Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Hi all..
As you are all are pretty intelligent (buttering up ) can i ask a favour to give your opinions on a couple of ideas..
As we are thinking of ideas all the time, lets put these past ya......

We are possibly on the move again, a huge two bed/two bath, right opposite our garage. Its brand new and hopefully will be available in about five weeks.
The fella who has offered it is Bulgarian, really friendly and seems to be pretty switched on. He owns the Martinelli building and this apartment is on the back of it.
He is interested in setting up a business with us, and has suggested ATV hire in the summer and Ski-doo's in the winter. Now, im a little dubious as quite a few places do ATV's, and access to the mountain is very limited for Ski-doo's. Also the investment is massive as even the ATV's cost around £8000.00, the ski-doo's even more expensive...
Our idea, and this is where you all come in, is to rent mopeds ???. OK, perhaps its a bit `Greek Island' but if you sit down and think about it, it really opens up the local area, offers convenience to get around the town, park in the square for a coffee, in fact, loads of things. They will be cheap to hire (around 35lv a day) including full insurance, helmet etc. We do not envisage the `teen element' tearing around pissed up, just people who will use them properly in the sunshine, up the mountain road and down to Razlog/Dobriniste/Bania etc... Comments on this would be appreciated

And the other is to introduce horse and carriages like they have in Boro. These could be used summer and winter. Imagine the lift queues, jump in a carriage with your skis and get taken up to Challin Valog ??? Evening out, jump in a carriage and get taken down to Banski Han or the square, in the snow ??? Ok, they have taxis here, but surely more `holiday' is to take a carriage, especially in the winter. There are a large number of good stables here, the horses underused, it would only require the making of traditional carriages (with ski racks ???).... Again, comments on this would be appreciated.

We know as ex-pats that we would struggle to get the carriage idea off the ground, but this BG fella is obviously a player, perhaps with good contacts, so its a possibility. We are going to discuss these ideas with him shortly and get his opinion, but your feedback would be good to listen to....

Cheers all
Steve, Wendy and Jess in Bansko

Morning Steve,

I think the moped scheme would be a goer with probably little hassle, not sure it would pay in the winter mind )... You could always purchase/rent a couple of ski doos and try it (nothing ventured)

I also think the horse and carriage would be a novel idea and more and more would use this once the town becomes more of a ski resort ha a building site, but this would bring with it more complications than the ski doo venture...

Good to see you progressing over there though mate, it only means good things for those of us who have invested in the place.

Cheers, Jim

Agree with the ski-doo sentiment, Ulen will not allow them on this side of the Pirin, we would need to travel down to one of the villages where there already is a service for tourists (Obidim)..
I kinda poo pooed the idea with my BG fella, and the hiring of quads, to many people doing it..
The mopeds would definately only be for the summer, the mountain roads are very quiet, and with care the main roads could be used. We envisage more just to nip around Bansko, maybe over to the golf course, Razlog/Bania/Dobriniste etc. No steep hills, reletively quiet on the roads, no parking problems, and with a carrier would allow you to carry a bit of shopping.
The horse and carriage would primarily be in the winter, to be used as a kind of taxi but surely more romantic. Agree that the resort needs to progress more, and then perhaps the carriage would be more in keeping with the overall feel of the place..

Good points so far guys, keep em coming Unlike the UK goverment, we do listen

Ulen will say for def NO or you have to cut some chunks and give on a regular basis to them and enough to keep them quite for the moment.That is for the ski doos.
Judging by the same motors around the world there is hardly any freely available because there are difficult to negotiate murder to insure(dont forget that you may have insurance included but if there is a damage-serious one)you will be sued right left and centre and that will be the end of this venture.
Maybe going in two with a treained driver to a pub or a sightseing place but DONT FORGET THAT BANSKO IS ONLY 900M above the sea level and this is just crasy idea to expect ski doo to be used for more that 2-3 max weeks in a season.The donkey/horse business is a nightmare in Borovets and a huge anoyance.But because it is done from the locals themselves they are still there and earning next to nothing from the tightened belts tourists.Pooing along the ski road at the bottom of the Iastrebets runs making heavy marks and I dont think they will survive any longer.
ATV's -the same story.
insurance will crumple you in a flash.-broken limbs twisted parts damages more and more.
Plus in Bansko they will be banned sonner rather that later because they are bloody noisy and I dont see a great number of them around the world ski resorts.
You have to make them road legal too with expensive costs and all sort of dangers for the punters.
So my opinion is you know what to tell this BG chap which wants somebody to cough the dosh and accept the risks later-you know is better.
2 ideas which are dead end so stevie I know the times are tough at present ,taxis are far and few in between ,your native tourists are skint and dont want to spend anything extra and it will look the same for the forseable future.So SC think out of the normal box ,Present something better and sit back and take some notes/feedbacks.

