Bulgaria Ski discussion board

YES I'M BACK

And before I get stuck into my full report, I believe that someone has been posting under my name whilst I've been away. . I have not made any postings on here since the morning of January 22nd so please do not associate any postings from then until now with me.

RIGHT.......... THE FULL MONTY

This may come as quite a surprise to many of you who know me well. In the past I have had nothing but praise for Pamporovo, but this year I return with very mixed feelings.

First the snow. BRILLIANT

I do believe my delivery driver was on a perminant 'Happy Hour' as the last 2 weeks has seen snow almost all day, every day. Locals say that it is the deepest they have seen for almost 20 years, and it was still snowing when we left late last night. All slopes are deeply covered and there are virtually no icy patches anywhere to be seen. Some of the more testing runs are a little tricky purely because of the depth of snow, and the pieste basher drivers inability to do justice to these fantastic conditions. When, ohhhh when will they learn to groom the snow properly and give the skiers and boarders the runs that the volume of snow warrants

It is because of the fantastic conditions that my biggest disappointments came to the fore.

LIFTS

The lift systems are now woefully short of being able to cope with todays skiers and boarders. As more and more of us become better, we also become quicker down the mountain. Last week saw me personally improve as a skier better than ever before, resulting in me and many many others being able to ski from the very top to the very bottom in under 8 minutes.

On our first week, the 4 man lift at mid-station was struck by lightning, resulting in it being out of action for 4 days. During this time the queues for the other lifts were crazy, and I for one was pretty fed up with a 7 minute ski, followed by a 30 minute wait for the lift, then a 15 minute ride back to the top as they were only running the lift at half speed . 7 minutes skiing followed by 45 minutes wait is not my idea of fun, and putting in one Gondola next year will do little to improve matters if they also intend to increase the tourist capacity by 200% in the next 2 years by adding 12,000 more beds throughout the resort.

The new idea of having 2 ski depots is also in my opinion, a waste of time and ruins the atmosphere at the foot of the mountain. The 2 depots are a mile apart and are not linked except by road. Therefore if your friends are based in depot 1 and you are at depot 2, the only way for you to meet for a quick beer after skiing is for one of you to take a taxi to the others depot. STUPID!!!! The new 4 man that has been placed at the new depot is also wasted. Sure, it gets the early starters off quicker first thing, but the rest of the day it remains virtually un-used. It would have made much more sense to have made this a 1 man lift and replaced the 1 man with the 4 man thus doubling the capacity of getting everyone up the mountain throughout the day.

In conclusion, short runs and slow lifts do not make for a great challenge, and will never encourage the advanced skiers to return. For beginners and intermediates, it is still a great place to go, but unless there is a major overhaul of the lifts, the resort will never move forward.

Changes to the ski runs has been minimal. They have tried to imporove the 'walkie bit' down the final green run but to little effect. Unless you really bomb it, you will still end up walking quite a way.

The ramp at the entrance by the Markony is still there too. It is the car park that has been extended rather than the slope removed.

The bell sellers, once a novel attraction have now become something of a menace and constantly are upon you the moment you stop almost anywhere. And every day there seems to be more and more of them.

We stayed at the Morgavets for the 4th year running and this too was without doubt the poorest service we have received from this hotel over that time.

At breakfast, tables were often not cleared for ages and people were having to sit and eat surrounded by other peoples left-overs, which was not pleasant. Water for coffee was seldom hot, and when it was there were often no cups available. In the mornings and evenings many things ran out and were rarely replaced during your time in the dining room. Rooms were clean and very comfortable and the maid service was excellent.

Taxi drivers have always been straight, fun and good value. But not this year.

Normally 10 levs to the depot in the past, but on our first trip we were asked for 20 levs. When I said I had been to Pamporovo many times before and thought this charge to be OTT he soon changed his price to 12 levs. Last Thursday the snow was so deep that the busses were unable to run, and the only ways to get to the lifts was to either walk or take a taxi. The minimum taxi charge then went up to 15 levs as they had the monopoly.......not a wise move as this put people off using them on other days.

In the past I have always stated that Bulgarian people wanted your friendship rather than your money, but this year it seemed very much the other way round in many cases.

I met many many people who onced again made my holiday very special. To name a few, Steve Krassie and their georgeous new baby Jessica, Ted, Gary, Banknote and Lisa, such fun to be with, Julian, Debby Pat and the kids, plus all the skiers and boarders I have come to know over the years....... thanks for memories and another 2 great weeks guys!!!!!!

Don't get me wrong, Pamporovo is still a great place to go, and especially for the less advanced who will have a ball learning.

But please Pamporovo, wake up to what is happening.

Prices are on the increase quite dramatically to what they were a few years ago, but the standards are not keeping pace, and soon this 'cheap' holiday for many will appear to be just that in respect of quality and value for money.

I want to keep returning, having been there for 13 years running now, but unless they keep pace, even PP may consider moving on, and I really don't want that to happen.

