 Poster: A snowHead
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The influx of Russian super-rich oil barons into Courchevel has raised eyebrows here on snowHeads before, so it's interesting to read some detail.
This racy report by Carole Cadwalladr in The Observer kicks off with her trying to gain entrance to a nightclub [Les Caves] frequented by the likes of Roman Abramovich (estimated net worth $13.3bn) and other members of the 'Russian oligarchy' - she reckons that "at least ten" of the richest men in Russia were in the resort at the time of her visit.
Evidently a plucky lady, she eventually gets past the bouncers to gawp at the scene below:
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| The tables are clumped around large Perspex ice buckets that contain, on average, three out of four of the following: a jeroboam of Cristal Champagne; a large bottle of L'Or de Martell; a bottle of Krug Grande Reserve and a can of Diet Coke. |
Elsewhere in town, inflation seems to be on the wine list:
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| At Piggies, a very ordinary-looking bar in the middle of town, there's a bottle of Rémy Martin on the menu for €10,000. The barmaid tells me she's already sold two this season ... |
Carole Cadwalladr estimates that 20,000 Russians were in Courchevel at the time of her visit. Has the place really been overwhelmed to this extent?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I don't know whether to be alarmed or scared or maybe I should just be Curious!
We are off to Courchevel in Saturday, so I'll let you know if I find any Russian billionaires. Maybe I should try and befriend one and see if I can persuade them to buy me a chalet!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I've skied in Courchevel many times. I've only once heard Russians around the resort. By comparision, I heard around a dozen Russians around Les Arcs over Christmas.
I vaguely remember reading that Courchevel has about 30,000 beds. 20,000 Russians in the resort at one time sound like journalistic licence to me!
What's the fascination with this one particularly nationality? Surely Russians are just as welcome as any other people?
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I think I might cancel Selva and go to Courchevel instead and see if I can get myself a Russian Sugar Daddy!!
Knickersonandoffski 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Russian skiers are big issue in Austria. They invade the top resorts in Tirol, Voralberg or Salzburg regions. They are considered to be excellent guests staying in expensive hotels and spending much in restaurants and shops. There is a serious shortage of ski instructors speaking Russian in Tirol.
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time for me to learn russian?
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The penultimate paragraph in Carole Cadwalladr's article (link in first post) might cause some wry comment from 'those back home':
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| I spent a significant period in my twenties knocking around crumbling second-rate cities in odd parts of the former Soviet Union. And anybody who's ever cared for the place can't help but feel for a country that is being bled dry by an elite that prefers to squander its oil revenues on premiership football players and a small, over-affluent village 2,000m up in the French Alps. |
i.e. Are these Russian high-rollers betraying their fellow countrymen?
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Jan 04 there were shed fulls of Russkies in 1850. Instructors did say that they were never out at 9am, and could be very rude and demanding.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| David Goldsmith wrote: |
| Quote: |
| At Piggies, a very ordinary-looking bar in the middle of town, there's a bottle of Rémy Martin on the menu for €10,000. The barmaid tells me she's already sold two this season ... |
Carole Cadwalladr estimates that 20,000 Russians were in Courchevel at the time of her visit. Has the place really been overwhelmed to this extent? |
There was a €10,000 bottle of Rémy Martin on the menu in Piggies in 2002 before Roman Abramovich became a household name. I bought the most expensive pint I've ever bought in there at €12. In my defence I was a bit thirsty and while my mates stopped and looked at the price list I made a beeline to the bar and ordered the round, before I became aware of the giggles behind me. Luckily having spent a small fortune on the round my mates decided that they ought to reimburse me and that it might be a good idea to move on somewhere else, despite the absolutely stunning barmaid that served us.
I rather suspect that somebody has discovered Roman Abramovich holidays in Courchevel 1850 (which isn't exactly breaking news), found an incredibly expensive bar in Courchevel 1850, put 2 and 2 together and came up with 5.
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I agree with Lager. But it was noticeable that Russian appeared on signs everywhere a couple of years ago. I heard loads of Russian last year at any rate (we always go end of Jan)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Also the Courchevel web site has a version in Russian. Do any other resorts do this?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Noticeably more Russian signs - And Russians - this Christmas. T'is true that you don't see many on the slopes at 9am though. In fact, don't think I spotted any actually skiing. Plenty strutting up and down the Rue des Tovets though, or getting into blacked out beemers and Audis. Some of the ladys were quite attractive 
And I made that mistake in Piggies too! 26 euros for two pints! Two stunning bar maids this time though, which must explain the price increase!
ScottyDog
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I agree with Lager, Piggies has always been a rip-off joint!
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You know it makes sense.
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The year before last, two russian ladies marched out onto the piste in their fur coats and shot each other in a row over some bloke!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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We were in the Hotel Mont Vallon in Meribel-Mottaret in March last year and it was full of swarthy Russian types. This is an expensive (and very nice!!) hotel which we have stayed in several times before. For me the atmosphere was spoiled as the aforementioned punters are quite rude and brash, most of the younger ones seemed glued to their mobiles for the whole week, even while the top quality rib of beef was being carved in the evenings.
