Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Just back yesterday too from the best holiday i've ever had!!! I have a little more energy than Gen so will give my views...
6 of us learnt to ski or snowboard and how to drink for england on the cheap.(skiing, best cure for a hangover i've ever known,ha ha)
Loads of great places to eat and drink inc; katys, chilly peppers, red lion, franko's, buzz and best of all the titanic bar!! Everyone really friendly and made tons of new friends!
We all spent less than £250 each inc all food and drink(and there was a lot!), skidoos (£24), bulgarian meal (£13), highly recommend both!!
Stayed at Flora residence which was great, clean and very handy to everything!!.
Already looking to go back in March!! xxx

Ugg... got another 3 loads of washing to do... but here goes for starters....

Following the snow fall on 2/3 Jan, Borovets opened a few more runs and lifts, decreasing the queues and congestion on the slopes. Here is how we left it yesterday:

Sitnyakovo Express chair lift is open, queue time (when the gondola is also open) was less than 5 minutes each time, and gives acess to:
Sitnyakovo 1 (blue run), starting to get a bit rocky at the top, with people getting off the chair but is skiable the full length of the run, and the baby drag lift here is open.
Sitnyakovo 2 (red run) is open and skiable (for the brave hearted!),
Sithnyakovo 3 (red) is mostly unski-able and at the bottom i suggest you get off and walk to the top of Martinovi Baraki (or scratch your skis on the rocks and risk a fall). This run was sadly wrecked by learner boraders the day after the snow fall before the bashers got on and compressed it.
Martinovi Baraki 1 (blue), 2 and 3 (red) are good skiable thanks to the snow makers, but the reds are a bit more challanging than last year as the snow is quite "hard".
Cherveno Zname (black) is skiable, and good fun - it looks worse than it is (it's grass showing through not rock!!) and this is the quickest way back to the bottom of the chair.
Sitnyakovo Royal Residence Way (Green my 4rs3!) should be avoided at all costs if you don't like ice!
Rila and Iglika (blue) are both open and skiable, but the queues for the baby drag lifts aren't worth the shortness of these runs.
Suggested route - The first part of Sitnyakovo 1, walk or ski the path way to the top of Martinovi Baraki and then choose 1, 2 or 3 then Rila or Iglika and back to the chair lift.
Save money by purchasing a half day pass at half price!!

So then, on to the Gondola...
Big queue for the Gondola each morning, so when it was open we got a taxi to Yasterbrets Express and just bought a day pass on the chair lift. Unfortunatley, Yasterbrets Express has been closed the last two days
But it's worth remembering this tip if it opens whilst you're out there. Yasterbrets Express tickets are 20 lv for the day and a cab is about 15lv from town, there was never a queue at the Yasterbrets Express chair lift.

Gondola is open to the top, and Markudjik 1 (blue) is open with good snow - however, this is where most of the ski schools are so the queue for Markudjik 1 drag lift can be up to 45 minute wait.
For the more advanced skier, Fonfon, Yasterbrets 1 and Popangelov are open and skiable to the mid gondola station, where you may have a little queue to get back up and do it again, but there are less people on the slopes here. I do not deny that there are a few rocks, but it's not too bad since the snow of 2/3 Jan.
The paths leading to the gondola and linking one slope to another are a bit rocky, quite a few people were choosing to walk these.
Skiing to the bottom of the gondola is still just about possible but it gets harder and more rocky the further down you come, or the steeper the slope gets.
If (like me) you decide to ski anyway, and not worry about a few rocks (famous last words!!), you can get your skis serviced for 15lv in Borovets (better than the £50 i paid in England!!).

However, all please note, this is as i found the resort and as i left it yesterday - it's not a recomendation for anyone to chuck themselves down a black run becuase i've insinuated it may be more skiable than a green run!!! In general if the black runs are more skiable, it's only because less people have skied them!!

Happy holidays to all who are on there way out there soon. I will pray for more snow, especially as i'm going back on 24 Feb!!

Any speific qs, just let me know and i'll try and answer!

GEN