Ski in Borovets

Skiing in Borovets

Borovets, Bulgaria (1350m to 2550m)

Best known of the Bulgarian resorts, with a wide range of facilities and après ski activities (including sumo wrestling reportedly). Borovets has the largest ski area in Eastern Europe and a popular ski school and ski kindergarten, it was privatised in 2000. This is high value skiing in the famous Bulgarian wine belt, but beware of food shortages.

Borovets

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Borovets Ski Facts

Borovets Ski Facts

		Expert Skiers
		Intermediate Skiers
		Beginners
		Snowboarding
		Snow
		Apres-ski
	1	Black Run
	14	Red Runs
	2	Blue Runs
	3	Green Runs
35km		Cross Country Trails
11		Ski Lifts
1230m		Max Vertical
2550m		Highest Lift
1350m		Lowest Piste
1320m		Resort Altitude

Borovets

The Bulgarian ski resort of Borovets has direct access to 20 individual pistes, served by 11 ski lifts.

With pistes above 2500 metres, skiing and snowboarding is assured throughout the season.

Snowmaking :- Borovets is able to augment natural snow, on 2km of ski runs, with 6 Snow Cannons.

Ski Lift Capacity :- The 11 Ski Lifts of Borovets are able to uplift 16,750 skiers / snowboarders per hour.

There is an airport within two hours drive, so ski weekends, snowboard breaks and short ski holidays to Borovets are perfectly feasible. Sofia Airport is just one hours drive away, in good driving conditions, so you can be on the piste quickly.

Skiing in Borovets

Borovets skiing is divided in to two main areas. The slopes and runs are normally maintained in good condition and are designed with international markings and multilingual signs. Firstly, directly above the resort are the lift-linked slopes of Sitnyakovo and Martinovi Baraki. Served by two top-to-bottom chairs, with four drags and another shorter chair (servicing a ski jump) making up the rest of the uplift here, the terrain is largely easy to intermediate level stuff, cut down through the trees. Do not be too off-put by the fact that virtually all the terrain is graded 'red'. These are not the same steep reds of Austria and Switzerland - more like a French blue. The lower section of the mountain forms the nursery area, conveniently close to the village centre and much of the accommodation.

The second ski area is at Yastrebets, reached by a wonderful 5km/3 mile long gondola ride by a six seater. This accesses the resort's most testing terrain, which includes three runs which are used for international competitions. There are long reds, and a World Cup black beneath the upper section of the gondola, which will take you back to the gondola base station, mid station or to the resort's only T bar, and a very long one it is. Alternatively you can continue over to the Markudjika area. This is served by six short and parallel button tows and accesses the highest skiing in the resort and the only above-tree-line area, also known as the Moussala basin. Naturally it holds snow the longest. One of the runs here, Markudjik 3, has been approved by the International Skiing Federation (FIS) for giant slalom competitions.

For the 2006-7 season ATV Rentals (www.atv-rentals-bg.com) began offering skiers and boarders the option to take a snowcat ride to the top of Mt. Moussala. The machine can carry up to 12 people for a two hour tour, or during the ski day can carry skiers and snowboarders to places they can't normally go. Mt Moussala is only accessible by snow cat, snowmobile or on foot and ATV rentals also rents snowmobiles. .

The highest lift at Borovets is to Aleko at 2728m (8953ft). Mt Moussala is 2942m (9652 ft) giving bigger verticals and more snowsure conditions..

The Borovets ski school is well known and respected internationally. It has more than 200 ski instructors, all of them fluent in different languages and many former professional skiers. Skiing classes are divided in to five difficulty levels, from A to E - in groups or individually with lessons for four hours per day. The additional The Peter Popanguelov Ski School for Expert Skiing employs ten highly-qualified ski instructors able to teach those who want to hone their skiing skills to the 'world champion class'.

Cross-country and biathlon tracks are located 2 km away from the resort together with the cross-country tuition tracks.

Snowboarding in Borovets

Snowboarders are welcome at Borovets, which has staged some international competitions. Although there isn't a terrain park, natural terrain features do tend to 'develop themselves' off the edge of the trails. The key areas are accessible by gondola and chair, only, unfortunately the highest and snowiest sector up on Markudjika is served by button type drag lifts. The toughest terrain below the gondola-served Yastrebets is, annoyingly for 'boarders, based on a single T bar, the only one there is here, but you can get back to the gondola base, conditions permitting, if you're prepared to follow a rather flat access route.

Borovets Aprés Ski

Borovets nightlife is normally, fun, lively and relaxed. There's a good choice of high value, lively bars with enticing names like 'Black Tiger, Harry's Bar, Buzz Bar and Bonkers. Karaoke is a regular activity at Peter's. Apart from eating and drinking you can try tobogganing, billiards, bowling, snowmobiling or a sleigh ride. You can even try the ski jump, at your own risk, if you want to. At one time you could snap on an inflatable sumo wrestler's suit and have a good 'fantasy sumo' contest but that facility sadly doesn't appear to be on offer anymore. Bulgarian folklore evenings are arranged at many of the resort's venues and feature lively centuries-old rhythms and dances, with traditional Bulgarian cuisine on the menu, served up with now famous Bulgarian wines. Ski carnivals are also sometimes arranged. The resort's two discothèques are in the hotels Rila and Samokov.

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Borovets in brief

Borovets Ski Resort is:-
Ok for Expert Skiers.
Good for Intermediate Skiers.
Very good for Beginners.
Ok for Snowboarding.

Borovets Snow Forecast

Snow Forecast for Borovets

Borovets Piste Map

Full Page Piste Map of Borovets

Map of Borovets

Full Page Map of Borovets