Has anybody actually read my posts ??? I have already declined the ideas of ATV's and Ski-doos
I actually accept and have already investigated the insurance issue re. ATV's and Ski-doos, there is also the possibility of the forest (National Park) coming under the protection of Unesco, where any motoring within the park will be strictly controlled...
My idea related to providing cheap, insurable transport for the road that could benefit visitors who did not want to peddle, a service we already supply (and quite successfully actually )....
The carriage idea was to include local labour, it could not be done any other way, but i do accept that it could be a way down the road, and i never envisaged lines of Horse and carriages, less is more if you get my drift
The situation regarding tourists, especially English, is a concern. Even more reason why when a visitor requires assistance, he/she should be offered value for money alternatives rather than have to accept what is here at the moment. I just felt the freedom of two wheels, be it peddle power or 49cc would open up the local area for them to explore, and hopefully at the end of their visit have more of an appreciation of this part of Bulgaria, rather than sit at the side of a hotel pool...
Mikey, you are an astute fella and made valid points which i had already considered perhaps you could start the ball rolling with an original idea that you feel would be of a benefit to tourists here, and not just the English. Now, original ideas ne. entrepreneurism is not the strength of most Bulgarians, they normally jump on the back of others ideas (apartment building ??) but maybe you will be able to dispel this observation and enlighten us, go on, you know you want to

hm-m
Stevie ONE original idea as you know was 1-2 years ago when I started to sell on a massive scale all of my assets in BG and in a hurry , everybody was saying -you are stupid , too early for that!
The prices will go up and up and up!re-think again!
Well, I can tell you now that all of the above are quite convinced that what i have done was the correct thing to do at the time.
So because this idea is 1-2 year old I can not come with something original especially in Bansko which I have shuted out long ago for the obvious reasons you have found from some of my postings(if they were not deleted quickly-quite sure you are catching my drift if you are calling me Mikey)
Cash is King in these times but I am afraid even myself as a Bulgarian can not find any sence to re-invest even if it's giveaway for only one single reason:-the prices will go furder and further down in Bulgaria.
I am sorry.
You should worry more about the UNESCO penalty and last chance about the PIRIN.
The general flow is heading straight into this direction I am afraid.
Gathering strenght and it will happen sonner rather than later.
Mr Ts.Min... has realised the same and is shifting into different areas hoping for example Vitosha can be destroyed in the same way.
Personally I think he will not succeed. Not a chance in a million.
You can calculate what that means for the local specu-la-la-tors.
You are talking about value for money.
Lets be honest
There is nothing of the above in Bansko:
I will remind you why knowing that you will not not want to agree with me at any cost because you are already local chap and tie up there:

-The lift pass is a rip off(you know that,all of Bulgarians know that,the tourists are starting to notice that)
-The miles per pound/euro/lev Ratio is one of the poorest anywhere in the ski world.
-The height of Bansko (900m above sea is a BIG MINUS and a very poor fact (which can not be corrected)
-The infrastructure (you know the answer very well-joke not only locally but nationally and not looking good on the horizon too-just one fact on this-for the last 20 yrs there has been ZERO motorway built in there, pot holes everywhere and worsening by the day)
--Even the cute quite mountain authentic atmosphear which 10-20 years bansko was has dissapeared for good with the erection of thousands of concrete building which are going to be like the statues remanding about the spin and stupidity of the whole almost generation(local and foreign).
I fully understand where you are coming from Stevie C .
Ex-pat trying to make some living in there in the this place and in these times.

as the idea for some motors with 49cc or something like this -it is an mountain without rules for the moment so you can do what you want (again for the moment only before the rules are enforced quickly by the criminals elements or by the government)
In no time though they will be banned from going up the mountain and into the preservation area so my suggestion is dont bother.
Maybe the best is stick to Mountain Bikes I think.
Kind of safer option if everything goes pearshape.

As usual, a number of very valid points, agree about the cost of the lift pass and the km per lv value...
This has to be addressed, and i suppose the actual lowering of the lift pass price last season is testament to this, but they need to go further. The infrastructure has improved, but again more can be done. Overall all of what you say has a basis, you are adopting the norm in your negativity, something very common these days.
Perhaps i am an exception, looking past what exists, and on to what could be and trying to explore the positives. I suppose your comment of `cash is king' is the most relevant, or perhaps was. The detrement to the area caused by the greed of all, developers and investers alike, is going to be a stone around the neck of Bansko for the foreseeable future, but to react by doing nothing ?? It would be very easy to fall into the doom and gloom of the majority of postings not only on this forum but most others as well. I prefer to view it with a `glass half full' attitude. We have chosen to make our life here. We are under no pressure to make a fortune, we have time to explore options and investigate opportunities. Now these opportunities may not all be financial, we have opted for a lifestyle change, and in that we enjoy our lives much more than we could in the UK, to us that is priceless. Anything we decide to do is based on what we would like to do, and what we feel others would enjoy as well. We will never be rich, not financially, but in other ways we feel we have been very lucky and continue to be.
I take on board what you have said, and take the positives from it. We will continue our mtb rental and retail, because i love mountainbiking here. I will promote the area as a great mountainbike area because it is, if i can pass on my euthusiasm to another who can also start enjoying it then that surely has to be to that individuals benefit, and in the longer term, the area..