Ski season starts 17th December 2016; the Countdown begins

Looking towards Todorka. Picture taken 12th October 2017

The Bansko 2016/17 ski season officially opens on 17th December 2016. The countdown begins. The opening ceremony as well as my first day on the pistes is one I always look forward to. EDIT: If there is sufficient snow, Ulen inform me that the lifts will open on the 1st December.

The snow higher up on the Pirin yesterday and today put me in the mood. Taking an evening stroll on the grassy snow road yesterday I paused to admire the clouds and the incoming rain and snow higher up on the Rila mountains opposite in the distance.

It was time to pull out the iPhone, the mic and selfie stick and record this to show you how nice it is here in Autumn. With a glass of your favourite tipple, I invite you look forward to happy times on the snow.

It’s time to book your Bansko ski trips. And if you need to call abroad then you can recharge your prepaid SIM card using Nobelcom prepaid service.

First snow on Todorka. Picture taken 12th October 2016

The air is fresh, the colours are soft and brown. I always find this time of the year gives me extra dose of positive energy.

And it’s the time of year for winter preparation. For many, that means chopping logs, but for me I roll with the new tech in heating.

I was off to Razlog to buy a pellet burner. I had done my research there earlier and was regretting not sorting this out last month as the shop was was understaffed. But patience prevailed and I managed to get the attention, and make the decision for a 14kw in-room pellet burner.

Then, to my amazement the engineer said he could deliver and fit a little late “after 5pm”

To his word and only 30 minuted late, the same guy in the shop — now the delivery guy too — calls and the truck pulls up. Within the hour it is installed and tested.

Relief. With a new born baby in the family he (Tony) will be warm. All set for now for snow and low temperatures. The days when temperatures can drop to -20C are now no longer feared. We’ll all be as warm as toast this season.

Opening ceremony info (announced by lift operator Ulen on banskoski.com)

44-year-old illustrious Austrian Downhill Fritz Strobl, who for nearly two decades, holds the record for the fastest time on the piste – “Shtrayf” will launch on 14th opening ceremony in Bansko’s №1 resort on 17th December. He will become the 28th legend to do so, and will start the winter season on Banderishka meadow like has always been done since 2003.

Strobl is the 16th Olympic champion.

Fritz Strobl has 31 podiums in the World Cup series – 9 wins (7 downhill and Super G 2 and 110 timesfeatured in the Top 10. It was the second success, on January 25th, 1997 in Kitzbuehel, when he flew like a bullet and reached 106.9 km/h and finished in a superhuman  time of 1: 51.58 minutes.

A time which is unmatched to this day. Furthermore, future guest of Bansko are among the handful of skiers with a double “Shtrayf.” After the historic 1997, he won the fierce competition, known as “Hanenkamabfart” in 2000

His biggest triumph is undoubtedly Olympic gold from Salt Lake City (USA) in 2002, when on 10 February with the start №10 competition. A curious detail about that time that summer Fritz worked as a policeman in the town of Hallein. In 2007 he became the world champion team in Ore (IIIB), and shortly thereafter terminated his career.

In his farewell ride – Super G World Cup on March 15th in Lenzerheide (Swiss), Strobl did something unique; he wore a costume and wig of the XVIII century. He dressed as a genius composer and of course, his compatriot, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

This spectacle required him to stop several times to take applause. Subsequently he built up the musical theme, recording the song “Genius of skis” which reaches №2 in Austria.

A true classic of the period was with Hermann Maier, Maier and Stephan Eberharter – and 2-system indeed have found no seasons in Bansko – respectively in 2012 and 2014. With them he was an accomplice in one of the most incredible achievements in skiing – on December 21, 1998 in the Super G World Cup on home scene in Innsbruck 9 Austrians have captured the first 9 places in the standings! Maier is a 1-O Strobl – 3-o and Eberharter – 4-o.

Finally there’s a little known detail of his biography which is connected directly to Bansko. And it is that Fritz Strobl had to come Todorka in the retinue of the Prince of Monaco Albert II of unfulfilled charity competition World Star Ski Event in 2011 — which took place a year later.

Thanks for reading.

This post first appeared on banskoblog.com