Road Trip

If this place wasn’t locked down enough, today took the cake. Security for the Opening Ceremony is off the charts. Our compound was essentially off limits and movement around Olympic Park is nearly impossible. Scott and I decided it was the perfect day for a Road Trip so we commandeered Sebastien, our venue driver, and headed up to the Caucasus Mountains.

They are a truly exotic range. The lower slopes look like Vermont and the snow covered peaks remind me of Alaska. The vistas are dramatic. Every ski and snowboard guy I talk to is raving about the snow and the terrain.

The road and side-by-side railway up to Krasnaya Polyana is already legendary. Estimates to build them run as high as $8 billion US. The Financial Times estimates that the road could have been covered in 1 cm of Black Caviar for less money. But they are things of incredible beauty. The railroad looks like a full size model train set. The highway looks like the Disneyland Autopia ride. Together they are stunning in their modernity and design. The railroad, encased in electric fencing and barbed wire (Albeit, tastefully done) is a straight shot up the canyon with perfect trestles and bridges over the Mzymta (Crazy in the local dialect) River. The cute trestles connect to long tunnels through rock walls some nearly half a mile long.

The highway is currently open to Olympic traffic only. It is immaculate. And, like everything else in the area, is heavily guarded with military guys at every entry and exit. But that's a bit misleading . . . during the Games no one is allowed to enter or exit the highway until they get to the town at the top.

Uncle Big Al cast his usual insightful perspective on the project.

“We take 7 years and still can’t build a carpool lane on the 405 and these guys build one of the most beautiful highways in the world in half the time.”

I guess that means we need Putin!

Not too long ago it was a 3 hour drive from Sochi to the ski resort. Today we made it in just under 40 minutes. This leads me to an epiphany I had today.

Russia is by far the largest country in the world. It spans NINE time zones from Moscow to Vladivostok (Until 2010 there were 11). It has the majesty of St Petersburg, vibrant cities like Moscow, deserts, mountains, virgin forests . . . everything . . . except a real vacation destination. That is precisely what Putin sought to build. He took the old crappy Soviet health spa town of Sochi and transformed it into what he hopes will be a world class destination. But I don't think Cathy will be checking the hot deals on TripAdvisor. 

That's what the $51 Billion dollar Olympic price tag actually reflects. The money went into infrastructure and . . . no doubt, into a few crooks' pockets. The Russians have built a gigantic tourist destination on top of a sleepy beach town which once only offered sanitariums where people whipped other people in Turkish baths with birch branches. Putin took a tiny mountain town with 2 chairlifts and built one of the largest ski resorts in the world. This is the New Russia.

I remember the days when Khrushchev and Brezhnev would use Sochi as a Summer Kremlin. Lenin had a dacha up here as well. Back then the rough and rustic exterior of the place fit in perfectly with their vision of being part of the proletariat. In those bygone days the top Commie bureaucrats were "rewarded" with a funky dacha in Sochi. Maybe they even got stepped up ration cards to be able to buy more meat for their family. Today the new "Nomenklatura" get multi-million dollar kickbacks down here in Russkie Dixie.

But these guys have a big problem. This place sits in one of the most volatile regions in the world. The North Caucasus is a hotbed of Muslim extremism. The crazy people are on the other side of the huge mountains, but they love to play mayhem with the ethnic Russians. The places sound like made-up countries; Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia and everyone's favorite danger zone, Chechnya.

The Big Muslim rebel leader has called the Olympics "Satanic dances" on the bones of their ancestors. I can't imagine what he thinks of the roller coasters and thrill rides at the amusement park. 

Now the Russians did kill thousands of the indigenous Circassians in the 19th Century. After the big war ended in 1864 the Russians took the place as their own. There has been an uneasy peace since then. These are the people responsible for the deadly suicide bombings last month in Volgograd. And the Boston Marathon bombers lived briefly in nearby Dagestan.

All this terrorism talk isn't keeping the Russian people away.

Big burly Alexei and his pals flew down from Moscow yesterday to attend tonight’s Opening Ceremony. They sat laughing and joking next to Scott and I while we had lunch up in the mountains at the Red Fox. In all sincerity the restaurant looked and felt like the South Beverly Grill. The food was damn good too. But the conversation with Alexei was the best thing. Somehow we started shouting at each other, “YOU are my friend.”

“NO, you are MY friend!”

I started shouting silly idioms in my horrible Russian (Minor at the University of Denver but dormant after all these years). But I guess I have a good accent because all of a sudden he said that I’m full of shit . . . that I could speak русский язык. He warns his buddies not to say anything bad about us because I'll understand. I remembered one of my favorite phrases . . . Я не знаю ничего (I know nothing). But then the game was over. He started speaking in rocket speed Russian and I was left speechless.

Suddenly Alexei shifted gears. His English was flawless. “In the Soviet days we were taught to hate Americans,” he said, “Everyone believed your nuclear bombs would destroy Moscow.” He started talking about bombing drills at school. . . . just like we had in our schools.

“Now look what has happened," he said, "You are my FRIEND. We are the same, am I right?”

I started wishing for a bottle of vodka to seal the deal but they had to catch a train down to the Opening Ceremony. The Russians are very rough around the edges. Like Scotch, they are an acquired taste. The Moscow boys said they were blown away by what they've seen so far. They couldn't believe what their countrymen had pulled off. They were proud. And they wanted to make sure we appreciated their country.

Today we also went up the hill to the Snowboard venue to see how the other half of our NBC group is getting by. Security is even stranger up there. Cops and Militia are everywhere. 

Every vehicle after it's searched is decorated with stickers. They seal the doors and windows. You cannot break any seal until you pass through a second checkpoint. If you crack a window and break the seal you have to do a full security dance again. . .  and get a new set of seals. When we got to the compound we weren't sure whether we should open the door.

Once we arrived we met up with NBC's King of Extreme . .  the indomitable Billy Matthews. He was full of adrenalin and excitement. He couldn't wait to show me some very cool pieces they have been editing. He was going a mile a minute. His enthusiasm was contagious. But then, in typical Matthews style he took me outside.

"Hey," he said, "I heard you guys at skating are in a paved parking lot. Check out our route to the catering tent. ". . . . I saw a pile of lumber nearby. Work on a walkway should start any day now!

But, thanks to the incredible job done by our Logistics Team, these guys have a new Marriott to sleep in and a cool little town to walk around. And everything works. I am always amazed when I see the cable panels of a TV truck. When you're watching the amazing Shaun White compete remember that those pictures are getting to your house through this panel.

I think the bottom line here is that these Olympics may be the safest place on the planet for the month of February. The biggest danger here might well be a large contingent of American journalists who are not presenting an accurate picture of these Games.