Siberia's largest ski resort, in the Kemerovo region, and almost unknown outside Russia. Deep, dry, extremely cold snow and a long season running into May.

The terrain is wide and open above the treeline with good freeride and gentler forest runs below. Beginners are served, though the facilities are less polished than in the Alps.

The base is a modern cluster of hotels and lifts below a rounded mountain, and the town below is an ordinary mining settlement. Hotels and guesthouses are cheap, the clientele is domestic Russian and there is little English.

Check entry requirements, flight routing and travel advice carefully before you commit to anything, because this is a long and complicated trip from western Europe and the practicalities matter far more than the skiing.