No Snow, No Spectacle

Disappointment and decay. This is how most young spectators described their impressions after the long-awaited snowboarders’ show Snihova Lavyna [Snow Avalanche] at the Expotsentr National Exhibit Center in Kyiv the Saturday before last. At least that was how most of those present to watch snowboarders’ aerobatics and stunts on the snow felt after being offered rock idols instead.

True, the organizing committee did its best. The concept of the project was truly stunning. Kyiv’s leading construction firms spent over a week erecting the ski jump. It was impressive, over thirty meters in height and 100 meters long. And the snowmaking machines were in full gear on the opening day, so the athletes could show off their best.

Also, Ukraine succeeded in attracting genuine professionals: 36 riders from nine countries, including a world champion and Big Estra Gostoba prizewinners. The prize pool was also sizable [by local standard]: some 10,000 euros. Thus, the show was definitely worth seeing. People stormed the buses parked by Metro stations, provided by the organizers free of charge, and then settled on the grounds and thereabouts, adding to the headaches of transport workers.

Meanwhile the audience was kept awake by rock stars blasting away from stage: Ruslana, Tanok na Maidani Kongo, and Kyrpychi, while the ski jump was alive with reckless riders getting the course ready, shaping tramping down the “snow” with spades and snowboards. It was getting dark and a large number of the rock singers had been through with their long programs. Incidentally, those present enjoyed hit numbers courtesy of Lyapis Trubetskoy, Zdob-shi-Zdub, Hi-Fi, and Cicerina. Just as Yuliya threatened to melt the Snow Avalanche with her antics, some of the riders were calmly vandalizing the snow surface by playing snowball. What else could they do, considering that it had become clear at the last moment that the snowboarding competition, so eagerly awaited by one and all, would not take place? Eventually, some of the guest athletic stars got down to the audience and proceeded to toss pieces of their wardrobe into the crowd.

By then the audience cared little for the rock concert or for jibbing — a cross between skate—and snowboarding that the organizers had finally decided to stage in lieu of the scheduled tournament under those rather limited conditions. Of those claiming they would take the short steep ride and then through the iron pipe only about a dozen actually did. The audience watched them without much enthusiasm, as the first ranks suffered being pushed by those behind; ditto those behind. Above all, people suffered from too much vodka consumed. Law enforcement authorities used their men to drag such victims out of the crowd and to the waiting ambulances. In a word, the scheduled show never took place. To make things worse, the mercury stubbornly held to +27 o C, turning the manufactured snow into a huge puddle.