New Lifts and Zone Debut

High bookings alongside new family amenities signal Arkhyz’s expansion.

Overview

  • The national season launch took place on December 6 at Elbrus’s Azau Meadow with a public festival, a mass descent in national dress, and the opening of a new ski area.
  • Elbrus inaugurated two new ropeway stages paralleling the Azau–Mir line, a 5.7 km lift reaching 3,670 meters with a project cost of 12.5 billion rubles and capacity of nearly 2,500 people per hour.
  • A new eastern sector opened at Elbrus with a chairlift, a gondola, and 5.2 km of red and black runs, bringing the resort’s total to about 23 km, alongside concerts by Sultan-Uragan and The Hatters.
  • Arkhyz began its season on December 6 with only the northern green run “Gorizont” open due to recent warm weather, and snowmaking is underway for phased trail rollouts.
  • Arkhyz introduced two snowparks, a children’s training slope with a conveyor, and four new restaurants, offers regional discounts and Mir card ski-pass payments with planned cashback, reports roughly 95% New Year hotel bookings, and plans five new hotels in 2026 toward a 22,500-place goal by 2030.