In Goloustnoye, a ski trail appeared where an old abandoned road was, cleared by forestry workers and local authorities. Athletes have already tried a short section, noting good training conditions, altitude, cold climate, and a long snow season. Plans are to build a full 5 kilometer base, add turns and descents, and eventually host top biathletes here.

The first start on an unbroken ski track. Trying to outpace one another, the athletes no longer hear the coaches’ instructions. It is hard to imagine now, but once there was an old road to Maloye Goloustnoye here. Broken and abandoned, it was noticed by employees of the village forestry office. They cleared away the trash, leveled it, first skied there themselves, and then decided together with the administration to organize a ski base.
- There is a pass here, and passengers on scheduled buses often stop here; it gradually became littered, we cleared it with the help of the forestry office, and it turned out to be a wonderful trail, - says the head of the territorial forestry administration, acting head of the Goloustnoye forestry office, Alexander Dmitriev.
It is colder than in Irkutsk, by about five degrees, and no wonder: the altitude is more than a thousand meters above sea level. The conditions are ideal for training skiers and preparing for serious competitions. In addition, snow lies here from mid-October until early May. The trail has not yet been fully opened, so the athletes have to make laps on the short one-and-a-half-kilometer ski track.
- When the trail was being leveled, the bulldozer scraped off the snow, so there is no snow there now; everyone skis on the short trail, but in fact this is a full 5-kilometer trail, we are waiting for snow, - says Sergey Kozhenkov, member of the political council of the Irkutsk Regional Branch of the United Russia party.
Six years in sports, with prize-winning finishes at regional championships behind her. Seventh-grader Elizaveta Eliseeva also showed the best result among the girls in these competitions on the three-kilometer distance - 12 minutes 25 seconds. As she says, for the start of the season, that is a pretty good result:
- Well, the skis glided well, the snow was good. There was a rival, she tried to overtake me, but I still held my own.
Adult athletes also came to try out the new trail. Candidates and masters - some have already managed to attend training camps and get into shape, while others are gasping for breath at the finish after six kilometers. In the future, the Baikal Region Biathlon Union intends to organize its own base here. And even invite the reserve team of the Russian national team to train.
All this is in the plans. Funding is needed. The natural conditions are there. There is plenty of room to add turns, descents, and climbs to the trail. For now, the organizers are waiting for snow, which will make it possible to extend the ski track.