J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by xt600

mystyc wrote:I went there last year and stayed in the samokov hotel. during the second week of march when there was a heatwave! last day was 20 degrees in borovest town!
This was my first outing ont he snow outside scotland.
Hotel was basic but fine, there was always lots of hot water. The rooms at the back are quieter. The breakfasts were fine the dinner was as bit ropy. stay away from the meet stews and you will be fine. A few people had dicky bellies who ate the stews. I am veggie and I was fine!. The bar opposite the gondola on the junction does great cheap pizza with accompanying free drinks and the lady who runs it is so friendly. The rest of the hotel was fine but smoky (everywhere was). I SAW NO LADIES OF THE NIGHT hanging around the hotel.
The twon is rough and ready, you do have to look past the absolute poverty of the women selling socks from boxes in starc contrast to the maffia who drive past in their hummers. They don't bother the tourists as they bring in the money - it is perfectly safe. There are some nice bars (the blue bar near the rila is very friendly)
The slopes are quite limited and there are lots of drags. We were confined to the musala area at the top because of the lack of snow, the pistes were croweded as a result but the offpiste poweder between the runs was untouched and fanatastic especilly right at the top. The gondala howevere will stop if its gets even a little windy! The ski instructors vary but are genarlly good, my snowbaord instructor lexy ws out of this world and had us in the powder by the first morning!
I will not go back to bulgaria as it sadened me to see s much poverty on the transfer, it is clear theat capatalism has bough riches to only a few in bulgaria and tourism only lines their pockets further unfortunatly. I enjoyed my week a lot my girlfriend who has been the flane did not. If you go, go with an open mind and you may be surprised. It is not like a french or italin resort however. The people are friendly on the whole and they try their best with what they have.

hope that helps....

Mystyc, if you are concerned at the poverty then don't bury your head in the sand and decide never to go back! Those old ladies selling their knitted socks etc rely on us to buy their goods. We should be supporting them! I always try to buy from the smaller shops and from roadside sellers who clearly need the cash.
BTW, i too enjoyed that week of sunshine last year! The week before was better skiing though as most of the lower slopes were still open. You just never know....

cem wrote:
they are not standard they are an additional heel lift added by a fitter for the previous tenant.... and i could probably narrow the shop down as to were it was fitted if i saw the pad :wink: [which is very worrying]

you may need a heel lift in the boot for any number of reasons but i would try without first

Thanks Cem, yes, very worrying indeed! They are pale blue wedges that obviously tilt the heel inwards, towards the inside of the boot. The previous owner must've had strange shaped feet and enormously fat calves as the buckles were adjusted to the outer holes! I have now put these back to the original position, and removed wedges and installed the new footbeds. Certainly feels more comfortable and i have 7 weeks now in which to get used to them before my ski trip.
Do you know if i should heat up the whole boots a little to get that 'custom fit'?

I've been to Borovets for the last 3 seasons, and will probably be there again in March. Although prices are increasing year on year, it is still far cheaper than any French resort. I remember paying £8.50 for a pint of guiness in Meribel 10 years ago!
I book flights early (£70 return) and book accomodation late. There is always plenty of availability and so if you email owners direct you will find that you can negotiate a good deal. last year we paid £350 for a two bedroomed apartment for 8 days. Although there was room for 6 people, we shared the cost between the four of us (£90 each) Two of us booked a studio apartment for £150.
Being in an apartment means you can save money by making your own meals. Take a taxi down to Samakov and shop at 'T-Market'...it's cheap. The best BG beer 'Zagorka' will cost you about 2.25levs (£1) for a 1.5 litre bottle.
There are also several good restaurants in Samakov which will be far cheaper than at the resort.
I have always been there for the first week in March, when the weather is usually warm and sunny. There has never been too much of a problem with crowds, and i have never seen girls of the night hanging around outside. If you want to see them, you just enter one of their clubs.
There are some nice people in Borovets, but there are also plenty of miserable ones who are not exactly willing to help.
It's a case of keeping a sense of humour, and actually finding any rudeness fairly amusing. There was a lady who used to glare at me every time i walked past her shop and i just gave her a big silly smile every time and by the end of the week she was almost smiling back at me! I don't know what she thought but who cares?
I have experienced equally miserable people in french resorts who don't seem to enjoy sharing 'their' mountain with the British.
All in all, you can get a very cheap holiday in Borovets which you can't do easily at other resorts. If you are tolerent, have a sense of humour, and are on a tight budget, you may be pleasantly surprised with Borovets...

I have just taken delivery of my new footbeds. However, when i took the lining out of my salomon cf mission boots, i found there to be some blue heelpads stuck to the black plastic base of the boots inside. Can anyone tell me whether these are standard fit or is it likely that they were added by the previous owner of the boots? I'm just not sure wether or not to remove them...

Bandit, i will see how they feel once i get a footbed in them. By 'blowing' do you mean heating the area and moulding the plastic shell out a bit?

trenchy...$20 is a good price....unfortunately i cant find any that cheap in the uk.

http://www.yoursole.co.uk/index.htm

I have just found these, has anyone tried these heat mouldable ones?

Ski shops try to sell us as much as they can, and for those of us on a budget it's nice to know whether we really need these 'extras' or not.
The guy in the ski shop was trying to sell me the boots (£175) and he said that the footbeds (£37) were necessary because my feet 'needed' them!
As it happened, i went home, searched ebay, and found the same boots (used twice) which a got for £60. I'm happy with the boots but do have some issues. The
main one being that after wearing the boots around the house a bit i have discovered that they are particularly tight on the 'boney bits' sticking out on the insides of my ankles. I'm not sure how to fix this, without cutting a hole in the shell of the boots!

337

Thanks Bandit,...my boots have plenty of space so the higher volume ones would be best.
Are they worth £35 though?

footbed? Started by User in Ski Hardware, 26 Replies
I have just taken delivery of my new footbeds. However, when i took the lining out of my salomon cf mission boots, i found there to be some blue heelpads stuck to the black plastic base of the boots inside. Can anyone tell me whether these are standard fit or is it likely that they were added by the previous owner of the boots? I'm just not sure wether or not to remove them...

Messages posted by : xt600