Geography lesson

On Sunday, I was riding the chairlift with a snowboarder from... Vladivostok!

This Russian guy was “just” visiting some friends in Florida and make a quick detour to Park City to check us out.

We talked and got 5 more minute conversation as the chair stopped for that amount of time on the way up.

He was surprised to know that I knew were Vladivostok was and I said that I know that this seaport was the entry of all used Japanese cars with left-hand-side steering wheels that would eventually find a new owner in Siberia.

He told me he had never ridden in Europe, but mostly went to Japan that is only one and a half hour flight from Vladivostok and he liked Hakuba 47, a resort I happened to know as I have skied there many years ago.

He also went helicopter riding at Kamchatka and would go to Sochi on occasions. When I asked him about his town, He went on to say that it was very windy and cold in winter, and that it was a heavy industry center with a lot of former USSR factories still shuttered...

Small world!