The brand new Russian winter resort at the Sochi Alpine Ski Resort—Rosa Khutor, on the Black Sea—is set to host the Winter Olympics in 2014. The ski resort is completely new and constructed purely with the winter games in mind, located in the Caucasus Mountains at a latitude of 42° and between 950 and 2,300 meters above sea level it ensures that the games have plenty of snow.
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Site of the Winter Olympics, 2014. Photo credit: Global Sports Forum, Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0) .
The Rosa Khutor plateau is a pristine, forested, mountain terrain that was identified during a flight over the area whilst scouting for suitable locations to construct the new snow resort. Designers discovered a wild mountain river with two lakes near by that made the perfect sporting and hiking location that could eventually be used all year around.
To ensure the ideal snow conditions necessary for hosting the Winter Olympics are maintained, the design includes snow towers, pumping stations and snow guns that would guarantee the snowfield during the winter months, even on the lower slopes. The resort has a SmartSnow software system that constantly monitors the weather conditions and automatically controls the amount of snow produced by using the water from the Olympic lakes.
Once the snow production system was in place, the resort was ready to open to the public and its first visitors were invited to try the slopes in January 2011 where a successful start to the season prompted organisers to apply to host the European Cup the following month
When it is finally completed the resort will provide a wonderful location for the Winter Olympics in 2014, with 40 ski slopes and 18 ski lifts all in the picturesque mountain landscape. The men’s downhill course alone is a monster run and the designers say it could theoretically hold three separate slopes.
The Mountain cluster of Krasaya Polyana and the Rosa Khutor plateau will host the Biathalon and Ski Complex and there will be a freestyle ski and snowboarding park. There are also plans to construct a bobsleigh, luge and skeleton run and a large ski jump as well. This will make the area the complete winter sporting destination with many other winter activities located down the valley at the coastal resort of Sochi.
The area has been thoroughly transformed, totally changing the nearby village of Krasnaya Polyana. As many new rooms are required for the area it has been necessary to build further accommodation, such as the new 211 room Park Inn Rosa Khutor Hotel in Sochi which opens late 2011. This will provide year round comfort and luxury, so travellers can enjoy winter sports or summer hiking.
They have experienced revolutionary modernisation in the area with completely new communications networks and an improved transport network. There is a light railway connection down to the coast to handle the passengers from the cruise ships docking in Sochi and a high-speed railway connection to Moscow.
The completion of the 4-star Olympic Village and the many other rooms and suites for the expected 2014 visitors means that Rosa Khutor is set to develop into a popular skiing and winter sport destination. The Alpine Ski Resort featuring the latest technology, purpose built facilities and gorgeous surroundings in the Caucasus Mountains should be a gold medal winner all round.
