Saturday/Sunday - Delays and a zombie.
To be honest, it didn't start well. I lived in London at the time, so I arrived nice and early at Gatwick, checked in, had a browse round the shops, had a quick Guinness, wandered to the gate and boarded the plane. We taxied onto the runway and revved up the engines, and revved them again, and again, and again, and then taxied back to the gate to wait half an hour for steps so we could all get off again.
So starts the longest delay I've ever experienced. We were supposed to take off at 18.40 on Saturday. By the time they found us another bloody plane and got us on it was around 04.20 on Sunday ... just under 10 hours in Gatwick! They did give us some compensation. It was a £3 food/drink voucher. Bear in mind that a McDonalds in the airport, which was the only food place still open, cost about a fiver, and a pint in the bar costs £2.80 (in 2004!) A £3 voucher! 10 hours!
Leaving my emotions about the flight behind for sanity's sake I boarded the coach to Pamporovo at around nine on Sunday morning and, with the other people on board, we optimistically decided that we were all very lucky to be approaching the resort during the day, watching the mountains getting higher and the snow getting thicker.
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| Approach to Pamprovo |
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| Inside the Rohzen |
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| Blue/Green on the other side of the mountain |
Off the mountain but still in boarding gear, it's time for the Balkan Welcome Meeting, and the Balkan Welcome Meeting Wine. Due to THAT delay I've not really slept, had an afternoon on a snowboard, and then had a few glasses of scary red Balkan Welcome Meeting Wine, is it any wonder I became a zombie, with the proper shuffle and everything.
I shuffled to a pub called the White Hart, had a 1 lev pint (as knackered as I was, it was rude not to), then had a half hearted explore through the shopping centre and hotel lobby's. They are all inter-connected so you don't really ever have to wander outside if you're on the main street. I ended up at the other end in a pub called BJ's where I had a small bottle of beer to fortify me for the walk back. Of course it was happy hour, so I got another bottle free. This really finished me so I headed back to the Rohzen, stopping only for another 1 lev pint for the hill. I popped my head round the door of NightFlight on the way up to my room (a nightclub in the basement of the Hotel Rohzen) but didn't stop. By entering I had doubled the amount of people in there!
Monday - Boarding, Bells and Black-outs
There's been a mix up with my boarding lessons. I'd paid for three mornings ... what I've got is five full days. I even argued a bit with George, but soon shut my mouth as I realised how much in my favour this was. The pace of the lessons suited me fine, come up a little later in the morning and join the class as they started tackling some bigger runs. Some great boarding in some amazing sunshine... Salopettes, t-shirt, gloves and sunscreen, and a few icy beers. This is a holiday.
I got into a habit of coming off the mountain around four in the afternoon, leaving my kit at the mountain hire depot and catching one of the many free buses into the town. It's about a five or ten minute journey, depending where your hotel is, and pleasant apart from one peculiarity. I've boarded all over the world by now and haven't seen this anywhere else. There are lines and lines of men trying to sell you bells. Tiny, annoying, fairly crappy looking bells. And boy, are they persistent! Every morning and afternoon you run an off-key, tinkling gauntlet of 'You buy bell, you buy bell, yes please'.
The thing is, I did really intend to buy one on my last afternoon. But by the time I got off the hill that day, the buggers had gone!
Anyway, I got into a habit of coming back to the hotel at around quarter past four, hanging my gear up to dry, having a quick hot drink and a cig on the balcony, and going to my bed for a few hours. To this day, I still do it (except for the cig.) Most of the evening entertainments don't start until seven or eight o'clock and the restaurants serve until the early hours. Great way to recharge the batteries, especially considering what was happening tonight...
...the Balkan/Inghams pub crawl. A tour of the resort's drinking establishments, a chance to meet other guests and a free shot in every pub, all for a few lev.
It started with convivial drinks and conversation in the (beautiful) lobby of the hotel Pamporovo where I met up with five other early birds ... Kevin, Tony, young Ian, forgot and don't remember. As around thirty people were expected we got, well, more than one free shot each. Onwards to BJ's (why have the pubs so far apart!) where we found the other 25 crawlers ... and then some.
