Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi all.

Got back yesterday, as promised here's a review.

1. Ski lessons through Penguin Travel.
Great package, Lift pass, 6 days lessons with Tony of Pamporovo Ski School and all equipment hire for £180. Thought tuition was stern, many of the others thought it was too strict and direct but by Day 4 I was on a red, job done for me, well worth a tip I thought. BTW who said this skiing malarkey is harder to learn than boarding

Not happy with Ski Centre one though - the skis looked like they were last waxed in 2001, I asked them to wax them as they just stuck to the snow; picked them up the day after and they charged me 5 levs - to wax their own skis – of course I questioned this but in the end had to grin and bare it.

Also got to ask (as a ski beginner myself) why do learner skiers line across the front of the chairlift or across the whole piste?

2. Snow
First two days didn't take that much notice as we were just practicing the basics at Studenets. Third day skied from the top to Malina. Icy on the green narrow run towards the Brothers restaurant and chocker full of learner skiers just stopping in groups across the piste. Snow ok down to the one man chair then ice to the bottom 3 man chair. But you could ski. Then come the 4th day, there was a good dump with most lifts closed due to the wind and weather - cometh the 5th day and there was in some places 3 foot of snow - fantastic. 6th day was great, green, red and blue from the top all over.

3. Pistes.
Some may have seen my posts from last week, damn shame they cannot be bothered to make the most of the big snow dump. They could have had the wall open with relative ease, and possibly the black running down to the one man chair but hey ho what do they care. I spoke to one of the ski instructors and they're not happy with the management of the pistes and the piste bashers - the instructors seem to get it and realise the damage this may cause to the reputation of the resort, but not the management it would seem.

On the 5th day they prepared the red at the top going down to the Brothers / Bohomie and that was great skiing, as was the blue to the right hand side of it. So good that I ditched the skis and got my board out - great day. See the blue with the T bar has a sign banning boarders from the lift

4. Prices.

To be honest I never went into Pamporovo at night, preferring to get my fire going in the villa, bit of soul music playing, few bevies with Mrs Nooky and if need be to nip up to the Forest Nook village restaurant for my 5 Lev Kavarma. But –on the slopes; said Kavarma is 14 levs, Pizza 16 Lev, beer 5 lev. Luckily I don’t tend to have much lunch as I have a whopping brekkie – but the prices up the mountain?? They are having a laugh.

5. The new 6 man Chair.

Took a ride on this, wow – what a run, wide pistes; beautiful scenery and great snow for the first two thirds of the runs. However as you get further down there is a large trench across the piste that needs to be filled before it could be ridden and a bit of work done to clear debris. But when finished it will be amazing, the best run in Pamps IMO, lets hope there’s more snow soon and that the bashers can be bothered to prepare the slopes, given the millions spent on a great chairlift.



Overall I had a great time, still love the informal feel of the resort, the atmosphere and how many visitors have a smile on their face. But I do worry about what’s happening with the resort, if something isn’t done soon, very soon - Pamporovo may lose its place in the market; like it or not Pamps competitive advantage lies in ability to offer a value ski / board experience; not cheap but relative value to what you pay and more so than its competitors. Lets hope the resort managers wake up.

Back there in 11 days time