Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Here it is Dave - in full.

35. THE RESORTS UPDATE - Pamporovo Pete

OK - As I know many of you have been waiting a while for this I'll cut straight to the point and I'll keep it serious. Please note that if at any time I mention skiers or skiing, this will also cover boarders and bording. We all log into different websites and keep looking to find a forecast that makes up happy, and then disregard the poor ones as if they don't know what they are talking about. That is why I decided a weekly 'from the horses mouth' report was needed to give you honest, accurate and up-to-date information for your holidays. The reports I am about to give you were compiled by me today at 3pm GMT from phone calls I made to people I can trust in Pamporovo, Borovets and Bansko. First and foremost - any of you going out this weekend to any of the 3 main resorts WILL SKI! The local forecasts for all resorts today was for a light to moderate fall of snow tonight dying out in the morning. This will be followed by a bright day and the sunshine will then continue into the early part of the week with further snow showers expected to the latter part of the week. CURRENT CONDITIONS IN PAMPOROVO Very sunny but also quite cold with a slight breeze in the air. Nursery and lower slopes are in reasonable condition and are all skiable but with some rocks and grass breaking through in places. On the upper slopes all green and blue runs are now open and again are skiable with caution however the run to the lakes remains un-skiable as are all the red and black runs. 3 man chairlift broke down yesterday and at the time I received my imformation it was still not operational. Skiers were being busses to the other Malina to access the mountain and this was causing some queuing issues. Most skiers in the resort are having a great time although more experienced skiers are finding it a little short of skiing excitement. BOROVETS Slightly better news from Borovets - with all runs and 8 lifts open. Rila part of the mountain does have some bad patches that need to be skied with caution but runs from the other areas that include the Yastrebetz and Musala are offering good skiing conditions and skiers are able to ski right to the bottom, although there are some iffy patches as you approach the end of the runs. All nursery slopes are offering excellent conditions for beginners. As with Pamporovo the queues fr the Gondala on the first run up of the day are getting quite long but they also thin out by mid to late morning. Again, go with a smile on your face, you will have a fantastic time. BANSKO I only was able to have a brief chat with Pete in Bansko because we kept losing the line but what I was able to find out was that skiing in Bansko has picked up over the last few days mainly due to the work of the snow cannons. The snow road is not yet fully skiable but the resort is offering moderate conditions for all levels of skiers and beginners will find conditions very good. I am sorry not to be able to go into greater detail on Bansko but I'll try and catch up with Pete again tomorrow and find out more. But the over-riding factor is that conditions have picked up and there is no reason why you should not have a great time if you are off this weekend, but be mindful and aware of hidden dangers. If you are skiing with kids then I would certainly say that a helmet for them is a MUST. E N J O Y B U L G A R I A PP