Bulgaria Ski discussion board

just returned from my first ever trip to pamps, loved the place, there are some really nice runs for all abilities. but the lift system is nowhere as good as it should be.

first day the only lift open was at ski center 1,( i could run up the mountain quicker in ski boots) gets to studenets, ski s down green run only to find no lifts open at all had to get cab back to ski center 1 (10 leva wasted) no information as to why other lifts not open, then throughout the there were no more than 2 or 3 lifts working at anytime, when i looked on this website it would say 12 out of 13 open, complete rubbish. The runs on the south slopes closed all week, although the snow conditions were perfect. to cap it on our last day skied down black run down to malina only to find lift closed again had to wait in massive queue for the one man chair to get back to studenets. you may think i am dishing the place i am not, i have a vested interest in the resort as i own two properties there, but with a substandard lift system will this place really attract serious skiers, come on pamps get your act together!

Many of the lift problems last week were due to a tree faling down on power cables which took time to repair. I know that reason doesn't compensate you for your loss of skiing, but it is a reason, and not an excuse.

Having skied Pamporovo for over 20 years this type of failure is very very rare and you were just unlucky. Never really ever had a problem with the lifts in Pamporovo and to get from the bottom of the mountain to the top in 12 minutes is fine by me.

To just say - OK lets spend millions of levs and update the lift system is living in the ideal world and until the tour operators start to re-use Plovdiv airport there will always be a problem with insufficent income for Pamporovo to drastically improve. You need to understand both the political and business influences that affect Pamporovo before you can make judgements on what they should do. We would all like improvements of course, but I would sooner ski in Pamporovo with a lift pass that costs me under £100 that go to Italy, France or Austria where it is commonplace for a lift pass to cost over double that.

Reading the comments this year on the other resorts, the Gondolas in Bansko and Borovets which are the main access to the mountains have often been closed due to weather and high wind problems - that very rarely happens in Pamporovo.

I'm not having a go at you at all, you are of course very entitled to make your point and we welcome that. I'm just trying to explain that it is not as easy as you might think it is.

That said, there are plans to replace the 4 man chairlift with a 6 man by next year and to move the 4 man to where the dreadful drag lift currently is that takes people right back up to Studenets.

Watch this space.

PP

I say that the problem with Pamporovo is that the ski area is scatered around which is OK for beginners and the likes but for intermediates or above like this poster , if you ski in one direction to the bottom of it and then you find out that exact lift is having lunch or does not work, then the only way up is by juicy taxi and your half day is already gone.
With Borovets at least if something is not working you turn left or right and you are in the different ski area without worries.
Bansko if the gondola is working and you are lucky to start queueing at the crack of dawn or avoid at any cost the peak times once you are in the ski area you will be OK even if some lifts don't work -if that's the case just continue to other lift.
The headliner above is saying that the single lift from Malina to Studenets is well beyond its date we all know don't we.
The same goes for the drag up the slopes.This facilities are 50 years old technology and should have been replaced many years ago. But no.
Let's not forget that all of the appartment blocks and Hotels which have mushroomed in the last 10 years need a decent and reliable and well connected ski area.
You can enjoy the scenery and in Pamporovo alright- the scenery is Brilliant but if you go on a ski holiday you want to practice as well that sport leasure not to start using Taxies and trying to reach some lift and get a nasty suprise here and there.
One more thing is the double ancient chair to the South into the Smolian Lakes.That piece of machinery works in misterious ways and if far from reliability.
You all have to agree that if the conditions are perfect as they are now this chair hasn't got excuse not to work and especially in a week approaching the busiest period.
That is no excuse at all!
Let's not forget that Pamporovo is more or less weather storm proof because is completely in the forest belt.
Different situation is in Borovets and Bansko which stretch well into the wilderness and above the tree line so if it is windy or nasty even humans won't want to go there let a long lifts or gondolas to work up the the very tops.
Pamporovo is suffering from bad management I think as all of the BG resorts are we all know.
Tell that the above tourist which even mentionned that he has got not one but two properties in Pamporovo.
He is the last person which will say wrond things about the place but has a courage to be honest to the bone even if this reminds him of the not so good deal he has ended with.
As for the price of a lift pass mentionned as a reply to the poster I would say that the figure of 25 euro or there about is not cheap at all and does not reflect the size of the ski area.
I know there are more expensive ski places around the world but the size of the ski area always reflects the price and actually dictates the amount not the other way round.
There are and many cheaper ski places even dirt cheap ones with a lift or two only or only one ski facility including in Bulgaria which have a day pass for about tenner in BG currency or a fiver in euros .
It seems the prices of lift passes in Bulgaria are calculated with a very strange formula which is designed without the tought about the future even the opposite.
And the current financial climate is not going to help eighter just came the figure that :....Bulgarian Winter Resorts Jan Revenues is Down 15% Y/Y.......

