Bulgaria Ski discussion board

i am very serious. i was intending to go back with my wife and 2 young children in march but would be too scared of the dangers they would face there. The fact you can carry your skis / boards onto chairlifts itself is comical. Imagine that landing on your head from 40 metres in the air helmet or not!!!

Unfortunately Bulgaria is like the Grolsch adverts "Its not ready yet" and by the time it is they have over populated it with concrete apartments meaning there will be little or no slope for the amount of people there.

Bankso is a protected park area and currently they cannot make any more slopes or put more lfts in. As the country is not as corrupt as it used to be ( although its still partially run by the mafia) you cant just pay off an official any more to get the permission.

You seem well informed as to who runs the country (partially run by the mafia ??), i just wonder where you get your information...
The new goverment is actually supporting the gradual expansion of the area with consultation of all parties. As Bansko itself is outside of the boundries of the national park they could have no controls over the building of apartments and hotels, these were driven by the clamour of over speculative investers hoping to make a killing, believing the dreams (lies) of agents (a lot who were English)...
The new primeminister visited Bansko a few weeks ago, to personally view the area, and to assure that in order to support local employment would encourage lobbying of MP's with plans for the future of Bansko, the progressive and controlled expansion within park boundries in areas designated as `pink' development...
In fact the new primeminister would be very interested in your comments on the mafia, as his election platform was on the basis of fighting corruption within goverment and its offices.
As for the safety issues, i cannot really comment on the possibly of someone dropping a board, though its as likely as someones ski falling off after not stepping into the binding correctly (it does happen) and the padding of lift pylons ?? maybe a good idea, pad everything
With that in mind i'd head to the States, the overprotective (only because they don't want to get sued) areas, with their piste speed guns and piste police will make sure you come to no harm, and im assuming the heated toilet seats will be welcome..

i dont disagree with you there steve. The brits and other property developers came cashed in and left people ruined and the area with more properties than the slopes can cover. Now is a great time for skiing and prices however if they fail to get permission to build more runs Bankso is doomed. Christmas and New year queues at the gondola was an insight as to how Bansko would be if it was busy all year without any more slopes / gondolas.

There have been major improvements from the conversations i had with locals and ex pats there and part of this is due to the fact that the new prime minister was FULLY aware of the corruption and understood one way round it was to pay the police and public services sectors higher salaries so that bribery and corruption became a less viable option.

I have been to Bansko once and from an outsider can only offer people my honest opininon and it is just that.

Poeple dropping a board / skis about the same as someones bindings coming off i doubt it. i watched boarders fumbling around trying to light cigarettes almost dropping the board 4 or 5 times a day.

Just got back from Bansko, and was nearby when the accident happened. One of the people I was with witnessed it and said he could see what was going to happen. A skier slowed in front of the victim at the bottom of one of the steeper slopes near the nursery slopes, and he just couldn't get out of the way in time. He went over several times before coming to rest in a ditch and colliding with some sort of metal pole. His friends were quickly on the scene and some hysteria ensued, before some oxygen and medical assistance arrived. It was obviously a horrendous accident, one from which the best you can hope for is that your holiday is over skiing wise, but it wasn't til the following day that I heard he'd lost his life.

It certainly made me more aware of what was going on around me, these things can happen in an instant. I'm sure the victim wasn't thinking to himself 'this is the last thing i'll ever do', or 'in 30 seconds my life is going to be over' as he came down the slope.

Shocking.

R.I.P