Ingushetia opens ski slopes at "Armkhi" resort

The opening ceremony of the first ski slope in Ingushetia, which is a part of the resort "Armkhi" in the Djeirakh District of the republic, took place today.

However, as Timur Bokov, an assistant to the Secretary of the Security Council of Ingushetia, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, the skiers who came to test the new route could not do it, because the snow that fell on the eve melted down.

According to Timur Bokov, the skiers came from neighbouring republics; and all the equipment required to try out the route was prepared. However, since the air temperature in the area has reached +14, and the snow has melted, they tried the ropeway only.

The route was built for about 200 million roubles of investments from the budget of the region as well as from private investors, said Akhmed Palankoev, the Ingushetia's senator in the Federation Council. According to his story, the local authorities decided not to wait for the government's funding within the project for development of tourism in Northern Caucasus. "We hope that our initiative will justify itself," the "Rossiyskaya Gazeta" quotes Mr Palankoev as saying.

In his interview to the "Caucasian Knot", Yunus-Bek Evkurov has described the construction "for our own money" of the route in "Armkhi" as an important image decision.