More free shots and Achy Breaky Heart on the Karaoke. And beer. Dak's bar next for fore me shots and beer. Had to do a forfeit as I'd broken some drinking rule that I had forgotten about and ended up kissing ten girls in ten seconds. They haven't called. White Hart next I think (might have been unknown mystery pub between Daks and White Hart but then again we might have just stopped in one of the hotel lobbys) Flee Shlots in White Hart and beer. And beer. As it was the reps birthday she headed up to NightFlight. As we were drunk and on a pub crawl we followed her, not knowing what else to do. She got annoyed as she was actually just going to the toilet. Ended up in NightFlight anyway. Apparently vodka, maybe beer, woke up with my jeans still on.
Tuesday - Hungover morning, amazing afternoon.
Spent the morning chilling quietly in the snow, drinking coffee and watching the group get better and better, only tentatively joining in. The slopes were so quiet we almost had the place to ourselves, so I spend more time taking photos than I do on my board. Also managed to get myself up to the top of the TV tower at the top of the mountain, the views make it well worth a visit.
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| It's Windy up the TV Tower |
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| Spring Snow |
Back at the welcome meeting on day one I felt like a bit of a loner, being one of the few single travellers there on the night. I'd therefore signed up for a few of the activities. The aforementioned bar crawl, tomorrow night's pub quiz, and tonight's ... Yabba Dabba Doo Bowling.
I was late and was assigned to a team on arrival. They were a lovely bunch and included Tony from the bar crawl last night, as it turns out, another lone traveller. It's basically a standard game of bowling but you can't bowl in the usual way. Each round has a different twist, for instance bowl with your feet or between your legs, or between someone else's legs. It was just what I needed, a quietish night and a great laugh, and through some bizarre twist, my team ended up winning! A few celebration beers then.
Wednesday - The Run of the Week
Get a coffee at the little stand by the bottom of the chairlift, and for the first time, manage to sit down, get the bar over my head and head off up the hill without spilling the lot over my gloves, jacket and everyone else in the vicinity. Having a lovely ride up when I see my group passing underneath my feet, as they start to graduate from green to blue.
I have a few runs on my own as I wait for them, then as they approach I see huge smiles.
It didn't take long until we were all riding together, and that day, after lunch, it clicked. You'll know what I mean when I say that we all had 'The Run of the Week'. We were gliding in and out of each other, and the other slope users, laughing, waving to our instructor and having pure and simple fun! It was to be our last run of the day, but as soon as we hit the bottom there was a mutual cry of AGAIN AGAIN, so we did, twice. Fantastic!
We come off the mountain too late for me to grab a kip before meeting Tony. We were both signed up for the pub quiz and had decided to form a team. Our first dissapointment was that it was actually a pop quiz. Our second was that we were almost the only people there.
In all fairness, it would have been good if it had been busier but, as with all the organised activities, you could really tell that the season was winding down. There were only really two teams ... one large table and one small one with Tony and myself. The big team split into two, eventually coming first and third. Our wee table filled the gap with a close second. It was a decent enough pop quiz, seven rounds of five questions each and a 'fun' forfeit round that would have been better with more people. Never mind, because of the small turn out I was a shoe-in to win the Karaoke. Achy Breaky Heart won us some wine ... Bulgarian Welcome Meeting Wine. If you look, I bet it's still hidden under our table.
Thursday - Just Fuck off, Thursday!
After our runs on Wednesday I was looking really forward to Thursday morning. Up really bright and early I got talking an instructor at the bottom of the three man chair and we ended up riding it together.
