Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Just come back from bansko, and having got to the gondola every morning shortly before it opened, queued no more than 5 minutes for the gondola or any chairlift... just a shame the whole mountain is run by Ulen in such a way that there can be nothing else except for their restaurants, instructors etc. and charging stupid prices for food and drink! It seemed quite a bit quieter this year than it did the same time when i went last year. What makes me think, that 3 out of 6 days the top was closed for all, if not most of the day... on thursday they had practically everything above the gondola closed, besides the 6 man, and the gondola running at a snails pace, but the wind did seem to be really bad; the day before there appeared to be no wind on Plato, but the top 3 chairlifts were closed, and i was wondering if the moderate wind was an excuse to close the top chairlifts in an effort to save money with there being less people on the slopes!? would happily go back to Bansko again next year as it has the best runs and lift infrastructure of the 3 resorts, and at the end of the day you go on holiday for the skiing, and everything else comes second.

Lift closures for wind are an unfortunate but a common issue simply due to location, Historically Jan is an issue with winds!
Lift queues again will always be an issue at busy times (2 weeks at Christmas plus UK half term fortnight) but away from these and mid morning at weekends it is not bad at all.
Better queue management (look at Disney!), earlier ticket office openings and later closing, earlier start up for the gondola and breakfast bars up top all make for an easier start to the morning but hey what do we know

Regards
Bansko tourist information

Please, can people understand that my views and whatever conclusions i may come to are based on my experience, and suggestions that i feel may improve the situation. I have spent over 30 years skiing, have been involved with ski companies who were Alp based, and owned and ran my own ski shop. I love Bansko, its wilderness and limited infrastructure and great value allowing me personally to enjoy myself more than i feel i could in the Alps.. but i am a realist ! We need tourists, they need to feel well served outside of what mother nature may throw at us (high winds)... excessive queueing which by relatively cheap simple changes and additions could reduce these periods (there will always be queueing at busy times), this could be percieved as the operator showing concern about the situation unlike the operators indifferance felt by many guests...
BTI like many here is well aware of the problems, and possible solutions, he like us is a fan of Bansko, and wants it to succeed, and im sure we will all continue to voice our concerns.. we like BTI work bloody hard to make sure that visitors have the best time with least worry with their visits to Bansko, identifying problems in areas outside of our control is inevitable, especially as we are the first line of complaint from our guests. We would all like to see expansion, more uplift, and more diversity on the mountain in the way of restaurants and bars, we want to see Ulen prosper with more visitors, more jobs for local people, and a secure ongoing future for all...