ultra-x.nn.ru was the website of the Nizhny Novgorod extreme-sports club "Ultra-X" (Ультра-Экс), which combined a water-sports base on the Gorky Sea, mountain tours, a sports club, and a television programme of the same name. Its Nizhny Novgorod affiliation is direct: the domain is in the nn.ru zone, the header read "Resort for extreme recreation on the Gorky Sea"[3], there was a section "Extreme sport in Nizhny"[2], and the television programme aired on the Nizhny Novgorod feed of MUZ-TV[1]. The earliest surviving snapshot of the home page is dated 3 September 2002, and the latest in our web-archive sample is 22 July 2006.

A club with an ideology

The project described itself not as a firm selling services but as a venture with a manifesto. "We want to change ourselves and change the space around us through extreme games (sport, business, love, etc.)," the home page announced in 2002; the means of change was called "flight from safety" and the artificial creation of training situations[1]. The same tone was used to describe the principle of working with partners — "Ultra-X+Partner": relationships "based primarily not on financial profit, but on interest"[1].

On the practical side: in May 2001 the club began building a base for extreme water sports — windsurfing, wakeboarding, kiteboarding, jet skis, boats, water skiing. During the off-season a sports club operated, where qigong classes were taught by Chinese instructors. A separate line of activity was the "Mountain Project" — snowboard and ski touring: in June 2002 the site reported that skiing was still possible for another month "up to Krugozor," at an altitude of 3,000 m. In late September the team went windsurfing in Anapa, and in May to Yeysk for competitions[1]. On 18 February 2002 the "Ultra-X" television programme premiered on MUZ-TV; the schedule on the home page listed broadcasts on Mondays at 17:13, 18:13, 19:13, 20:13, and 21:13[1].

How the site was structured

In 2002 the home page was divided into announcements ("Crimea — the planet's proving ground for extreme sports enthusiasts," "Snowboarding in Nizhny"), a club news feed, and sections "Mountain Project," "Resort of Extreme Recreation," "Sports Club," "Video Project," and "Photo Album." The footer carried author credits: "Content: Юlia, design: KaKtus"[1].

By 2004 the structure had grown into a full menu for a tourist resort: "Resort for Extreme Recreation," "Elbrus. Mountain Project," "Fitness Club," "Extreme Sport in Nizhny," "Electronic Ultra-X Journal," and within them — "About the Resort," "Offers," "Prices," "Directions," "Instructors," "Snowboarding," "Kiting," "Skydiving," plus "Beyond Reality," "X-Travels," "Hip-Hop Culture," and "Forum." The site updated the resort's contact phone number on 24 February 2004: "The phone number at the base has changed. It is now 8-261-20055"[2].

The news feed was written in a conversational, businesslike style — almost a weather report for kiters: "It blew all day, first NE 5-6 m/s, then it swung north… We rode the 16 sq.m. inflatables, wore ourselves out"[2].

The resort on the Gorky Sea

The base opened on 16 June 2002: "Although the ceremonial ribbon-cutting will only take place in July, since construction of the cabins is still underway, the extreme-recreation season is open," the home page reported; that same day saw the first sessions of windsurfing, jet skiing, and kiteboarding, and from 18 June advance bookings by phone through a manager became available[1].

The base did not close for winter: in February 2004 the site announced that "you can now go horseback riding and parasailing behind a snowmobile," and described weekends through kiting, a burned Maslenitsa effigy, and mulled wine[2]. In November 2005 a climbing wall appeared at the base[3].

By 2005 the base had become a notable spot on the region's map. On 24 July it was visited by an NNTV film crew headed by studio director Olga Noskova, who tried windsurfing, wakeboarding, jet skiing, and quad biking; the site called the base a place "where extreme-sports enthusiasts from across the Nizhny Novgorod region gather." That same month the Nizhny Novgorod band "Umaturman" vacationed at the resort, and the club's team went riding in Mauritius[3].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet and the site's fate

The club was not only about water and mountains: on 13 July 2002 "Ultra-X" gave over one of its walls to graffiti (the site called this work one of the first legal ones in Nizhny) and published an article titled "Why is there no beautiful graffiti in Nizhny Novgorod?"[1] In 2005 it announced the fifth "SNICKERS URБANиЯ" street-culture festival in Nizhny Novgorod[3].

The site did not, however, gain a notable place in the measurable part of the Nizhny Novgorod network. ultra-x.nn.ru does not appear in the final voting table of the 2004 Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day[4], nor does it turn up in the surviving samples of the Counter.nn.ru counter: it entered our census from the nn.ru directory, where it was listed with the description "Extreme recreation in Nizhny Novgorod, windsurfing, jet skis, snowboarding. Trips to the mountains." There is therefore no basis for judging its traffic (see "Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating").

In the last surviving snapshot, from 22 July 2006, the site is preparing for the opening of the summer season[3]. The club's subsequent fate cannot be traced from the available materials; by the time of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet census, the ultra-x.nn.ru domain no longer existed.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2004 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2006 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — Voting results of Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day, 2004 (archive)