Mount Aikuaivenchorr is the main summit of the Bigwood ski resort in the Khibiny Mountains of Russia. While the lift accessed area in nice it is the backcountry that makes the area stand out. While I had visited the sidecountry numerous times we were wondering what was off the backside of the area. The plan was to use the lifts to access the area and after riding into a valley finding something good to climb.

 

After a cloudy and extremely windy morning it was well after noon before Bigwood finally got the Gondola cabins on. Looking at the maps we wanted to explore a massive cirque that seemed to have a few steep couloirs. Buying a hour long lit ticket we loaded our gear into the lifts before riding into the east bowl of the ski resort.

Once in the East Bowl we rode down to the valley where we were able to take a Tbar to the mid mountain and another tbar to the upper slopes. While windy it was a beautiful day with clear views of the White Sea to the South.

Once on top of the lifts we started walking along the ridge to the east. According to the map there was an obvious couloir that made its way into the valley below. We just needed to find it.

Hiking up to the high point we put on our snowboards and started traversing over towards the cirque. In the distance we could see a spot that seemed to go to the valley below but we needed to inspect it before blindly dropping in.

Standing on top of the chute we could see both the bottom and the top but the middle section seemed to roll over. Unlike the powder we had rode the day before the snow seemed a bit firm but still edgeable. Knowing that we had ice axes and crampons we decided to take the chance and drop in.

By the time we dropped into the Mount Aikuaivenchorr Backcountry clouds had come in and what was originally blue skies became flat light. Although it would make seeing harder we were going to be riding couloirs.

Making our way to the bottom of the valley we started looking around. The whole cirque was lined with rock walls but the occasional chute made its way through. Looking back up we were happy that the line had gone all the way through as going the wrong way would have been disastrous.

Looking to the East it seemed that there was another couloir around the bend. It seemed to be a good choice to go check out so we made our way over there.

After a few minutes we had crampons on our feet and started climbing. From our perspective we couldn’t see the top but decided to go until we couldn’t go any higher.

Before long we had made it into the main couloir that had grabbed our attention

Once past the lower section is started to get much steeper but seemed to go. We would take turns putting in steps in the semi firm snow.

Soon enough we made it to the final 50 feet and what we had thought was a rock from below turned out to be a massive tire. Above us was a mining operation that seemed to use it as a garbage chute.

Just below the water ice we found a nice flat wind scoop and transitioned there. Below us was the open bowl followed by a long valley back to a mining road. Since we had left our car at Bigwood we would have to hitchhike back to Kirovsk.

The Northeast Couloir of Mount Aikuaivenchorr seemed aggressive from above as it rolled away. Having just climbed it we knew what we were in for. A bit of fresh snow on top of semi firm ice.

Riding down the snow was much better then I had expected. Since we were in a couloir the snow was protected and filled in nicely.

once out of the couloir it was time to start the long exit with a big topside traverse. Looking down valley the road was around 8 kilometres away with a summer road all the way to the bottom.

Looking back up we were happy with our two lines on the Northeast couloir of Mount Aikuaivenchorr. There were only a few good lines in there and we had rode the line on the left and middle in the photo below.

Soon we were traversing in the main valley going past multiple massive basins along the way. Occasionally there would be abandoned structures from old mining settlements.

As we made our way down we were able to ride the main drainage for a bit before doing a quick climb up to a summer road. Fortunately it was steep enough to make our way back to the main road.

As we finally made it to the road we came across two guard dogs and a semi pleasant man who let us know the dogs were kind during the day but not at night. In the end all worked out fine as Ilkka tried to get a taxi from the sideroad we came to but in the end he hitched a ride to town and came back to pick me up.

 

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

Here is a locals layout of the terrain around Mount Aikuaivenchorr