 Poster: A snowHead
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When I went to Italy last week I noticed that there were a lot of Russians about, at Verona airport there were loads of flights to Domodedovo & Vnukovo, I'd never heard of these places, when I got back I discovered that these are airports that serve Moscow.
I'd heard about wealthy Russian oligarchs arriving in force with their entourages of young women to upmarket places like Courchevel & Kitzbuhel, but these looked like fairly normal people, a bit miserable & humourless, mostly 20-35 singles & couples, some of the guys looked a bit thuggish, there was one short, fat, 40+ central-asian looking guy with a taller, younger, thinner, better-looking model type on his arm.  There were a few shiny gold ski suits and fur hats and collars on display too. 
Some of the the Italians seemed to resent the invasion, the passport guy was giving them short shift when they tried to avoid the huge queue by pushing into the EU channel. Lift etiquette seemed to be a problem too. Some guys from the Chalet tried some drinking games with them at one of the local bars, they got so slaughtered they couldn't board the next day! 
I know it's Russian holidays in early Jan, but is this normal right across the Alps? I've never come across this before. What are your experiences with our Russian friends?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Rammed in Mayrhofen last week.
One night ended up drinking with one who looked like your archetypal Russian Mafioso. Had a great laugh. He kept doing Jonny Wilkinson impressions of kicking the WC winning drop goal and then running around in celebratory style. He thought it was hilarious when I started singing (well humming) the Rusky national anthem. It all ended in big Russian bear hugs and declarations of eternal friendship.... I lurve zee Eeenglish......I lurve zee Rushhhians....hick
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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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There are a few Russians at LDA. You wouldn't know at all, excpet if they thank you by saying 'spaseebo'. Perhaps they don't send their thugs here.
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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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The subtle mechanics of Russian queing at the airport are great to watch. I particularly like the fact that they are a hardy folk that can survive a week at altitude without sleeping on a diet seemingly composed of black coffee, beer, vodka and marlbros. Old school.
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They were out in force in Ischgl for Russian New Year. I suppose their last 100 years have been pretty grim but I think they could smile now at the transformation of their lot and at the price of oil & gas. They do distort the prices in the top resorts and even though the Russian piste map has the FIS rule of skiing etiquette in Russian they choose not to read or ignore them completely. Even when drunk they don't look happy, not pleasant company on the whole. On the plus side I find the long legged Russian girls with fur & sparkling stone trimmed outfits stones make very pleasant viewing.
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Lechbob, does that mean you'll be changing your name to Letchbob..... 
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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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Can't say I've met any Russians on a ski holiday before or indeed ever! But I met some very pleasant Latvians in the Hahnenkamm bubble lift last season...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Quote: |
Some guys from the Chalet tried some drinking games with them at one of the local bars
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 and racing the ski instructors down black runs, maybe.
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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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luigi, are you sure they were not just Brits that were too drunk to speak 
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Loads in St Anton however its not new. Even Putin has has been here a couple of times to Ski.
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You know it makes sense.
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stanton, thought putin spent most of his time heli skiing round russian mountains rather standing in lift queues with lowly westerners
didn't see any on my recent trip to val thorens but i think they probably would have tried to avoid 200 drunk students in fancy dress
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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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Every third car in Bad Gastein on the weekend before New Years was from Romania. Romania??? Lots of Russians, too. Strangely, the week before there were none.
We saw a group arguing with the police with their car boot open in front of the casino one morning. Draw your own conclusions.
Between the poor lift-line etiquette and the skiing in fur coats, I think I'd rather take my chances with the drunk Scandinavians that dominated the previous week. The worst thing they did was take their clothes off.
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Poster: A snowHead
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We have lots of russians here - not the filthy rich thank goodness, but the normal middle class, doing quite well ones. They're OK. However it's true (or seems to be) that the east europeans don't have the same manners as the west europeans .... Lots of them ski really well though, and I had a lovely russian girl in my beginner class last week. she says they have no infrastructure over there so they all come here for the ski lifts and pistes. 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Just an observation.We have a fair number of Russian students at the school where I work.Cripes....what a humourless bunch they are!I am at a loss to understand it?Thinking on,there was one lad who was very happy to be here.......though he had cornered the vodka and ciggie concession in his house.Definitely a future mover and shaker
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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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Quite a few Russians in Zermatt a couple of years ago. Seemed reasonably civilised, if rather dour.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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lots of ignorant rubbish on this thread... millions of people slagged off en masse by the geographical accident of their birth by the small minded and the bitter.
hands up who speaks russian? none of you, and yet you judge them as humourless and arrogant etc etc etc...
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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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| red 27 wrote: |
lots of ignorant rubbish on this thread... millions of people slagged off en masse by the geographical accident of their birth by the small minded and the bitter.
hands up who speaks russian? none of you, and yet you judge them as humourless and arrogant etc etc etc... |
Trying hard not to prejudge but they really did look glum in the airport check-in queues, while we were all cracking jokes with our new chalet friends, taking silly bets on which queue was going to get to the desk first. You'd smile at them with blank response, I'm just reporting what I saw.
Please tell us about the cheerful, happy-go-lucky, gentle, polite Russians you have had the pleasure of conversing with and add some balance to the discussion.