Can't say I noticed a particular Eastern European presence on the slopes of the 3V though. Anyway it is two weeks in an apartment this year so it won't be a problem for us.
First post on snowheads which I have been reading for a long time now. Great forum!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Trenmold, Welcome  Excellent first post. Lets have more. The Ruskkies that we bumped into matched your views. They really dont seem to give a toss about anyone else, or what impact their behaviour has.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Welcome Trenmold, 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I think we need to be careful not to generalise. We may be dealing with a 'got rich quick' 'elite'. I know Russians (and people from former Soviet states) in London who do important jobs excellently and behave charmingly.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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David Goldsmith,
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Are these Russian high-rollers betraying their fellow countrymen?
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My daughter spent part of last summer working in an orphanage in Russia. It had had no running water for months, the food was indescribable, it was infested with rats and most of the children had headlice. While all countries have their extremes of wealth and poverty, Russia seems to have greater extremes than most civilised societies would tolerate. What does it say about their values if they rely on foreign charity to raise the standards in their orphanages while the elite squanders Russia's resources on overpaid footballers and €10,000 bottles of Rémy Martin in Courchevel?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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They are the main customers in the 5 star http://www.st.antonerhof.at/home.html in St Anton :
A couple of years back they opened the floodlit World Cup course one evening just so Pres Putin could use it
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Spent quite some time in Russia this year - mainly Moscow and parts of Siberia. The difference between the haves and the have nots is very marked in Russia just like it is in, say, Brazil. Reputedly there are more Dollar billionnaires in Moscow than in New York or LA yet the average Russian salary is around $100 per week so, yes, your average Russian aint very impressed by the trappings of wealth being displayed in such an overt way by the oligarchy. Mention the likes of Roman Abramovich to your average older Russian in the street and they'll literally spit as they do believe they've been robbed.
The place is exploding though; even in far flug cities you'll find Range Rover, BMW and Audi dealerships springing up, posh housing estates and stunning new shopping malls. I found a fabulous Intersport shop in the Urals even - all this intermingled with broken down Ladas, stray dogs and a few beggars that can stand the cold. Strangely, you never see disabled people and there’s something like 600,000 orphans in varying degrees of poverty - The reason they are there is all ultimately down to poverty.
I've also seen plenty of Russians while skiing - in Salzburg resorts especially (I’m told there are now more flights from Moscow to Salzburg on a Saturday than from Gatwick). They can be very abrupt and a bit demanding and I reckon that's what's translated as being rude (plus they just have to be flashy with their wealth). Actually, it's their way and the best way to play them is to be direct also. I think we’d all better get used to it… there’s 144 million of ‘em and that’s not counting former soviet states. A very large number of them are getting more affluent by the second and I reckon they’ll soon outweigh the UK ski market. While I was in Moscow in November, they had SnowExpo going on (their consumer ski show and trade show all in one). I couldn’t get to it but can tell you that quite a few US and Canadian resorts were represented for the first time along with many of our familiar favourite European resorts. Most resorts are looking east to fill their beds – they spend more than anyone else, they fill beds in low season and there’s no stopping the wave anyway.
Anyway, what’s worse? A bunch of flashy, rude, shady millionnaires from Moscow or a bunch of puking, fighting, screaming Hoorays from Fulham? It’s a tough one.
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| JohnHill wrote: |
| I think we’d all better get used to it… there’s 144 million of ‘em |
Decreasing quite rapidly I've read, like Germany and Italy, but more so.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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laundryman, true. A combination of low birth rate and people leaving means they'll bottom out at 130m (Still a lot of bodies and those leaving will still be Russian). Putin's worried about it and will have to address it somehow. Whatever, their ski market is booming and so are the other former eastern bloc.
stanton,
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There was one pleasent surprise, the woman outnumbered the men by about 4 to 1
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... and 3 of those 4 are traffic-stoppers 
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Russians also go to the Red Sea.
A lot of them seem to be former apparatchiks on the take and criminal types with their molls.
They push in at customs, so I deliberately tripped one up.
I believe they run prostitution around that area of Egypt as well.
However, I did meet a thoroughly nice couple who were doctors taking the grandchild on a dive boat.
The husband wanted to know about hunting (with rifles) in the UK -something I know nothing about.
In the hotel, they all had wrist bands which I subsequently discovered meant full board and all you can drink. Some of them really hit the booze hard to get their money's worth.
None of them dived but I did meet a big blonde Russian dive instructor, so in time I guess they will start.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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My only encounter with Russians on holiday was a few years ago in Barbados. They were a large family group, and were unbelievably rude to the staff - it was embarrassing to watch. Plus they were even louder than the Americans!
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