Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Got back from Pamps early hours of Sunday morning so thought I would post my findings. After many worries over snow conditions leading up to our departure we arrived early hours of Sun 24th and had decent day skiing. Got up Monday morning to find heavy snowfall overnight had made conditions very good. Not much more snow for the rest of the week but the slopes remained in good condition for the remainder of the week with the exception of the bottom of the green run near the ski centre which alternated between slushy and icy and also the red/black runs 3,4 and 5 which had plenty of snow but had no preparation until the end of the week. Managed to get on the Wall by Wed but there did seem a woeful lack of effort to make the most of the snow available.
Travelled in a group of 12 of various abilities and 4 who had basic experience had 3 days of tuition through interski. This was very good value and all of them progressed tremendously and enjoyed it far more than in the large ski school groups. They had Daisy as their instructor and she was fabulous, spoke excellent english, was very patient and a great sense of humour. She also arranged for a minibus to collect us from our hotel on our last night and take us to Smolyan where she lives and had a meal with us in a traditional Bulgarian eating house which was a fantastic experience and amazing value. She shared our view on the lack of slope management and was hopeful that things would improve as the previous manager of the slopes has been removed as money that should have been invested in equipment has apparently gone into personal pockets.
Prices on the mountain have gone up considerably in a number of establishments but we had lunch everyday at Alexs at the bottom of the green run. The prices there were very reasonable and Yuri, Jonny and Simona were very friendly. As an example they do an excellent spaghetti carbonara for 8 Levs and the garlic bread with cheese was enjoyed by everyone. We were always charged correctly and never had any problems with being given our correct change which some have reported at other places.
Although we were half board we did eat out on a couple of occassions and had an excellent meal at the Italian in the Perelik and also in Chanove1. For a quick snack the sausages and pork kebabs from the small takeaway at the front of Chanove2 were very tasty and as they said " better than Asda price"
Overall we had an excellent week and everyone in our group is looking forward to next years trip. Hopefully we will return to Pamps, the main worries being the snow conditions and the less than satisfactory slope management. The snowfall is out of eveyones hands but more pre season preparation and better maintenance once the snow does come would certainly help. Fingers crossed for 2010.

Glad to share my findings Pete, I know how much I appreciated reports from people who were actually in the resort or who had just returned. Things are certainly far from the doom and gloom view of the death of Pamps that some had been predicting.

Because of the number of friends in the group of varying standards, i enjoyed skiing with them on a variety of runs and didn't worry too much about the condition of the more challenging runs that i would normally have been using although obviously this is something that certainly needs addressing for next season. They also need to look at the management of the drainage situation so that you dont have streams of water washing channels of snow of the pistes, simple to resolve by running through pipes so that the snow can lay on top. After talking to Daisy she seemed more confident for the future with the new guy in charge who she said was much more focused on improving things rather than his own self interest.

I certainly hope this is the case as Pamps does have a charm of its own and i have always come home having had a good holiday. With these improvements, good snowfall and a stronger pound then 2010 could be a cracker

Glad to share my findings Pete, I know how much I appreciated reports from people who were actually in the resort or who had just returned. Things are certainly far from the doom and gloom view of the death of Pamps that some had been predicting.

Because of the number of friends in the group of varying standards, i enjoyed skiing with them on a variety of runs and didn't worry too much about the condition of the more challenging runs that i would normally have been using although obviously this is something that certainly needs addressing for next season. They also need to look at the management of the drainage situation so that you dont have streams of water washing channels of snow of the pistes, simple to resolve by running through pipes so that the snow can lay on top. After talking to Daisy she seemed more confident for the future with the new guy in charge who she said was much more focused on improving things rather than his own self interest.

I certainly hope this is the case as Pamps does have a charm of its own and i have always come home having had a good holiday. With these improvements, good snowfall and a stronger pound then 2010 could be a cracker