Kukisvumchorr is the freeride centre of the Khibiny Mountains near Kirovsk. While Bigwood is the mains resort 25kms down the street is a far more aggressive ski hill. With only two Tbars that take you almost 1,500 feet to the summit there are no beginner slopes to the valley. Once on top it is alpine slopes all the way to the bottom. Add that most of the terrain is backcountry and you can easily understand why they call it the Freeride capital of the Kola Peninsula.

The storm had been going for 4 days straight with the snow adding up to over 30cms. By now the backcountry seemed to be unstable with the new snow so we needed to come up with something to do. Knowing that the lifts at Kukisvumchorr would be running we decided if there was any day to go there this was it.

Getting First Tracks at Kukisvumchorr

It was the final day of our week long trip to Russia and although the weather had been bad we were happy with snow on the ground. Leaving Kirovsk we arrived at Kukisvumchorr early with the hope of being the first people up the Tbar. Once the lifts started moving we made our way to the summit before traversing into the open bowls. Standing on top we made tracks with some locals to had the same plan.

After the first lap we went back up to ride a little bit skiers left of our previous line. By now the weather had started clearing up and the slopes around Kukisvumchorr were glowing in the early morning sun. By now there were about 10 people doing hot laps on the mountain.

Heading out to the Sidecountry

After a few laps on the front face it was time to traverse out to the Kukisvumchorr Sidecountry. With each run we would head a bit further on the ridge with deep snow under every turn.

The further we traversed the ridge the harder the traverse was back to the resort. At first we were able to do a long topside traverse but once so far north on the ridge we would have to hike through the basin back to the Tbar. With snow so good it was well worth finding untracked slopes easily with every run.

Time to Head Back to Finland

By noon we had barely touched the resort but had to head back to Finland and it was going to be about a 5 drive. It had been a successful trip back to the Khibiny mountains and though the conditions weren’t great at first it was still fun riding around and we already had plans for the next season. Huge thanks to Ilkka for an amazing trip an an excellent powder day at Kukisvumchorr (25km) ski center!!!

This was a great trip exploring the easy access terrain around Kirovsk and getting to know the Khibiny Mountains better. This week long trip would peak my interest of what was possible in NW Russia and that it would be well worth returning the next year.

Thank you for reading and If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more ski tours within the Khibiny Mountains check out this link