He told me not to hold my snowboard the way I was, but to lay it across my legs. He moved it, I adjusted my position on the chair, and my backpack silently slithered off the chair to the snow below. (Break for swearing) My back pack contained my gloves, water, hat, scarf and bloody expensive mobile phone, and if it wasn't for the phone I would never have attempted the following. (swearing)
The snowboard instructor who caused all this was very cool about it. Oh, it's not a problem, the next pole is number 10, so it fell off near number 9, you just board down and get it. (more swearing) I got off at the top, strapped on my board, and did my first black run of the holiday, right under the chairlift. (with no gloves) I followed the path of the lift on board for a long as I could, then unstrapped and walked, and walked, and walked. I came to tower 12 and the ground left me.
My pack was in the middle of the most inaccessible area under the tow. I skidded down into the area, using trees to stop myself going to far, and literally pulled myself over the snow. Anytime I tried to walk, my leg disappeared well over my knee, making movement practically impossible. I clambered over fallen trees, down near vertical slopes and over very deep drifts, carrying my board behind me. (more swearing) I'll spare you the details of every step, but after I emerged onto a cross country run, an hour or so after getting my pack back, I was bruised, bleeding and had torn my salopettes. Not the best day.
I went up the chair again straight after and found my group, but I'd had the joy of snow kicked out of me by that time. Had a crap lunch and slowly made my way down the green, and found it very slushy, slow and patchy. Was in a great mood by now. Threw off my gear and went home early to find a pub!
Took a break for a meal of (reasonable) carbonara and (lovely) tiramisu in a resteraunt called Cosmos that overlooks the roads to the resort and managed to get out on the balcony for a few photos, although the guy who opened the door for me had an enormous gun in a holster that took me by surprize a bit.
I high-tailed it to the nearest pub to find people I could bore with my tale of woe in return for drink. Judging by my head the next morning, I found them.
Friday - Kilts on Stage
Friday fortunately restored my faith in snow sports somewhat, with some reds in the morning with George and most of the guys in the group then a lazy few hours over lunch where I watched everyone play as I sat in the gorgeous sunshine taking the odd trip down the blue at the back of the mountain. Good job it was sunny as the crotch of my salupetes was now almost gone thanks to yesterday's adventure.
Finally to end the day, one of the guys from my group and myself tackled the black under the chair which was VERY patchy at the top, but still fairly complete to the bottom. A bit dodgy and scary to start with, but the last three quarters of it was the perfect run to end on.
That night was the Snowboard School certificate presentation, and I dressed for the occasion in boots, black top and kilt. Bulgarian Welcome Meeting Wine was the order of the night and after a bottle or two we went up on stage for certificates (thanks to all the whistles my kilt got!) more free wine, won a pair of sunspecs in the raffle, got more whistles (a few worrying ones from men ... they haven't called), more free wine, then off to the White Hart for the last time.
All week I had been boarding with one lot of people and out playing at night with another lot, many of who came and went over the course of the week. Friday night was the first time where everyone I had enjoyed the week with turned up in the one place. Fantastic. I turned up a week ago on my own, and ended up spending the night wandering round the White Hart chatting to almost everyone in the place. A great end to a great week. Except the Thursday which can, as I said, fuck right off!
NOTES
This was first written in three parts (Travel, Boarding and Nightlife) for bulgariaski.com, then the three were hastily combined for skidvd.co.uk. I've tried to re-write this to suit the diary format of all the other reports. As I mentioned the photos get better every year with camera phone technology ... these are the very worst ones!
This wasn't my first trip to Bulgaria, but it was my first (and only) visit to Pamporovo. I went on my own as it was a bit of a last minute whim and no-one else was willing to part with the cash or drop things on short notice, also this was mid-March 2004 and the season was very much winding down.
Pamporovo has a compact and yet fairly jumping night life. It was very evident at times that the season was ending, but it was still busy enough to have a great laugh... especially on the pub crawl. I dread to think how the three main bars cope during the high season, I bet they can get VERY busy. This would have been an advantage on the organised activities (the bowling and the pop quiz) but would have been a bugger when you wanted to get served in a hurry! As far as I know the resort hasn't changed much, although the White Hart was knocked down and re-opened elsewhere
It's a real shame that it didn't snow all week, but the sunshine almost made up for it. I came home with such a tan, but I'd have swapped that for one or two powder days.