Times are hard but the direction to attract foreign tourists is somehow twisted and in a knot without vision.

I say whatever it is the current climate, take some photos, try to enjoy the days you are in and witness the record snow levels before they melt back to average.
It is worth to test that place especially this exact mega record season because if judged by the past it is not likely to be repeated soon.
Do it!

When you find the chair down there is not working , and look to the left with the hope that the ancient single chair is inviting you to try it the same goes for the good few in the same situation like you.
As we all know that chair there is with such a capacity that you will be better off just placing your ski gear on the shoulder and off you go up the mountain on foot.probably you will reach place where you can join other area quicker.
This situation is if you end up in Malina.
Just imagine (again because the resort is scatered around one peak) you decide to have a nice virgin run south towards the smolian lakes and finding out on arrival that that other ancient chair is ....not working and does not want to work even in the best condition for Half a decade.
Then I think the only option is a mega taxi ride back to your place.
I read somewhere that you have done 20 times Pamporovo or there about.
I have done Pamporovo since 60s done few seasons in the 80s and now and then rarely revisited this magical place but my memory says that since they installed the single chair this lift was always a kind of sit sleep and have a long journey if you don't want to walk equally long.
I was frankly very surprised when on my last day visit at begining of Feb this year saw this piece of museum history still standing and moving.
By the way had to experience similar stuck situation in Pamporovo then:
Skied down to the new Stoikite area fer a check up to find out that this whas shut as well.luckily I just called my driver and he came to collect us.I did not try to taste the run South because I knew that chances are 80/20 this lift not to be helpfull.
Somewhere on this forum I read that some other tourist has experienced the same because it was not working.I can say that in a season this lift works only for the week or so around New year(weather permiting) and again for a week from the start of March when the school Hols in BG are and that's it.
Love the place but from the angle of ski runs infrastructure has changed very little compare with the massive (and very wrong utter building on a large scale programe or appartment crazy building) Designed to create more bottle necks around this trully magical place.
As I said somewhere here from the 3 ski resorts I visit within a week around the start of Feb 2012 I line then like that: Borovets for perfect snow minimal queues,good connections now between the 3 ski areas convenience,night skiing(althought it was too brutal (minus 29) to ski late into the night and very handy for the Sofia which is the main airport.
Then follows Bansko because if you can forget the crowd at the start you can find good terrain to ski up there.I don't find Bansko anymore attractive it had its days in the past when it was truly preserved heritage close to ski area. Coming back to base is unapealing though.
I would place Pamporovo this time round equal third with Bansko because in the current weather this place scores up heavily even with the minuses it still has.
Enjoy the mega luck this season that's what I say this time.

Just trying to correct some factual mistakes on this thread
Nothing to do with a weather.
And not trying to prove anything because facts speak louder than some feelings or preferences.
I have mentionned that the snow conditions are PERFECT at the minute and that obviously helps.
Perfect conditions though as you can guess is not quite enough (have a look into the experiences on the person on top of this thread prove this.
I will state again:
There have not been better snow conditions for the last Half a century
I think that should make everybody including you more than Happy?
I saw you were quoting me above and I thought to clear the air with a bit more details and info.
I hope you will Enjoy the Record snow.