Bansko piste ski update

[Welshbeef]

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Bansko/pistem...


Just an update for this coming ski season.
Red 12 now has snow cannons 2011 it was closed all season due to poor coverage so next season this will not be a problem, infact im sure now every run has snow cannons which gives some comfort if it's not enough natural snow.

Also from the map the mountain to the right with the lone red run has been closed for a decade if not more... Well they have just installed avalanche control thibgs which was the reason it was shut. Plus as they upgraded a four man lift to a six man lift they have all the 4 man seats which they are intending on using to access this other new seriously steep challenge. From what I've heard it's similar to red 4 which is a lovely challenging red which at times is crazy steep a real blast.

Good on them I say opening up more of existing runs before expanding further.
I've skied here for a number of years and seen the men's championships which are shown on eurosport there live.
It is cheap. Infact most people eat from eateries up the slope vs alps where you take up food as it's so pricy etc.
You all know that but if you have not tried it or fancy a different resort next season give it a consideration.
Snow wise it dumps later in the season so for me feb mar and yes April have been excellent for snow. Not sure about dec or Jan. Of course poor snow in Europe impacts everywhere.

As for skill level there are no green runs. The blues are medium to hard blue and conditions dependant would be reds, some are reclassified each year from one colour to another. I've done the 16km top of the mountain to the town a few times and that finishes me off. Thankfully there is a lovely bar awaiting skiers at the end of the run.

Anyone else been post up about the skiing. It's good fun 70km total lots of off piste if that's your thing but keep to the designated off piste. This year 5 dutch men went off piste where it was out of bounds and every was told no off piste today risk of avalanche. Sadly two died.

[andrew311]

Have you skied elsewhere Welshbeef? I ask because most people would say they'd rather not ski than ski in Bulgaria and nearly all of these people have never skied there (me included). From everything I've heard it's never pulled me away from France or Austria but I understand it's good value for families and beginners.

[Welshbeef]

andrew311 said:

Have you skied elsewhere Welshbeef? I ask because most people would say they'd rather not ski than ski in Bulgaria and nearly all of these people have never skied there (me included). From everything I've heard it's never pulled me away from France or Austria but I understand it's good value for families and beginners.

No I have not so my comments need to be verified by someone who has tried both.

There are three black runs and arguably conditions dependant one of the reds would be a black too at times.
Bansko seems from I understand to be a a great place to get your basics right and a good selection of challenging pistes. Clearly it doesn't have the 3 valleys km of runs but having been skiing at bansko for four times now from snow novice to being able to do all the reds (note taking my time and at points struggling) but I'd envisage once I have mastered these I would then like to try other resorts.

I think it's cracking value to master on snow before shelling out a fortune in the alps. My wife for instance had no idea if she would even want to do skiing so it's been great to try it out discover we actually like it and then get better at it.
We have recommended it to people we know who gp to different resorts each year and have done for fifteen years. Their view was good value for money, they covered all the runs in a day and found them good fun. So they enjoyed the ski holiday but they never go to the same resort twice as they have yet to do every resort which is their goal.

[andrew311]

Thanks for that Welshbeef, would be interested to hear from someone who has tried it and the bigger European resorts. A couple I know are wanting to try skiing and asked about Bulgaria and I couldn't tell them anything except what I'd heard. Out of interest what have you found the overall costs are, lift passes, hire, accomadation etc. To get an idea of just what the difference is is cost between Bulgaria and the big boys. For example I'm going to St Anton In March and for a catered chalet with lift pass it's costing £600 (I have all my own gear but it pricey to rent in Austria generally).

[disco1]

I hated Bansko, went 4 years ago, massive building site, rude people, packs of wild dogs, rubbish apres ski, poorly connected pistes, rubbish piled high, stink of burning everywhere, donkeys tied up on roads, horrible food. This wasn't just my thoughts either, went with 8 other people who equally hated the place as did others on coach on way back the shed aka plodiv airport.

Until you go somewhere good you won't realise just how bad Bankso is. Try Austria, similar package price, zillion times better.

Each to their own I guess

[andrew311]

Had a quick look earlier, Crystal has a deal for £400 that gets you on one of their Ski+ deals HB accoms, pass, and hire. Other deals don't make it look so cheap, pass is £115 and hire £65 so it doesn't seem that cheap to me vs the overall experience. I'm not against small ski areas (some of the best days skiing I've had have been in Scotland) but I hate queues and I've heard of huge one in Bulgaria.

[Welshbeef]

andrew311 said:

Had a quick look earlier, Crystal has a deal for £400 that gets you on one of their Ski+ deals HB accoms, pass, and hire. Other deals don't make it look so cheap, pass is £115 and hire £65 so it doesn't seem that cheap to me vs the overall experience. I'm not against small ski areas (some of the best days skiing I've had have been in Scotland) but I hate queues and I've heard of huge one in Bulgaria.

Half term queues feb 2011 we got to the gondela for 8:10 and would be on the lift going up for 8:45 am latest. We one day went at 10:30am and no queues. Basically it's the ski schools.

I'll host some pics I took this year of the mountain - or google it.

Après ski in bansko it has three or four night clubs and of course all night bars if that's what your after. But Bansko is more for sitting in a mehana and having a big meal with lots of booze live music. Not Ibiza if you get me more adulty

[russ_a]

First I have never been to Bulgaria, but have a few friends that have. Every single one of them said they will never go back.

If you are trying to save cash, try Slovakia or even Scotland.

[Welshbeef]

russ_a said:

First I have never been to Bulgaria, but have a few friends that have. Every single one of them said they will never go back.