After our runs on Wednesday I was looking really forward to Thursday morning. Up really bright and early I got talking an instructor at the bottom of the three man chair and we ended up riding it together.
He told me not to hold my snowboard the way I was, but to lay it across my legs. He moved it, I adjusted my position on the chair, and my backpack silently slithered off the chair to the snow below. (Break for swearing) My back pack contained my gloves, water, hat, scarf and bloody expensive mobile phone, and if it wasn't for the phone I would never have attempted the following. (swearing)
The snowboard instructor who caused all this was very cool about it. Oh, it's not a problem, the next pole is number 10, so it fell off near number 9, you just board down and get it. (more swearing) I got off at the top, strapped on my board, and did my first black run of the holiday, right under the chairlift. (with no gloves) I followed the path of the lift on board for a long as I could, then unstrapped and walked, and walked, and walked. I came to tower 12 and the ground left me.
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| Long Way Down |
I went up the chair again straight after and found my group, but I'd had the joy of snow kicked out of me by that time. Had a crap lunch and slowly made my way down the green, and found it very slushy, slow and patchy. Was in a great mood by now. Threw off my gear and went home early to find a pub!
Took a break for a meal of (reasonable) carbonara and (lovely) tiramisu in a resteraunt called Cosmos that overlooks the roads to the resort and managed to get out on the balcony for a few photos, although the guy who opened the door for me had an enormous gun in a holster that took me by surprize a bit.
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| View from Cosmos |
Friday - Kilts on Stage
Friday fortunately restored my faith in snow sports somewhat, with some reds in the morning with George and most of the guys in the group then a lazy few hours over lunch where I watched everyone play as I sat in the gorgeous sunshine taking the odd trip down the blue at the back of the mountain. Good job it was sunny as the crotch of my salupetes was now almost gone thanks to yesterday's adventure.
Finally to end the day, one of the guys from my group and myself tackled the black under the chair which was VERY patchy at the top, but still fairly complete to the bottom. A bit dodgy and scary to start with, but the last three quarters of it was the perfect run to end on.
That night was the Snowboard School certificate presentation, and I dressed for the occasion in boots, black top and kilt. Bulgarian Welcome Meeting Wine was the order of the night and after a bottle or two we went up on stage for certificates (thanks to all the whistles my kilt got!) more free wine, won a pair of sunspecs in the raffle, got more whistles (a few worrying ones from men ... they haven't called), more free wine, then off to the White Hart for the last time.
All week I had been boarding with one lot of people and out playing at night with another lot, many of who came and went over the course of the week. Friday night was the first time where everyone I had enjoyed the week with turned up in the one place. Fantastic. I turned up a week ago on my own, and ended up spending the night wandering round the White Hart chatting to almost everyone in the place. A great end to a great week. Except the Thursday which can, as I said, fuck right off!
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| Look, A Cloud! |
This was first written in three parts (Travel, Boarding and Nightlife) for bulgariaski.com, then the three were hastily combined for skidvd.co.uk. I've tried to re-write this to suit the diary format of all the other reports. As I mentioned the photos get better every year with camera phone technology ... these are the very worst ones!
This wasn't my first trip to Bulgaria, but it was my first (and only) visit to Pamporovo. I went on my own as it was a bit of a last minute whim and no-one else was willing to part with the cash or drop things on short notice, also this was mid-March 2004 and the season was very much winding down.
Pamporovo has a compact and yet fairly jumping night life. It was very evident at times that the season was ending, but it was still busy enough to have a great laugh... especially on the pub crawl. I dread to think how the three main bars cope during the high season, I bet they can get VERY busy. This would have been an advantage on the organised activities (the bowling and the pop quiz) but would have been a bugger when you wanted to get served in a hurry! As far as I know the resort hasn't changed much, although the White Hart was knocked down and re-opened elsewhere
It's a real shame that it didn't snow all week, but the sunshine almost made up for it. I came home with such a tan, but I'd have swapped that for one or two powder days.
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