Elbrus (ski resort)

History

2025: Opening of new cable cars for 12.5 billion rubles

On December 6, 2025, two new cable cars were opened at the Elbrus ski resort in Kabardino-Balkaria, built parallel to the existing lines from the Azau glade to the Mir station. The cost of this infrastructure project amounted to 12.5 billion rubles.

Information about this event was presented Ministry of Economic Development RUSSIAN FEDERATION by the development corporation "Кавказ.РФ," which operates the resort. The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Reshetnikov and the head of Kabardino-Balkaria Kazbek Kokov.

The new lifts, called "Bashtala" (upper clearing) and "Chiran" (glacier), open access to the new eastern skiing zone and are capable of transporting up to 2.5 thousand people per hour. The length of the new route is 5.7 km, and the upper lifting point is at an altitude of 3,670 m.

The launch of the lines became part of a large-scale modernization of the resort, which intensified after the transfer of Elbrus to the management of Кавказ.РФ in 2021. According to the Ministry of Economic Development, since 2016, 18.7 billion rubles of public funds have been allocated for the development of the territory, and an investment of another 12.9 billion rubles is planned by 2030.

In parallel, private investment is developing: 29 residents of the special economic zone plan to invest more than 35 billion rubles in projects at the resort by 2030. These investments are aimed at building hotels, including the Azau sports and recreation complex with a children's ski school, which will create about 1.5 thousand new jobs.

The new infrastructure has expanded the resort's facilities. In the eastern sector, at an altitude of 3.5 thousand meters, a skiing zone is open with two modern cable cars (chairlift and gondola) and 5.2 km of red and black difficulty tracks. The zone also has a system of artificial snowmaking and evening illumination of slopes.

Thanks to the new routes, the total length of prepared routes on Elbrus reached 23 km. Кавказ.РФ CEO Andrei Yumshanov said that in 2026 the construction of four more cable cars and 12 km of highways will begin, and all modernization work should be completed by the end of 2028.^[1][2]

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