It’s race weekend here in Bansko as the FIS Skiing World Cup takes over the slopes. Conditions were sunny all week and perfect for watching the fastest woman in the world battle it out for those coveted WC Overall points. We’ll have a full recap of the race up on our blog later during the week. Some of the slopes have deteriorated since our last report, but the forecast is for some more snow this next week, but we’ll keep you up to date with that as well.
All lifts in the resort are open, but once again there is a significant queue at the gondola. The reason this weekend’s lift line is longer than the last two weeks is mostly due to the road to the ski area being closed for the WC and many people who normally drive up are forced to use the gondola as well. But once you’re in the ski area, there are no queues anywhere, so you can get plenty of skiing done, even after waiting an hour to get to the slopes. If you want to skip the queue at the base gondola station, we are offering a pre-booked shuttle service from our rental shop to the top gondola station. At 5 euros per person, this is the cheapest and easiest way to avoid the long waits at the gondola, especially in 2-3 weeks time, when the mid-term holidays will be in full swing. You can book your spot in our buses at the following link, seats are limited: https://bit.ly/2TVxnaU
The WC race track looked very tough.
The forecast for the next week looks promising, as it shows new snow on Monday and Wednesday. Hopefully, this will allow the resort staff to fix up some of the more deteriorated slopes, as well as make the WC race track less icy, now that the race is over. Time will tell and we’ll keep you updated once the snow starts to fall.
The Balkaniada ski run, overlooking the Shiligarnika area.
Conditions on the slopes have been much better in previous years, but it is what it is. At the moment the best slopes are the N.5 & N.10 that go from the bottom of the Plato to the Shiligarnika area. These are serviced by 2 lifts, where there are no lines at all. The Balkaniada run is also now open and in decent condition, which is good for the more advanced skiers. Now that the WC is over, we’re expecting the Todorka and Tomba runs to open very soon. They will probably be icy until the first new snowfall, as the WC requires the slopes to be covered in over 50cm of ice, so keep that in mind this week. The bad news is that the Plato runs at terrible at the moment, as they have turned to pure ice from the wind and lack of fresh snow the last week. We highly advise avoiding them, as there just isn’t any pleasure in skiing there. Apart from the ice, there are also plenty of rocks starting to show on the Plato. If you must ski down them, stick to the skier’s left slope, as the right one has rocks all over. Another good slope to ski is Stara Kotva, where you can do laps with the 6-seater Kolarski, or use the surface lift which services just that slope. The Ski Road is also open and in very good conditions, despite the warmer weather in town.
The red N.12 is also now open.
Conditions off-piste are non-existent and there is no point in even trying to ski outside the slopes. There just isn’t enough snow at the moment. Hopefully, this will change in time for the Freeride World Tour Qualifier, which will be held in Bansko at the end of March. The Snow Park is also closed and no work has started on it yet and we have no information when and if it will open this season.
The skier’s right side of the Plato.
Ski & Board Traventuria is a leading provider of lift passes, equipment rental, airport transfers and ski school for the Bansko area. To book your next ski vacation in Bansko with us, please check our website – www.skibansko.bg
