(Credit: http://travelinside.ru/kolskiy-poluostrov)

Khibiny is an avalanche-prone territory, and this should be taken seriously.

In addition to hope for rescue service of the resort, you should study the scheme of the slope for hazardous areas: the riskiest one is just between the two trails, it is useful to remember it.

The trails of the ski resort “Kolasportland” are laid on the northern slope of the mountain with the unpronounceable name Aikuaivenchorr (1010 m) that is located right within the city limits of Kirovsk.

There are a lot of tourists here: Kirovsk is considered one of the best ski places in Russia. “Kolasportland” is one of the largest equipped ski areas in the Khibiny Mountains: with more than 20 equipped trails, chair lifts, excellent snow fields for freeride. The season is very long - from November to June.

However, the weather worsens in spring, and strong winds often blow the snow away from the tops. The scheme of the resort trails is very confusing and even seems unstructured. The reason for that is the large amount of snow making the Kirov slope perfect for backcountry skiing.

The winter in Khibiny is very snowy. As you are descending from a snowmobile, you stand in the knee-deep snow: the layer of snow sometimes reaches 1.5 meters after a snow storm. Avalanches are always dangerous, but it hardly stops anyone. Previously avalanche service of Khibiny neutralized avalanches, shooting them from the mortar gun. But mortar attacks have been prohibited in recent years because of the counter-terrorism measures.

The employees of the avalanche service forecast and record avalanches, and the mortar gun just stands at the building of the service. Avalanche forecasts are regularly hung at ski resorts, and the slopes are closed. Exotic names of the mountains are translated in a very simple way: Vudyavrchorr – “the ridge near the lake on a hill”, Kukisvumchorr – “the mountain range with a flat top”, Aikuaivenchorr – “the mountain with the head of the god’s mother” (its spurs form a face turned towards the sky, in 1950s journalists invented a story telling that this mountain was called “Sleeping Beauty”).