Bansko plateau in February's cold days

The last week has seen high temperatures. Glorious Bansko days.

All this meaning melting snow. So I’m taking a look at the weather charts and we will have lower temperatures arriving today. So a little good news; the rate of melting snow will slow down. BUT the heavy rain will really cause severe damage to the snow cover.

Tuesday is looking promising with lower temperatures, and bright sunshine.

Expect more rain in town, and (hopefully) snow on the very upper pistes today. The snow road is still open, but for how much longer it is difficult to say. It is likely there could be snow Thursday — but again hard to predict if this will be falling as snow. It could be snow destroying rain higher up.

The season ending

Whilst Ulen, the lift operator, seem keen to keep lifts open until 16th April, mother nature will have the ultimate say.

The large snow falls in February are helping to keep the upper slopes in good shape for the time being. But when the precipitation falls as rain, then we’ll see some piste closures soon. I only look five days ahead, as longer than that becomes guess work — but, at the moment, there is now sign of low temperatures moving in to give us a vintage end to the season we are wishing for.

The show goes on

Sunshine, and softer snow, do make for a good time to learn to ski. Long days and morning light make it easier to rise in the morning.

Thinking of gear

I don’t know why, but every year I get tempted to look at some gear for the following season. Is it the decent deals on online stores (my polarized Oakley goggles from freezeproshop.co uk were just too enticing a deal to resist) or was it just wanting to keep my enthusiasm going?

Or still working on that carving technique?

I have no idea.

But I do know I am not alone in this desire for a gear refresh. Is your jacket, like mine, looking a little dated?

Now can be a good time to look around for a deal. Most of the links in the ski fashion articles are still relevant. Bansko town has plenty of choice from nice apres ski gear from Conte de Florence and high end brands in Max Sport in the Kempinski to more affordable options elsewhere.

Do be careful when buying gear in Bansko; not all brands sold are the genuine article.

Bansko app and Bansko mobile

I have been encouraged by the comments on twitter on the usefulness of the App. In particular, the usage is looking very good. Motivating news for me to keep the focus on improving it as fast as a programmer and graphic designer can work!

The first of regular updates will be live soon. Be sure to download the Bansko app for iphone, ipad and ipod touch. Comment on itunes if you can.

Whilst the Android app is under development, I’m rolling out a series of upgrades to make the app useful in the summer. A new picture gallery will feature in this first upgrade. More on this soon.

In the meantime, Bansko Blog has a mobile version which is automatically accessed from any mobile phone when going to banskoblog.com. Live web streaming web cams, blog, video and more.

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view from the Tipi bar by the snow road

The snow conditions have been consistently rating at 9/10 for several weeks now. The World Cup weekends are over, UK school holidays are finished and we have the Pirin mountain back to ourselves — with all lifts operational.

I did not bother with reporting on the World Cup this year. I was out taking pictures, skiing, filming GOPRO movies and generally sampling new places. Yes it was crowded at times — but not unbearably so. That said, the events went very well and it was a tremendous atmosphere in the Badershishka Poliana area.

The stunts from snowboarders being flung high off a ramp by the snowmobile made for a very entertaining time. Live music on stage including the fabulous Eli from Taboo, the resident live band at Kempinski’s Sing Sing, made for an entertaining Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

A fluffy fresh 10cm of snow fell Tuesday and Wednesday making for a fine day out on the mountain yesterday. The tomba piste was a little icy in places — wonder why!

I’ve also been out sampling all the mountain restaurants and its nice to have another 2 lev beer option at the Izvorite hotel — located off to the right from the beginners run at Chalin Valog.

The Izvorite Wednesday party is fun. Just for watching snowboarders practice freestyle moves — with a 2 lev beer in hand. The Izvorite joins the Shiligarnika hotel and the Peshterite (2 lev beer) as my top three mountain places for sustenance.

Snow Forecast

This weekend is looking much warmer. Wind will close some lifts. Hot sunshine. Best conditions will be in the morning. The resort will be very bsuy this weekend with lift queues. Try and watch the live “Q” cam to decide the best time to go.