If you are trying to save cash, try Slovakia or even Scotland.

Which resort did they go to?
Was it a poor snow year if so impacts whole of Europe. Would be interested to know as it is polar opposite to what I've heard from people who have gone and people we met out there.

[Handbag]

I went to Bansko around the same time as Disco1 and I too wasn't impressed and wouldn't go back. We went there because my OH was living in Thessaloniki at the time so we could drive to it from there.

I learned to ski in Pamporovo a fair few years ago and really enjoyed it despite it being quite dated and went back a few years later. It's a shame it's such a small resort though. It doesn't pretend to be bigger/better than it is though unlike Bansko IMO.

Haven't been to France, I love Austria too much

[Welshbeef]

4 years ago 2007 would have been a lot of building work. Hardly any pavements laid nor street lighting.
That's long since finished also back then there wouldn't have been the brand new dual carriageway most of the way plus the new mountain road up to the resort.


Still its good to hear reviews all types

[johnfm]

Austria. Saalbach is brilliant. Not too small, not too big, great food, not expensive, first rate service, friendly locals.

Better value than French Alps, good snow.

My favourite - but then I've only been to the French Alps twice.

[andrew311]

Austria= awesome. The cost of beer puts me off France usually although I have ended up there at least once a season, normally only do France when it's not a lads trip.

Try Austria one year Welshbeef, generally more expensive to get there than France but much cheaper once you're there. Saalbach is very nice, Soll is usually one of the cheaper options, large area but lower in altitude.

[disco1]

Another one for Austria, going Jan which will be my 3rd year on the trot. Cant imagine going elsewhere.

Bansko still sending shivers down my spine, need counciling.

Did I mentioned I hated the place? On top of my already long list of gripes above I also add:

- Horrible fake tat in shops
- They steel your boots from the ski depot
- Full of world championship grade smokers
- Food on mountain horrid
- No pavements
- No lights
- 3-4 hour trip on road that had more potholes than tarmac
- Everyone is looking to rip you off, taxi driver thought by putting a post-it with $[enter random number] over the meter would have us fooled, half the amount on meter.
- 1 nice looking local girl in entire village
- Lots of dodgy black S class mercs cruising around
- Seriously ugly surroundings, eastern europe and it shows.
- £600 wasted, add spending money on top

God I feel depressed now!

[Welshbeef]

disco1 said:

Another one for Austria, going Jan which will be my 3rd year on the trot. Cant imagine going elsewhere.

Bansko still sending shivers down my spine, need counciling.

Did I mentioned I hated the place? On top of my already long list of gripes above I also add:

- Horrible fake tat in shops
- They steel your boots from the ski depot
- Full of world championship grade smokers
- Food on mountain horrid
- No pavements
- No lights
- 3-4 hour trip on road that had more potholes than tarmac
- Everyone is looking to rip you off, taxi driver thought by putting a post-it with $[enter random number] over the meter would have us fooled, half the amount on meter.
- 1 nice looking local girl in entire village
- Lots of dodgy black S class mercs cruising around
- Seriously ugly surroundings, eastern europe and it shows.
- £600 wasted, add spending money on top

God I feel depressed now!

Well the road is now a brand new dual carridgeway and the mountain road is also totally brand new. Sofia T2 to Bansko used to take 4 hours it is now 1hr45mins to 2hr30mins depending on congestion going through Sofia.

Pavements and roads and street lights in Bansko are now and have been for a good 3 years all complete - I did go there in 2006 and the pavemnts and roads in the village were lethal.

As for crumpet in the village - you need to go to the nicer places to eat (trust me), and also the Pirin Golf Complex.

Black S Class Mercs there are some oh yea, but also there are many Lambo's there with owners who are very young...

Food on the mountain for the last 3 years has been Soup, French Fries, pork meatball, pork sausage (like a bratfurst) and salad and Pizza (all usual variants). All serve exactly the same food on the mountain - apart from a hidden one which all the locals use and is uber cheap.


Some pics of the village
http://banskojazzfest.com/en/about-bansko

http://gallery.bansko.org/

http://gallery.bansko.org/p-30-Bansko_in_the_Summe...

[disco1]

Welshbeef said:

Bansko til I die (or somthing similar)

I can understand that you have some sort of affiliation with the place but please go somewhere else. Why not try Austria (kitz, soll, mayr..etc) and you will see the huge difference in quality in everything, no comparison, it's like comparing coney to barry island and well all know Barry is the welsh riviera!

Bansko


Soll Austria

[Welshbeef]

Sol does look very nice.

Checking out the Piste top lift is 1829m v 2600-700m Bansko. Not the be all but lower altitude struggle for snow on poor European seasons.

[andrew311]

Welshbeef said:

Sol does look very nice.

Checking out the Piste top lift is 1829m v 2600-700m Bansko. Not the be all but lower altitude struggle for snow on poor European seasons.

Important to remember that altitude isn't necessarily the be all and end all. Different valleys have different micro climates, Soll sit in the shadow of the Wilden Kaiser mountain range so allot of snow falls. Most of the slopes are north facing so retain the snow and the Austrians are very good and keeping their pistes and have the added benefit of multi-million euro infrastructure to ensure they stay that way.
Added to this Soll has some of the best snow making in Europe so the low runs are open for a surprisingly long season and the added benefit of some night skiing with some allot of lit pistes.


I'm tempted to have a week in Soll in February with the other half. The only thing that puts me off is the lack of the really challenging stuff, but for the OH who likes crusiey blues and some reds it's ideal.

The OP obviously has an affinity with Bansko, and I don't want to slag it off without being there but there's a whole lot of mountains out there to ski....!!