The ski season in Bulgaria is now officially unveiled, even though with artificial snow. Bansko resort did it first, as fans of the white sport gathered there on Saturday, in order to welcome once again legendary skiers who gave the start to the new season with demonstrative downhill performances. Just like so many previous years the official ceremony was attended by the only one so far 5-time winner of the World Cup and an old friend of Bansko Marc Girardelli, along with the best Bulgarian Alpine skier Petar Popangelov. Two-time Olympic champion Markus Wasmeier was the special guest this year.

Bansko is the most modern winter center in East Europe – over the past 12 years the Pirin resort town has turned into a wanted ski destination. This year the resort can boast with a new six-seat chair lift. The modern facility has replaced the 32-year-old lift that used to be the only one for both tracks up until 12 years ago. There are different tracks today up there with an overall length of some 70 km and various levels of difficulty. However, the replacing process had faced the opposition of environmentalists for years. “There are problems of that kind across the whole world,” Marc Girardelli commented in the role of a counselor to the Bulgarian ministry of tourism.

“I believe that the Bulgarian government has realized the fact that we can’t talk about successful tourism without modernization of infrastructure. The ski zone above Bansko is a fact and I think the voice of the locals should be heard in this argument, as tourism makes their living. The development of the resort is really important for its future,” Girardelli claims.

A series of starts for the Alpine Skiing World Cup have contributed to the resort’s fame, also broadcast on TV. Markus Wasmeier is one of the white stars, two times Olympic champion from the Lillehammer Games in 1994. The German skier gifted to Bansko his mascot – a medallion with the Scandinavian god of winter, Uller, depicted on it. The mascot first appeared back in 1894 when the first ski club in Lillehammer was established. 100 years later, Wasmeier won his two Olympic titles right there. That was not his first visitto Bansko , but he is still surprised by the attitude of people towards the mountain and skiing. “Locals here feel true joy among nature,” he says. However, he doesn’t see the atmosphere in the town as that pleasant.

“I don’t like the mixture of old-town atmosphere and new hotels. Bansko could have benefited more and could have turned into a remarkable spot if it had preserved its authentic spirit and old traditions,” says Markus Wasmeier. The man has been investing in the restoration of old houses in his own Bavarian village for years and has managed to preserve a whole ethnographic settlement. “When you tend to copy the style of meretricious American or European resorts, you end up with a tasteless spot. No one shall enjoy staying at a hotel that recalls the panel blocks in the suburbs of the former Eastern Bloc. Bansko needs to show its history and culture, since this is valuable and it also attracts a higher class of visitors. The ski zone is really professionally touched. It should be the same in the town as well,” white star and top skier Markus Wasmeier told Radio Bulgaria.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev