Ice to Eskimos? Moscow trucks in snow for ski event

While Moscow’s mayor Yury Luzhkov is battling snow clouds above the Russian capital, the organizers of Ski Championship Cup are paying thousands of dollars to transport the stuff from Northern regions.

The famous Russian winter has nothing to do with the reality this year, at least in Moscow. Unusually warm weather for this time of the year in the Russian capital was just about to spoil the city authorities’ plans to host the FIS Alpine Ski Champions Cup in parallel slalom, scheduled for late November, when the officials came up with a better idea – they asked Northwestern regions to share some snow with the capital.

Dozens of huge trucks will deliver hundreds of kilos of snow from Murmansk region by November 21, when the event is scheduled to take place.

Russia’s North, however, is also experiencing a delay in frosty temperatures and, along with natural snow, Murmansk will supply the capital with artificial snow, made with special equipment using the water from a natural reservoir.

The cargo has turned out to be a costly one – the distance from Moscow to Murmansk is 2000 kilometers.

“The main expenses are on transportation, with one truck to Moscow costing around 30,000 rubles [over $1000],” says Mikhail Peretyatko, Technical Director of the company organizing the event. “And we are talking about 40 trucks.”

The Moscow Region will also serve as a ground for making artificial snow, as temperatures there are usually lower than in the capital.

But apart from buying the snow, the bigger challenge may be in how to preserve the purchase until the event.