For week commencing 5th March, I can see snow arriving Tuesday 6th. There is a risk that this may fall as rain in town. There is also a risk that this may be Wednesday or may not happen at all predicting more that a few days ahead is always a challenge.

Bansko App – free download

On February 14th the new iphone, ipad and ipod touch Bansko app was launched. The number of downloads and the feedback has been very encouraging. Even if you have been out to Bansko for the season — its nice to check the live cams, weather videos and blog.

Much more functionality on its way in future upgrades. All will remain for free; so do download.

Click here for download at the itunes store.

Android, Blackberry and Windows versions will be introduced soon.

Three day lift passes

It’s good to see people booking a second trip in March. Short end of season trips make all the difference. If possible, I recommend coming out on a Sunday for a nice quick and easy transfer and empty midweek pistes.

To maximise your time on piste prebook 3 day lift passes. Just select this option on the ski packages pages.

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Lovin' Bansko now: January 2012

The Bansko snow forecast is good. Snow arrive Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The snow will fall, temperatures rising on Saturday.

The last seven days have been delivered memorable Bansko snowboarding and skiing conditions. Superb powder for my WhiteDot Preachers and Ones. Then it’s been followed by more on the piste pleasure than I could have ever imagined. A top Bansko ski season keeps rolling on.

More snow arriving will mean fresh powder. Bringing more smiles in Bansko town. Stay tuned to @bansko for updates, and news, via twitter.

Snow torture

The Plato: January 2012

Watching others on the live web cam is nice. The slightly hassled look. Folks striding expectantly to the lift. Nicely cold. It is torture to watch.

I know that torture, I remember that end of ski holiday feeling.

When it is all over for another year. A year of waiting lies ahead.

I remember that it’s just “too far away to contemplate” moment when trying to look forward to the next time in the snow. Which is a too far.

One YEAR away.

Snow fix: bring it forward

Simply perfect pistes: morning plato skiing Bansko January 2012

But I have a tip. Don’t wait that long. Grab a flight. Then book your discounted ski snow board hire, lessons, passes and transfer deal right here. The new online ski packages form is ultra simple to use. So, my tip of the day, is grab some quality Bansko mountain time as soon as you can but book another trip in March soon.

Don’t stop now — have a good (ski) time

Be nice to your boss today. For some it’s that annual review time of year. And may mean bonus time.

Go spend (some) of it on a ski/board trip.

Completing the holiday request form takes a few moments. Another Bansko trip — booked.

Catch the plane, or climb in the car. Bansko season still has plenty more to give us.

If you’re in Macedonia, Greece, Serbia or Romania you’re probably between three and seven hours away.

Loads of great places to stay from places. From places to spas to the more intimate smaller developments. My homes to rent section offers a select and high quality choice. Recommended reading for finding comfortable Bansko homes to make your stay.

Sing Sing: a place to be this weekend.

Sing Sing piano bar at the Kempinski

This Friday 3rd and 4th February sees i Groove come to Sing Sing piano bar at the Kempinski hotel. i Groove are playing and so I’ll be there.

And what’s more, Bansko Blog sponsors, Kempinski Grand Arena, are offering readers a handy 10% off a bottle of spirits. Just make a table reservation on the phone +359 (0) 749 88888, say Bansko Blog booking and you receive your 10% discount.

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Skiing in Bansko requires snow, and you could be forgiven that whilst looking at the sunny Bansko weather forecast, and looking at the web cams, whether it will snow again. Read on for the snow and weather forecast.

Snow Forecast

After a perfect skiing week in Bansko, ending today with high spring like temperatures of 18 C, there is still plenty of the season left to bring folks to Bansko. David’s optimism in our video snow report shows the positive energy of being in the mountains. The sunshine makes for memorable and happy days. Thank you David! White dot skis – very nice.

Take a look at the met chart here; we have a weather front passing over the region Wednesday / Thursday. This will bring a reasonable amount of snow for Bansko, and cooler temperatures. Good news, but be warned some forecast are not showing this as snow and some are showing this as Friday. It is still too early to be certain. But my expectations for new snow are always high. Here’s hoping for a fine spring ski season. The end of season date is always an unknown, generally around the 14th April. Depends on Ulen, the lift operating company.

