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What’s In Store With Anne-Flore

From Russia With Love

Russia, I’ve always wanted to go there! And here I am, landing in Sochi, the designated host of the 2014 Olympic games. The small airport stands by the black sea and I'm quite surprised to see palm trees through the plane window. We make our way through the scrum of taxi drivers, and choose one of them based on the size of his car. We set off on the 45-minute drive towards Krasnaya Polyana. This place looks like a small, remote European resort but 40 years ago.

Oakley is always a fun crew. Grete Eliassen, Gretchen Bleiler, Angeline (who has missed her flight), Marie-France Roy (who had some visa issues and will arrive a couple of days later) are all on the trip with me.

The lift is sketchy! You sit on the red metal, two-seat lift with your board and all your gear on your knees while the chairlift guy holds the chair. On the way up you are hanging about 40 or 60 metres off the ground while the lift makes weird noises (or stops and runs the wrong direction!)

Everywhere around the chairlift are tough Russian body guards. They look scary, but Gretchen gets them to be our friends by getting them into our photo albums. So everyday they look mean and tough, but when we show up, they give us their biggest smiles.

It’s sunny and the snow looks epic, but it’s really warm and it has been really warm for a full day already. It looks like fun, but my board gets glued to the hot pow and I can't even turn or keep my nose up. That snow was pretty much the worst you can get, but we realize the worst was yet to come as it rains for a full week.

The house we're staying in doesn't have any water, but it was all good because the girls are so much fun to hang out with. While the skiers are building a wall ride, Gretchen and I take the lift to the top. Huge sketchy avalanches are happening all over the place, but the top stays good because it was just cold enough to keep it together. That night we decide to drink it blue (which is an easy thing to do in Russia). Anna shows Gretchen and me a couple breakdance moves and I paint on Shin’s face while Marie-France holds him. Thanks to Grete (who puked that night), because it works and we get sunny skies the next day.

It had snowed and blown quite a bit on the very top, so this was our chance to make it happen. We hike two bowls behind the top chairlift and find a couple lines, slashes and cliffs…the snow is super fun in the shady spots and I am stoked to finally get to ride! The last run down is so fun, but we have to traverse for about an hour and hike for another hour to get back to the slopes. It's close to dark, all the lifts are closed and there are both of Grete’s fans waiting for her to appear out of the woods. What a good day! It’s funny how one good day can make up for 10 bad ones.

It was our last night in the mountains and we all go to the Russian sauna to get naked and beaten with branches by a Russian type of Tarzan. The best thing ever! We leave for Moscow the next day. The Red Square is on my "to see" list and it's pretty mind blowing! Thanks to Oakley, Shin, Anna and Marie for making this trip a trip to remember!

Check my podcast (www.annefloremarxer.com) for a ride on the chairlift with Gretchen and I.