Vitosha: Slippery Slopes

It’s pure luxury, after a 10 km drive from Sofia you are in winter wonderland, a.k.a. Vitosha Mountain. On one cold Sunday afternoon I decided to make my way up, and see for myself. Slowly but surely the car made its way through Dragalevtsi, up the mountain. The road going up was covered in a mixture of snow and sand. Now and again I had to bite my lip, when the car decided to slip a little now and again in the curves. Just when I thought that the only convenient and probably secure way to make it up the mountain is in a Jeep-like vehicle, I saw an old Moskvich happily passing us by. Maybe I was wrong. The higher we went, the rougher the weather got. It was extremely windy, which caused snow hazes to whirl around. On the way I saw a stray snowboarder coming out of the bushes. Maybe he got lost somehow. There were few hotels scattered around, but they didn’t seem very impressive to me. I was heading for Aleko, almost the top of the Vitosha Mountain. When I finally arrived, the place looked somewhat deserted. There were only a couple of snowboarders standing around, looking a bit confused. A couple of ski-instructors telling these people that the weather conditions were not good and that it was dangerous to continue boarding. They were very disappointed. But honestly the wind made it impossible to see anything. One of the instructors, who didn’t want to be mentioned by name, said: “The mountain is beautiful. I spent more time during my childhood on Vitosha then with my family at home. But to tell you the truth, I am very disappointed. The facilities are really not up to standard. Some of the lifts are not working. And there is no real good quality accommodation available. Just opposite the lift is a huge hotel that’s deserted. It was build during socialist times, and after the changes it was closed. Now it just sits there. I can’t understand why nobody invests a bit of money here. It’s good that ski-resorts like Pamporovo, Bansko and Bororvets are doing fine. But how can you disregard the ski-resort closest to Bulgaria’s capital?” The young snowboarders were not as harsh in their opinions. “I love boarding here,” says XXX. “It’s so beautiful and the snow and the slopes are excellent!” Her somewhat frozen French boyfriend agrees. Further up, I found a cute Spanish couple, seeking for shelter. “It’s our first time ever that we went snowboarding, but as far as we can tell it’s very nice and beautiful,” says Paolo. “But of course we’re not experts. In any case I can say that we like Bulgaria very much!” It was high time for something hot, since I was beginning to feel a bit frozen myself. And considering that there was not much activity on the slopes, I thought people would be hiding out either at the restaurant or the ski school. The ski school was a drab affair. Bored people occupied here and there, smoking heavily. It didn’t seem like a sporty kind of atmosphere, so I decided to try my luck at the restaurant. After some heavy searching I found a block hut, which was the alleged restaurant. Upon entering I had a slight suspicion that I had entered through the kitchen or back door. But after just trying a couple of doors, indeed it seemed the restaurant’s entrance. Sadly enough there was not much going on. The entire staff of the restaurant was discussing changes in the menu, while sipping some hard liquor. There were about five guests in the restaurant, which much looked like a camping cafeteria to me, and three of them were ready to leave, leaving behind wrappers of chocolate bars. After some hot tea, I decided to head back to town. Because except for a frozen poodle, there really wasn’t anybody left. Night Skiing Want to experience the thrill of night skiing? The Zaeka run, which starts at Aleko, is a 400 meter illuminated slope.