NEW: Live Web Cam

The new live web cam is still under testing, please click on thumbnail picture for web cam. Your comments on this are welcome. The live cam and weather station has shown me some interesting (read suicidal) road crossing ventures. It’s there for all to monitor lift queues. There was nothing major this weekend – unlike the holiday weekend queues the previous week. Thank you to the team at SkiMania, George Kiselov for all their help and sponsorship of this what I think is a ground breaking cam.

Jamiroquai Headlines Elevation 2011: Festival News

Jamiroquai comes to Razlog, ten minutes from Bansko, for what will be a ground breaking two day festival on Friday 24th June and Saturday 25th June. More details here soon, in the meantime check out: http://www.eventim.bg/portal/bg/concerts/rok_pop/elevation_2011/91037/

If you liked this, please share it!

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• Please visit our blog sponsors: Bulgarienbo.com

Coming to Bansko soon? We now have same day turnaround. More great feedback from the many clients who’ve experienced our ski packages. Same 20% discount, same top ski shop location. Don’t delay, please book today.

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Improved snow conditions in Bansko. Thank you Ivan for a truly uplifting snow report. The reality right now is a less joyous. Warmer temperatures today and tomorrow and the rest of this week, Rain in town on Wednesday in town… BUT some much needed snow on the higher slopes. Plato still shut.

Stay tuned for more reports. Watch them as they are uploaded by subscribing to our YouTube channel. Be sure to tick the box to be notified be email when a new video is uploaded.

Weather Forecast

Remaining a little too warm. The big dump of snow we were all hoping for has not materialised. Looking like snow for several days mid next week, 20th January. Too early to say for sure. However, throughout this snow challenged time, there are plenty of people having loads of fun in Bansko. Both on the snow and in the bars and restaurants. Take a look at Vanya’s Non Skiing Guide for ideas.

Tip Of The Day:

Please be careful when busy. Still too many avoidable accidents keeping the snow patrols busy. Improve your technique, ski for longer and stay safer. Take some lessons!

Join us for our snow party and BanskoBlog’s 2nd birthday party on Saturday 15th at the Ti bar. Meet our team. Sign up for newsletter for ski hire and lessons discount form and special offer for the 15th Jan.

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Our video snow blog today comes from Sania at BanskoSkiMania, BanskoBlog’s ski packages partner. Bansko snow looking better for today, and for the next few days. The much needed snow can be seen in its glory in the video snow report. Everyone has been worried about the warm weather and general lack of the all important white stuff in Bansko. Frustrating times are coming to an end, we all hope. Subscribe to the YouTube Channel and/or follow on twitter for the snow reports as they are posted.

Weather Forecast

Looking ahead, temperatures will be generally nicely below freezing as the current pressure system moves off. Clear sunny skies are likely. However, signs of really massive dumps of snow are not yet in sight. The good news, after all this warm weather, are the much colder temperatures. This means that the snow cannon will do their job and help deliver some respectable piste skiing and snowboarding this week.

Piste Safety: Will You Avoid Injury?

I still see a lack of awareness of piste etiquette , and yet again the gondola medics will be kept busy patching up injuries — most of which are avoidable. Collisions are not uncommon. First day over enthusiasm combined with first day tiredness and lack of fitness is an injury red flag. Add in to the mix that “last run of the day” and, statistically speaking, you could be heading for harm. Please take it easy. Oh yes, whilst getting all boring –  I still see that around 25% of skiiers here have no ski insurance (lift pass insurance included is not sufficient). It is essential to have adequate cover in case of the need for specialist repatriation. It’s not expensive;  and it could save yourself and your family their life’s savings.

Tips Of The Day

Ebay for ski gear: I was checking out my favourite brand of ski clothing. Seemed like ebay has some excellent ski gear bargains. Anyone else had success here?

