"We see the snow, we are going to ride"

Tele2 is a mobile operator that has been working in Russia since 2003 and today provides services in 67 regions of the country. According to the results of 2018, the subscriber base of the company is 42.3 million users. Tele2 leads in the NPS (Net Promoter Score) index - user readiness to recommend the company's services.

According to the results of last year’s ski season, Tele2 conducted a study and found out that the consumption of traffic in ski resorts among St. Petersburg subscribers increased by almost 9 times. The most popular months for winter trips were January and March. And of all the nearby ski resorts, Petersburgers most often climbed to the Igor resort in the Leningrad Region.

Where to start skiers and snowboarders look for an instructor, how are the slopes in the Leningrad region and how to put a child on the mountain skiing?

For partnerships with Tele2 , “Paper” spoke with St. Petersburg bloggers who are engaged in skiing and snowboarding. They talk about how they began to ride, what slopes love and what they do in the absence of snow.

Travel blog author

“I love winter madly.” All childhood lived behind the polar circle in Norilsk. I remember how dad and I went to the lake to fish: we made holes in ice and for hours? And almost every weekend I spent at the rink. On the weekend in winter, this was our favorite entertainment: outside -40, windbreak, you don’t really take a walk, so we went to the indoor skating rink. I studied myself, so I still ride poorly. I really want to take adult lessons and learn a couple of tricks - not a triple sheepskin coat, of course - but at least it would be great to spin beautifully.

Even earlier, I rode on skiing - exactly until the moment until my head crashed into a Christmas tree in the Alps. Fortunately, I was in a helmet and there were no serious injuries. But for a long time I had a psychological fear of getting skiing. This year I want to try to learn to ride a snowboard, but for now I'm just chasing skates.

My advice to those who just want to master skiing: it is better to immediately learn how to ride correctly than to retrain later. I recommend starting with several lessons with a competent instructor. He will explain the basics: how to stay on the slope, how to slow down and how not to kill yourself and surrounding people.

Of all the ski resorts in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, I most like Okhta Park most of all, because there is a beautiful and romantic ice rink among pine trees and Christmas trees and a hot pool in open air.

This winter is my first winter in St. Petersburg, and I really look forward to the appearance of snow. In the meantime, I am not looking for inspiration into the cinema. I love the winter romantic comedies “Vacation on Exchange”, for example. You see-and immediately I want to go for a walk among the snowy Christmas trees, as in the English part of this film (in the comedy, the heroine Cameron Diaz from Los Angeles comes on vacation on Christmas to the British county of Surrey.-Approx. “Papers” ).

Now all my work is happening on the Internet. Every minute I have to remain in touch because I work for myself and cannot turn off the phone and forget about business even for several hours. Therefore, on the slope, and on the rink and in the middle of the deaf forest, I must remain in touch in order to quickly communicate with customers.

Artem Ushakov

The author of the blog about snowboarding and wakeboard

- I started to ride at the age of 17. I had no money at this age, and my parents did not support me financially in this sport. Like everyone else, I studied then and could not quit my studies for the work. It was lucky that friends who put me on a snowboard, almost for nothing gave me a snowboard kit. Well, then a dream appeared that motivated me to find ways to ride.

It was not difficult to stand on the board. All my life I went in for sports - karate, swimming, water polo - and thanks to good physical data I quickly learned. The most difficult thing was and remains to progress in skating. Progress is necessary. Each time after a productive day spent on a slope, I feel that I have become better, stronger than yesterday.

There are several disciplines in snowboarding. Strict - Bordercross, carving, slalom (these directions belong to the speedy descent. - approx. “Papers” ) - and the one that I am engaged in Freestyle. It is the most difficult and includes such types of skiing: like Big Air, Sloptail and Haffpip (in the competitives on Freestyle, athletes show jumps, tricks and a somersault. - Approx. "Papers" ). Unlike strict disciplines, freestyle carries creative, style and self -expression. To set the pace on the slope, I usually listen to music [online], so a good mobile connection is necessary.

In St. Petersburg, the season is unpredictable. Even in the coldest months, the temperature [may fluctuate] at +10. For those who skate at an amateur level, you can start in November, and end - around April. My main advice to beginners: observe the rules on the slope and always sensibly evaluate your level when learning tricks. Petersburg slopes are not suitable for professional classes, so I train abroad.

Snowboarding is a story about skating with friends. If you want to stand on the board, you probably have a friend who is already skating and will be happy to teach you. Yes, this is an expensive sport. But in some resorts, for example, there are free lifts with a training slope, and you can also take the first steps, rising without a lift. As they say - you like to ride, love and carry sledges.

Victoria Voskresenskaya

Travel blog author

- I have the first adult category on skiing. I didn’t choose this sport myself: my parents “threw it” to me. They met when in their youth they went a large company from St. Petersburg to Dombay (a ski resort in Karachay-Cherkessia.-Approx. "Papers" ), where they learned to ride.

Mountain skis turned into their hobby, and they wanted me to share it too. At first I just learned to ride, and then my parents gave me to a sports school. I began to study at 7-8 and until 16 was in sports. The ski school was in Krasnoye Selo - there is a small Voronya Gora - where our coach had his own lift. And then the Tutari Park opened, and we moved there because it was more convenient.

Tutari Park is my native resort. All my childhood passed there. But, of course, it is inferior to others in terms of the size of the slope and in service. Now I like the Red Lake, the Golden Valley in Korobitsino, still cool and relatively new - “Igor”.

In childhood, in the season, I trained three to four times a week. Now with the family we manage to leave only two to three times a month. But usually we try to go at once for a week, to Finland or Austria, and ride there every day and even several times.

I was very lucky with my husband - he is a candidate for master of sports in snowboarding. Therefore, in the season we just wake up in the morning and if we see snow, we go to ride. We tried to put our son on skis at a year and a half. But this, of course, was a complete failure-after all, it is very early. When he was two and a half years old, we tried again, but already offered him a choice - skis or snowboard. He chose a snowboard. We were then in Finland, and he did a good job. We rode on a children's slope and several times even moved from an adult. Now he is four and a half years, this season we have already resumed training and are satisfied with his successes.

Vladislav Karpyuk

Mobile photographer, author of informal excursions in St. Petersburg

- I got on the mountain skis four years ago. Mom offered me to go to the resort one day. Before that, I did not ski at all, except for classic begs at school once long. I decided to try, and I really liked it. I have been skating for the fifth season.

In St. Petersburg, I go to the Red Lake or Igor, because the rest of the resorts, I believe, do not have the proper level of quality. And the slopes of Okhta Park and Tutari Park are more suitable for beginners.

In the season I try to ride about once every two weeks. There are no particularly complex tracks in the resorts of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, mostly they are all “blue” (in the classification of the tracks there are: “green” - for beginners, “blue” - a low level of complexity, “red” - the average level of complexity and “black” - a high level of complexity. - approx. “Paper” ). The nearest “red” and “black” highways are in Finland.

Mining is less traumatic sport than a snowboard. But it is still better to start using an instructor to immediately master the right technique. It seems to me to find a good coach on Instagram or other social networks. Now almost everyone is used, and there you can quickly choose someone and read reviews. I think it is very convenient. If you don’t use social networks for some reason, you can turn to the instructors right on the slope: they know the tracks and pitfalls of the resort where you are going to study. And another search option is a mouth.

If we talk about the connection, it is important for me as a blogger that its quality on the slope is at a high level. Because often I need to immediately illuminate the place where I am going: upload photos, upload storis, carry out a live broadcast. You need to do everything quickly - on the slopes this happens in the nearest cafes in between skiing. In addition, the connection speed is important to quickly get an audience response.