Bulgaria Ski discussion board

Can't help noticing that you post a lot of negative stuff on here davekl . I'm going to bansko tomorrow , as much as I'm more than a bit fed up about the lack of snow , there really is no option to cancel unless I want to lose 100% of my holiday cost .
I know ulen come in for a lot of criticism and some if it is justified but really they can't control temperature , I've been watching the webcams since movember and they have had the canons on every time the temp drops low enough .
Realistically even if there is only 1 slope open ulen will keep the mountain open just so they can fulfil beginners packages etc .
Anyway I'm going to have a good time regardless if the conditions , it's pointless stressing about something beyond anyone's control .

and rumour it is Dave... Ulen have confirmed today that Bansko will remain open regardless of the lack of snow. The position regarding cannons is a little more involved. The very dry Autumn following our normally dry summer has led to a lack of water on the mountain, or at least no where near what they would expect. The cannons devour water at an incredible rate, the lake is struggling to keep the supply, so periods are given for the lake to restock. This has accounted for the cannons not running in periods we would think they would. All this is fuelling various rumours circulating the town. We do think as a sign of good faith (customer relations?) that if Ulen were to drop the price of the daily lift pass whilst this problem persists it would wear well with most tourists, but unfortunately unlikely to happen. It is a fact that tourist numbers are down, a lot of cancellations from Russians, Romanians (those who haven't gone to UK) and Greeks alike, and this is having a real effect on business overall in Bansko, the operator also must be effected....
We can only sit here and pray it snows soon, today showing temps in the town of nearly 8 degrees, brilliant sunshine without a cloud in sight.. it could be sometime off yet, but it only requires 8 hours of heavy snow to put down 50-60cm, i have seen 1.6m in 12 hours.... lets just enjoy what we have, the runs open are skiing reasonably well now that the numbers of visitors have dropped, conditions at their best between 10.00am and 1.00pm...

Thanks for the honest update steve c. I can't comment on the water situation but i can say i'm not the greatest sleeper and have had a nosey at the live webcam feeds from the mountain a lot over the last couple of weeks , they have actually managed to get the canons on occasionally over that period but it has been at 3am and only when the temp has briefly dipped to -3 ish ..... honestly think it's more of a temp issue than water .
Glad to hear the runs are skiing ok , im only a second week skier so ill be having lessons and trying to improve ,would be nice if more runs were open but not the end of the world for me :-) .
I'll be on the slopes early and taking your advice to enjoy the london pub ..... and a few nice mehanas in the evening .
This time tomorrow ........... :-)