Ski Packages: Sania in today’s video is one of the qualified instructors for BanskoSkiMania. Lessons are discounted here by 20%. Now taking bookings up to 24 hours before arrival in Bansko. 100% refund guarantee should you not travel to resort. Click FAQ’s for more.

Still some last minute availability of luxury homes to rent.

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As the Bansko ski season comes to end, the snow on Monday made for excellent ski conditions higher up yesterday — and today they are good too. With lower temperatures, it’s looking reasonably okay until the end of the last day of the ski season, which is on Sunday 11th April.

It’s a fine time to make a trip to Bansko. Please come and enjoy the end of season parties, and get that final run in. There’s still snow. There’s 20% off lift passes from Ulen, the lift operator.

How Was The Ski Season For You?

Mountain Reflection On Gondola

How was your Bansko experience this year? What could have been better? Please let me know.

Overall I thought it was pretty good. Much of the negativity on people’s Bansko experience has been directed at Ulen. Their inability to manage queues properly over the busy New Year period was inexcusable. A shortage of the white stuff didn’t help them, but there are so many simple measures that they can use to alleviate the pressures. Then there was 14th of February. Greek holidays combined with UK many other European school holidays. It was simply awful. I took the pictures of the lift queues and left town.

Ulen, you must know what you need to do — because everyone else does. My rant over, but feel free to comment below.

When Should I visit Bansko For Skiing?

It depends what you are looking for. New Year is excellent fun. The New Year fireworks are like no other you’ll see, but with some lifts closed there were some lengthy lines this year. The end of season Easter time has yet again paid off, good skiing in the morning, no lift lines and plenty of warm sunshine. More people should book for this last week. However, there always seems to be uncertainty when exactly the last day Ulen will operate the lifts, so bear this in mind. Lets hope Ulen will be more specific when next season will end.

The Herd Instinct

Have you noticed how we all, in general, we all tend to do the same things at the same time? It’s like there is a mass thought control going on. Of course, much of this is based around national and school holidays, but also based on perceptions of weather, media influence and our friends. For example, several Bulgarian friends kept on saying that the season would be over on 1st March — it’s like weather abides by official seasons. Err… nope it doesn’t. Time and time again, weather patterns do not conform to stereotype. There was always a good chance it would cool down again for the last weeks of the season. And it did, thankfully. No queues and great skiing are amongst the many rewards for those in Bansko as I type.

Pirin Moutain Stream, Chalin Valog

The diversity of nationalities was astounding this year. A big presence of Israelis and Turkish as well as more from the Ukraine and Russia. Slightly fewer from the UK and Ireland. But many more from Romania, Macedonia and Serbia. This year I bumped into Swedes, Danish, French and Germans as well. No surprise that drinking cheaply features highly on the Scandinavians’ list of reasons for coming to Bulgaria.

Then there are week days. If you have the flexibility to snowboard/ski during the week, or travel outside the usual Saturday, then the reward is fewer people — which often means that the prepared snow lasts all day. Overall, I would predict Bansko visitors numbers were not less than last year. it seems more people gave Bansko a try this year — and most seemed to liked it. Especially those who were prepared and did their research.

With a decent lunch still possible on the mountain for 5 EUR, compared to 25 EUR in many French resorts, Bulgaria’s ski resorts have some significant price advantages. Affordable ski school and hire, as well as food and drink, make Bansko, Borovets and Pamporovo are cheaper and excellent alternatives to Western Europe resorts.

Free T Shirt

If you enjoyed this then why not sign up for more like this? Until 30th April new subscribers to the BanskoBlog newsletter will be entered into a free draw. There will be two lucky winners of the “No Snow, No Show” Eric Clapton replica T shirt I model in the video at the top of this post. In addition, all subscribers will receive a 15% discount code for clothes from submitandremix. com.

I’ll be bringing more info to your email inbox on the hidden restaurant and nightclub gems in Sofia, along with the top activities and tours in and around Bansko.

Tip Of The Day

Haggle hard for a deal on end of season ski and snowboard gear. George, at Banskoskimania, is selling ex hire skis from around 90 lev, up to around 190 lv for ex hire VIP skis.

