Freerider's dream: lots of perfect and unexplored off-piste terrain. The only letdown is the long lift queues and badly maintained runs, but you won't notice if there's lots of snow.
The place is perfect if you're after some off-piste terrain with clear views and powder snow. At the top of the both mountains there's almost no trees, but you should be careful to know where you're going. A good, but tough place to start is Garabashi (aka "Bochka" - the highest lift point on Elbrus - 3780 m) from where you can go down towards Stary Krugozor. Also, some very good freeriding is at the top of Cheget, after the last 300-m drag lift, but keep close to the Ai Cafe. There's also heli-boarding tours available all over the mountain, ask the Terskol travel agency about this. If you are on a tight budget, you can get a near heli-boarding experience by renting a ratrack, which can bring you to Priyut 11 (4800 m). The price is $150 for 15 people, so if it's full, you'll need to pay only $10. While riding off-piste, watch out, as there's a lot of risky avalanche areas. If you ride on-piste and it didn't snow for the last few days, beware: the pistes are not well maintained and if you might catch a few stones on your way.
Freestyle
You might run (ride) into some hand-made playgrounds built by the local boarders, and there's lots of good places at the top of the both mountains as well.
Pistes
Most of the runs are 1.5 - 2 km long, so they can be real fun. However, as the pistes are not very well maintained, you should look out for stones and ice.
Beginners
This is not a beginners' resort, as most piste runs are for intermediates and are not looked too well after. Besides, you're risking spending 4 hours a day in queues.