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Chatting to a Russian on a chairlift in Cervinia a few weeks ago. I asked him about the rumour that the Russians had tried to buy Courchevel; he said, why would they bother -- a few hotels maybe, but who wants the hassle of a resort? Anyway, after being given a hard time for procuring women for immoral purposes last year ("as if you couldn't get women that way in any ski resort," he said: I meant to ask him about Cervinia but didn't have time) they'd all shoved off elsewhere. I had to ask. "Aspen" he said. That should result in some interesting cultural exchanges.
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lupinp2003, I thought it was just Roman Abramovich who tried to buy up Courchevel 1850 - and he later bought a place in Aspen.
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| Quote: |
Trying hard not to prejudge but they really did look glum in the airport check-in queues, while we were all cracking jokes with our new chalet friends, taking silly bets on which queue was going to get to the desk first. You'd smile at them with blank response, I'm just reporting what I saw.
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I was born in the former Soviet Union and left in the seventies.Difficult to generalise as "russians" are very diverse group of different ethnic origin,all speaking russian.Still,as a rule,they are very shy,reserved and selfconcious,especially concerned with "proper" behavior.They are aware of a condescending attitude of westerners toward them and respond with the same attitude.But when it is friendship it will be usually very warm,almost bounderless relationships.
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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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| red 27 wrote: |
| .........hands up who speaks russian? none of you... |
How do you know? As it happens, I don't. My father did, my son speaks a little, and my DIL speaks it fluently.
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Always difficult to get beyond the stereotype when the language has a particular intonation. Lots of Russian families in Chamonix just after New Year and, but none in nearby St Gervais (lots of French and Brits instead) and no overly boorish behaviour at either resort afaics.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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beequin, There have been a few around this week both here in St G and in les Houches - many fitting the stereotype as far as shiny skis, fur hats and skinny blondes in full make up and chanel 'fartbags' .....somehow a chanel fartbag doesn't doesn't seem right! but those I have shared lifts with/sat at the next table to etc. have been very pleasant.
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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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thefatcontroller,
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You know it makes sense.
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thefatcontroller,
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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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I've got no problem with hoards of Russians skiing in Europe this season, I'm going to Canada.
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Poster: A snowHead
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thefatcontroller,
My Dad, as a Pole, was extremely anti-Russian for, I suspect, good historical reasons. There are even arguments between the two nations as to who "discovered" beetroot soup (borshch in Russian, barszcz in Polish).
My wife gets embarassed by me because I often strike up conversations with whoever is sat next to me on the chairlift - and the Russians that I have spoken to in ski resorts seem just as friendly as any other nationality - though their command of English is often as bad as mine of Russian!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Why are all Russians in ski resorts habitually described as 'oligarchs' these days? Might it be possible that they're, in fact, just some people from Russia who like skiing?
That said, we were surprised by the quantities in Zermatt lately. It felt like maybe a disproportionate number, but that's only a comparison against an expectation.
Comments earlier RE: east vs west Europeans and manners leave a nasty taste, but then I am slightly partisan in that regard.
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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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Nick L, a Pole is sitting in a trench and is being attacked on the one side by the Germans and on the other side by the Russians. Who does he shoot first?
The Germans of course. Business before pleasure
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Isn't this influx of Russians generally only for their Christmas/New Year celebrations though (except for a few resorts which seem to attract the wealthier ones all season). It could mean that prices may rise for what were the cheapest weeks for us. OTOH when is Russian half term? 
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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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being half german I have a natural dislike of the East..like a unfinshed business hehe
wait til the chinese get into sking....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I've met a fair few Eastern Europeans over the years and generally found them OK to be honest. Engage with them and they're ususally quite happy to chat back (assuming they speak English, which many do - my Russian extends to spasibo, dosvidanya (phonetic) and nasdrovya (phonetic)). Personally, I've found the Russians I've met to possess a fine sense of irony in their humour.
Lets not forget that whilst many Western Europeans have enjoyed generations of European travel and exposure to different cultures, our Eastern European counterparts haven't. Which may go someway to explaining their apparent lack of etiquette.
In the cable car coming down from Penken last week, I was relaying the story of the previous night out which ended in drinking with a Russian to the SO. I mentioned that I'd been out until about 2am because of a mad, heaving drinking Russian, at which point a Russian lady politely intervened saying that mad, heavy drinking Englishmen were also in plenty of abundance. I gratiously conceded the point which had half the telecabin (English, Russian and Austrian) chuckling away knowingly.
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| Quote: |
| We saw a group arguing with the police with their car boot open in front of the casino one morning. Draw your own conclusions. |
Body after a Mafia hit?
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| paulio wrote: |
Why are all Russians in ski resorts habitually described as 'oligarchs' these days? Might it be possible that they're, in fact, just some people from Russia who like skiing?
That said, we were surprised by the quantities in Zermatt lately. It felt like maybe a disproportionate number, but that's only a comparison against an expectation.
Comments earlier RE: east vs west Europeans and manners leave a nasty taste, but then I am slightly partisan in that regard. |
Maybe they should set up oligarch-only lift lines?
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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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I didn't even know what an oligarch was, until the skiing community started talking about Russians.
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Couple of years ago in Val D at Christmas I encountered my first Russian group. They seemed jovial and friendly, with a distinct whiff of Vodka about them at 10.00 in the morning (can't fault them there  ).
One chap though was clearly new to skiing, as in, had never done it before that day. His approach to learning, was to click into his skis, point them down hill and keep going until he ran out of piste or bottle. Stopping was achieved by bailing out in a tangle of skis , poles (and a Russian).
It was very entertaining to watch (from above). I did make a point of not getting below him.
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