Subscribe to my Banskoblog YouTube channel to be notified of new videos

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Just got back from a wonderful morning of skiing. No major queues and weather looking good for next week. More snow on its way. Please see video report. Some high winds, but a nice layer of powder made for memorable first tracks.

Photographs Taken On 27th February 2010

Picture Taken 27th February 2010: Looking up To Top Of Todorka 1 Lift

Piture Taken 27th February 2010: View To Buderitsa

Pictures Taken 27th February 2010

Vaz, 27th February 2010

Picture Taken 27th February 2010

Pictures 27th Febuary: Ulen Kindergarten At Buderitsa

Picture Taken 27th February: Vaz In Todorka Powder

If you enjpyed this and would like more on Bansko, then join today for absolutely spam free email newsletter.

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It’s video snow reports today. And, oh yes, did I have fun. Brand new Head ski boots (RS 90′s 90/100) from the Head Test Centre revolutionisid my skiing. Not only were the ski conditions much better, but we enjoyed an apres ski tekkie fest editing the video you see above and below. Be sure to watch this for Stefan’s crash. Stefan is a top snpwboarder, check out his last Bansko weather forecast. Oh, I should add that, apart from a little soreness, he was okay.

Weather Forecast

More snow Friday and Saturday. Cold temperatures – around -7C.  Pistes are still compact, but only a few patches of ice. One or two stones can be seen on the piste.

But don’t let this put you off — it’s so much better conditions. More snow will see  improving and less hard conditions some more. Best skiing in the morning.

Video Production

These videos were taken on my usual small Sanyo Xacti camera, some two years old — but ideal for putting in the pocket and taking up the mountain. Basically it’s simple to make these… it’s the editing that takes time. Please comment below or email me on what you would like to see on my video reports in the future.

Tip of the day

Taxis:  never pay more than 10lev to go anywhere within in Bansko town. Agree rate before jumping in.

Ski Packages

Save money on ski / board hire / lessons / lift pass. Simply subscribe to this blog and ou will automatically receive my quote form for huge discounts on prepaid packages. If you book accommodation and transfer,  you can beat the tour operator prices and get top quality too.

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Today’s snow forecast video report comes from Stefan. We hooked up via twitter a few months back.  But this twitter thing works. He saw the twitter… and joined us for a beer in JJ Murphy’s on the 29th December.

Anyhow, we were pretty excited to check out the ski conditions after some good reports from yesterday.

Platoto: 16th January 2010

But today we were disappointed. Apart from on the Plato, the snow was hard packed with icy patches — making for a some tricky conditions. There is no more than 60 cm of snow at Todorka.

Weather Forecast

I’ve just looked up my favourite site for weather charts http://www.meteonet.nl/aktueel/brackall.htm and there is an occluded front passing over the region on Monday.  This means snow. So Tuesday should offer some better conditions.

And we need it.

The Kukeri

Kukeri In Simitli: 16th January 2010

As we turned of at Simitli we saw the start of the Kukeri festival. A quite unusual spectale. We parked up and I took this short video. I’ll leave it to wikipedia for what this is all about…. But first a short video of this rather unusual ritual:

“This is a traditional Bulgarian ritual to scare away evil spirits, with a costumed man performing the ritual. The costumes cover most of the body and includes decorated wooden masks of animals (sometimes double-faced) and large bells attached to the belt. Around New Year and before Lent, the kukeri walk and dance through the village to scare evil spirits away with the costumes and the sound of the bells, as well as to provide a good harvest, health, and happiness to the village during the year.

The kukeri traditionally visit the peoples houses at night so that “the sun would not catch them on the road.” After going around the village they gather at the square to dance wildly and amuse the people. The ritual varies by region but its essence remains largely the same.” So there you have it; The Kukeri.

Picture Taken 2.30pm Saturday 16th January 2010

Twitter

Stefan a top snowboarder and you can check out his tweets here: twitter.com/banskosnow which I regularly retweet on twitter.com/bansko.

If you found this useful, please subscribe to my newsletter. It brings you the latest news of Bansko. No bias and no BS. Oh… and if you have twitter, do please connect with us.

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