In the development of All-Season Tourist and Recreational Resort Arkhyz in the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Joint-Stock Company Northern Caucasus Resorts completes the installation of the equipment of section 1 of the ropeway on the North oriented slope of Romantik tourist village. Commissioning of new ski infrastructure facilities scheduled for winter season 2018/2019, will make it possible to connect the southern and northern slopes of the resort with a network of pistes and ropeways, to double the skiing area and to offer new skiing experience to Arkhyz ATRC guests.

‘Development of the North oriented slope is the most important area of our work to make infrastructure figures of Arkhyz ATRC match those of a standard resort and to move it to a new federal positioning level. Together with contractors, JSC NCR should make this infrastructure breakthrough in a very short time, in just two years, while meeting the highest quality and security requirements for facilities. This process is strictly controlled by the Ministry of the North Caucasus Affairs of the Russian Federation, including with due account to the requirement to optimize budgetary investment in the project’, Odes Baysultanov, the First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for Northern Caucasus Affairs, said.

To date, the delivery of linear support equipment of ropeway section 1 manufactured by POMA is completed, it shall be installed before ski season 2017/2018. In the construction of ropeway, a set of preliminary works was performed, including arrangement of retaining walls, foundations of pick up and drop off stations, installation of process equipment, working with electricity networks, arrangement of operator stations, installation of metal structures and parts of linear bearings. In parallel, the work and the delivery of equipment in the construction of the subsequent sections of the ski lift is going on.

‘Together with the prime contractor Rosengineering, in order to perform the maximum amount of work before the onset of winter, we have significantly increased the number of staff employed, i.e. up to 170 people, and that of the construction equipment — up to 76 units. Together we do our best to strictly follow the construction schedule — in order to start operation of new facilities, so awaited by our tourists’, Maria Plotnikova, the Director of the Infrastructure Development Department of JSC NCR, said.

Work on creation of a water intake facility, an artificial pond to store water and booster station is also in progress on the site within the creation of artificial snow-making system. In parallel, a garage for snow groomers is being built, ski slopes are being profiled, a road bridge and an access road are being built. Now all future roads of the North-oriented slope can be seen from the existing pistes in Romantic and Lunnaya Polyana villages, where winter season is about to start.

Passenger suspended ropeway that is under construction on the North-oriented slope of Arkhyz resort will be equipped with comfortable 10-seater gondolas. The lift will consist of three sections with a total length of 3937 meters, with a possibility to get from the outrun zone at 1652 m elevation to the highest point of 2505 m without leaving the gondola — second and third section will be connected in the intermediate station, located at 2336 m elevation. The lift will deliver tourists to five pistes of black, red, blue and green categories of complexity. The longest piste will be about 4.5 km long. The green piste, in contrast to the common practice, will be located not in the lower part of the resort, but on the picturesque alpine plateau with 360 degree panoramic views.

In the long term, after 2019, the ski area will be expanded to 2839 m elevation through the construction of a high-speed chair ropeway. Along it, an about 2.1 km long red piste is planned.