UKC

Hi all,

was wondering if a anyone has done this from borovets. 
 

With ski prices for next feb half term absolutely ludicrous, was thinking of sacking of our usual alps trip and taking cheaper option of a bit of skiing in Bulgaria, with combining it with climbing  Musala. 
 

Not interested in anything technical as want to take a as minimum kit as poss as will be flyin over with snowboarding kit. 
 

just after any info on how long people have took on the easiest plod up from the top of the ski lifts? Also what’s the viability of skiing/snowboarding down.

Any help Greatly appreciated!

We had a week in Borovets in Jan 2013. Musala is not much more than 500m above the lift, and it's a very popular and easy ascent in summer. I walked up past the huts one day, but as I was wearing trainers, not much further. So, sorry, no first hand experience. Couple of dozen assorted photos here - https://www.streapadair.com/Travel/Bulgaria/

I did it in summer in 2019 and I think it took about 2 hours up. Not entirely obvious from below which summit we were heading for so make sure you have some sort of map or gpx. The route isn't hard or especially steep, the final slog has poles in the ground, but I think in winter and deep snow it might take a lot longer. 

The summit is nice- weather station, trig point thing and good views all round so definitely worth doing. 

Good luck! 

Ps we rode up and down the Borovets lifts for some forest walking - I thought the potential for skiing looked good and the town is nice as well. Just make sure you have cash. In 2019 absolutely nobody took credit or debit cards for anything

I did this in winter about 15 years ago from the top cable car station, along the ridge and back. It took me all day with axe and crampons and I just missed the last cable car down, forcing me to walk the green route back to Borovets in the dark (with headtorch), which I reached around 9:30pm. I probably didn't get the first car up though, as I was with skiing friends. From memory, grade 1 Scottish, something akin to Striding Edge in winter, but longer. I noticed there also appeared to be another, perhaps easier and definitely shorter way up, which was maybe used as access to the summit weather station. This can be gained from the bottom of the parallel ski runs coming off the ridge. You may be able to get a lift from some sort of vehicle to the start of that, as I remember a 4x4 type of thing rocking up and dropping off.

Skiing down from the summit did not look like an option for me, but I'm not much of a skier anyway, so left them back at the accommodation.

Might try to find some photos later which may provide further details.

Have a great one

Cheers thanks for this!

I have done it as a ski tour off the lift system. I think it was a couple of hours plus to the base of the final ridge. We stashed skis and climbed the ridge....as mentioned above, there was a fixed fat rope though nothing really technical. It was a good day out...probably in March. I think the approach would have been a real grunt without snowshoeing or skiing in the conditions that we encountered. A nice ski down