Kavkaz.RF and Rosa Khutor have agreed to cooperate to develop mountain tourism in Russia.

The all-season mountain resort Rosa Khutor and the state corporation Kavkaz.RF have announced the start of their joint work. The partnership aims to improve the management efficiency of tourism and recreational complexes, train specialists in rare mountain professions, and implement flagship domestic technological solutions in the operation of ski infrastructure. The corresponding agreement was signed at the Caucasus Investment Forum.

The document formalizes the long-term cooperation between the parties and forms the basis for joint efforts to develop all-season mountain tourism in Russia. The agreement was signed by Kavkaz.RF CEO Andrey Yumshanov and Rosa Khutor CEO Konstantin Nesterov.

The key areas of cooperation will be improving the regulatory framework and industry standards for resort operations (including taking into account environmental factors), exchanging experience in operating tourism and recreational complexes, and jointly promoting mountain tourism.

Special attention is being given to import substitution in the infrastructure of mountain resorts. This involves the development of domestic solutions for ski and engineering equipment, including their testing and implementation.

Both resorts are already implementing such projects. Specifically, at six Rosa Khutor ski lifts—Tirol, Olympia, Zapovedny Les, Volchya Skala, Quartet, and Extreme—the foreign automated control system software (ACS) has been completely replaced with Russian-made software. The domestic manufacturer Ruslet is supplying all new ski lifts and software for the Mamison and Veduchi ski resorts. Domestic snowcats are being tested for the second season on Mount Elbrus.

Konstantin Nesterov, General Director of Rosa Khutor, noted that this work will be developed systematically.

"We believe the next logical step is the formation of a unified Russian cable car management ecosystem—not just at the technology level, but across the entire lifecycle: equipment and spare parts supply, service support, technical support, and personnel training within the country," he commented. "Without trained specialists, any technology loses its effectiveness, and the ski industry is no exception."

Rosa Khutor and Kavkaz.RF have already begun work on creating a training system for specialists in rare professions in the ski industry—snowmakers, snowcat drivers, avalanche control specialists, and cable car operators—using educational institutions in the North Caucasus. Currently, there is no centralized model for training such personnel in Russia. Resorts "grow" them independently: they find people from related professions and provide years of hands-on training. The development of this area is also enshrined in the signed agreement.

"Last year, we systematically addressed the issue of training personnel for the tourism industry; personnel issues are the main concern for all our investors in the resorts. The North Caucasus Federal District Human Resources Development Association was created, and we are currently working on industry standards. In partnership with Rosa Khutor, we are entering another, narrower but no less important niche: training highly specialized specialists, the ski resort's "elite." The scale of the Sochi resort and the high-altitude experience of our Elbrus team can yield a very high synergistic effect, and the partnership will set a positive precedent in the industry," says Andrey Yumshanov.

A discussion on import substitution in the ski industry will also be held on April 30 as part of the KIF-2026. Organized by Kavkaz.RF, the speakers will include Khisa Bekkaev and Vladimir Lapukhin, heads of operations and construction at the state corporation, Konstantin Nesterov from Rosa Khutor, Dmitry Sidorovich, CEO of Ruslet, and other manufacturers of equipment, components, and gear.