A new 5 star hotel will be opened at the Malina Chalets next year, as well as the new sister hotel to the Perelik which is now to the stage of having the roof fitted. Many other new hotels will quickly follow, as well as resturants and nightlife........ all well and good, but the skiing availability and the access to the slopes must improve quickly or all the new facilities for accomodation will be in vain.

I hope someone in a position to address this will read this and take it on board, I still love the place.......... but it felt that the place had lost a big part of it's charm and soul........ and that needs sorting before it is gone forever.

Pamporovo Pete

Welcome back Pete.

I returned from Bansko just over a week ago and cannot praise the lift systems etc enough. Apart from the usual queues on Sunday morning (only 10 mins or so) we never had to wait more that 30 seconds. The previous 2 years my son and I have been to Borovets (never been to Pamparovo) and enjoyed it, but Bansko seems to offer cheaper food and drink (even on the mountain), excellent boarding/skiing and a superb lift system. Perhaps Pamps need to follow the lead of other Bulgarian resorts.

Overall the Bansko holiday was the best yet - would definately go again. Hope you enjoyed the holiday overall and look forward to your postings over the next 50 weeks or so...

Hi Pete and welcome back old son. Great Report, although naturally dissapointed for you as i have come to know how much you love Pamperovo. My report of last year, the good, the bad and the ugly would seem to share your feelings.
Anyway, just letting you know that both Earl Wakey and i posted reports on the Failsworth 34's recent trip to Bansko which in time i am sure you will get to read.
It really was perfect out there and sounds so different to the Holiday you have just experienced in terms of infrastucture of the Resorts. We will be booking again for Bansko in the next couple of weeks as the whole group were blown away with Bansko and especially the value for money. 80 stinkydonkeys a pint etc. Lady Langers and i spent £250 between us including eating out every night and you know how she likes a drink after Ski-ing. Anyway, i would recommend that you try and get a few days in Bansko to test out this resort for your Group as an alternative whilst Pamps is brought up to scratch. Catch up with you soon Buddy
Regards
Lord Lewis of Marston

Hi pete &welcome back athough swayed by having many bg friends out there &going back again on26/02/05,ihave to agree with your various complaints, as i have stated after 8 trips in 5 yrs this will be my 9th i've seen various changes7 the biggest one this time is the price of food/drink it would appear that bulgaria enterprise just got greedy where as 2 years ago 12 leva bought a lunch for two it has now doubled,i also noticed that various bars on the resort are now it would appear run by larger l.t.d companys thus pushing up the prices,i.e bj,s looking to the long term i wonder if bg joining the eu is going to be good for them,or will it turn into a poorly managed &under funded a.another eu ski resort no the haven we have grown to love.
b.c

Sad to hear about the long queus. I remember that there were very long queus in 1984, but then they built one new drag lift and things improved. Unfortunately this will happen again in the future, there will always be people going to nice places, untill they get crowded. Bansko is top now, but perhaps even next year it will get crowded. And it will be only memories.
People after your money, yes, of course, it is not any more such a novel encounter for Bulgarians to meet an English person, they are gradually becoming like people in any other country in Europe. Perhaps you will still be able to have the same experiences as before, but you will have to go to more hidden places.
I don't have a solution.

Hi Pete welcome home. well what can I say? I am still trying to take in you report. To say I am gutted and am sitting in utter disbelief well that just about does it! I was a little concerned after my last trip I experianced the same slowness in the Murgavets and dont forgot I went late season. I kept telling my group that this is not normal. I think the problem is all down to money the root of all evil.

They are now realising they are sitting on a goldmine and are trying to exploit that to quickly. If the resort is to move on it needs to do so properly I dread to think what will happen in a couple of years once more hotels are opened and there will be plenty more after that. You need only to look at the property site on here to see how much land is up for grabs.

Well I have booked for next year going out on the 21st of Jan as was looking foward to having a drink or 4 with you , you old git! But now that has taken the edge off for me. I think after 2006 the next one will be Bansko then I will re examine what is happining in Pamps. But I would be gutted to walk away as the old girl really does have a strange hold over me.

A rather gutted a P***** off Daniel.

Welcome home Pete and Angie!! We have done our best to keep things in order whilst you were away and I think generally things have gone well - posters too worried to upset either me or Daniel

What you have feared for so long seems to have happened I thought your report was extremely honest and unbiased and I would question anyone who ever said you only ever praised BG and never let critisism be heard.

I think word has got out as to what a great place it is and like all holiday resorts they can be very quickly spoilt by some of the things you mention. In general the resorts (with the exception of erhaps Bansko) seem to be "over trading" and will not be able to keep up with the speed of growth unless something is done quickly.

Thank you for taking the time to post so quickly - Banknote went to ground for a number of days and I started to get worried about him!!

Finally - have you collected Blue yet and are you friends again?!

Ellie