Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Just got this from TIB monthly newsletter.....



Controversial plans announced for the development of the ski area within Pirin national Park.

As reported recently by Novinite.com on 26th Feb large scale plans for the development of the ski area within the Bansko, Dobrinishte and Razlog area have been announced.
"These plans foresee a boost of close to 200%the length of already-controversial tracks, raising their total combined span from 133 km to 333 km, stated by ruling GERB party MP Lyuben Tatarski, former mayor of local town of Razlog . This ambitious project will be financed by three companies including the Galchev Group (for the DobrinishteRazlog site), and Ulen (the firm that manages ski facilities in Bansko).
The total investment previewed is said to amount some EUR 100 M"

We will keep you posted on any further developments on this story over the coming months.
If you have any questions or require further information please do not hesitate to contact us direct.

Really?
If this is true and was approved what's the realistic timescale?
This year red 12 was closed all season so a lost run which needs to be running all the time.

Where physically would the runs be? In bansko?
On our way home we saw a lot of tree clearing close to Pirin golf and also further along the road.

I'm guessing a new run would take the entire off season to build.

What about the mountain to the right of the tomba? Old rickety lift which never works why not fix it and have 6 new runs on that mountain. Would be amazing.

Also when on the plateau facing north if you look right you see a vast plateau on another mountain if only a life could be built to traverse peak tp peak that would be amazing.

Clearly this suddenly means so many more can use the slopes

http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/index.php?mact=News,cntnt01,print,0&cntnt01articleid=119&cntnt01showtemplate=false&cntnt01returnid=91


They were granted huge extra ski zones back in 2009 - I'm guessing this is what you mean by the existing actual runs plus planned is 133km while actual runs are only 65km.

This is this was approved 2 years ago and nothing has happened yet so even with the planning for much more it might not even happen in this decade.

I'm guessing building another gondela to base station would take far longer than one off season time frame. So unless ulen have all this ordered and the groud prepared trees felled there is just no way that will happen by 2012 season possibly much longer years more

I know the clocks go forward this weekend, but have we gone forward to the 1st of April!!!.

Most of Europe is close to bankcrupt, where is that amount of money going to come from.

We have heard it all before, second gondola and all that!!.

But in reality where do they think all the tourists it will need will come from, i really would like to think it could happen, my heart says how wonderful, but my brain is screaming pie in the sky.

I love Bansko, those that know me will vouch for that, but I really dont see how this can be possible, please prove me wrong.

Just to let you know Bansko only had 3% of the park. They have now been given 12.5% so have room for exspansion. This was given at the world cup when the primeminister and all other bodies were here for a meeting on Bansko and progress,. The national Park were here for that meeting also.
We can only offer news that has been put out. Ulen make it diffeicult to get info from them. Hopefully this year they will post their plans to put everyones minds at rest rather then keep rumours and hearsays going round and round!!

Don, the tourists will come from countries who normally visit the Alps, the noticeable increase in Danes, Dutch, Finns etc... and `The French' this season is witness to this... The attraction of more reasonable prices, snow record and infrastructure, combined with comfortable large accommodation is attractive to visitors. Hey, its not perfect (especially the mountain food) but hopefully in time even this will be addressed.
There are objections already to the proposed expansion, but there is also a lot of support, people need jobs with ongoing security, and the government keen to be seen assisting in controlled development permissions that could enable this.
Its a fact that austerity measures within most of Europe have allowed for less money in everyones pocket, but this is a time when people look beyond normal destinations whose prices have become prohibitive, and consider never thought of areas like Bulgaria..
And as a footnote, those guests we returned who were new visitors generally really enjoyed the experience, and were considering returning next year, especially the Finns (who could not believe the price of beer !!)