Usually the winters in Bulgaria are alike. Some are more snowy, some are less, but there are some general rules about skiing conditions in different periods. The serious Winter usually starts with a heavy snowfall in November, and several lighter till the beginning of December. After that cold and sunny weather settles for about 15 days. This makes the first half of Dec. perfect for Powder skiing in the high mountains (although access is very difficult).  The second half is usually not so nice. About New Year there is one big snowfall (greatest conditions in Pamporovo and Bansko) and in January the terrain is usually hard. Sometimes February is like January, but sometimes (in about 3 years) is very, very snowy (like this year). In such years some lucky guys (including me) succeed to "catch" some great Powder days. March is the best month for the lovers of "the freshies". Thick snow covers the slopes day after day. Just after the biggest snowfall (in the middle or at the end of March) there are 5-6 perfect days. Minus 10-15C, no wind and "Brother Ray" shining high in the sky. April is a month with it's own character. While in the valley the spring has came, in the mountains the conditions are unpredictable. It has happened to be sunny 15-20 days but some years it has snowed almost non-stop. At the end of April - Beginning of May suddenly comes the biggest enemy of the Bulgarian skier- the hot Sahara wind. It "eats" sometimes up to 1,5m of snow cover just in several days. The snow becomes reddish and disappears very quickly. Luckily something stays- in the couloirs. And the time of skiing steep scary terrain comes...This it the time for visits to Maljovitca and the Balkan range.
 
  Avalanches in Bulgaria's mountains.
 
The Western Face of Todorka 
The superb Western Face of  Todorka usually offers 
superb powder conditions. Anyway once or twice a 
year these 700m slopes are sweaped by big avalanches		 Main avalanche factors are the strong N-Western winds and the sun. Southern and Eastern slopes are often melted and then frozen. And when the winds start they accumulate a lot of packed snow just above them. According to me this is the reason for the very common avalanches on these slopes. Northern and Western slopes are generally stable (excluding days of heavy snowfalls and the following ones).Typical examples for slopes with fequent avalanches are the Huge Eastern slope of Vihren (Pirin) and the big couloir in the region of Kominite (Vitosha) 
    The Bulgarian Mountain Rescue Service (PKSS) doesn't provide enough and good information for the avalanche conditions and so everyone has to estimate the conditions and decide for himself. Another thing that should be known is that RECCO won't help you in Bulgaria.The Mountain Rescue service just hasn't got locators. PIPS-es and others Beepers are much better idea. 
 
Favorite mountains and places

 Maljovitca Region

 
 Orlovec peak in Maliovica region 
       The beautiful N Face of Orlovec		   
Northern Walls ofBig (at the back) and Small (front, Left) Maliovica. 
The Big one has  given the name of the whole region. They offer good 
posibilities not  only for climbing but also for skiing. The sign at the 
front says  "Avalanche Danger" and has a lot of gun shots in it.
 
The North Face of Lovnica  The East Face of Maljovica 
  Above: The Eastern Face of Maljovica with routes, skied at the end of 1998 
  The left edges of the peaks are the edges of their Northern walls. 
 

Left: A Couloir in the Northern Wall of Lovnica peak. The rounded dot is 
Andrei, climbing back after having found that the lower part of the couloir is 
passable only with a 100m rope...
        Situated in the vast Rila mountain range, Maljovica is a holy place for the Bulgarian extreme spirit. On it's northern wall is traced the first real alpine tour in Bulgaria.  Some years later the slopes of the peaks in the region has offered good terrain for x-ski runs. And that place really rocks. The southern slopes of the range, known as the "Evil streams" are a mixture of high granite spires and steep couloirs with more than 1000 m denivilation. When you stand on Partizan's meadow and look up, you feel smashed. Everything is so huge. The 300m Eastern wall of The Evil Fang seems so small and so far away... And the view the famous White Couloir with It's overhanging granite spires, the steep Devil's Couloir and the scary Blue Couloir with it's rock thresholds is rally scary. The place is so wild that when you look at it you say to your self "I must be mad to ski here". And when you stand on it's upper edge, look in the "vast empty" in your feet and listen to the roar of the river some 1200m below you start to think that nobody has ever been here before you. And for many of the places you won't be wrong. "A lot more to be explored...", that's the least that can be said. One has only to ski well, be a little bit crazy and estimate the conditions right and he can name some couloirs....
When I write about Maljovitca I must admit something - It is the most deadly winter region in Bulgaria's mountains. So one has always to be alert...
 
 
The scary White Couloir (The Right one) and the Devil's Couloir 
This slope is more than 1000m high and is really wild.		  
Teodor Stefanov(Richi), Misho, Me and Ivo Altanov 
at the entrance of Maliovica Valley after 5 days of great 
spring skiing in1997. To our Right is our truck (I wish) 
At the back of the picture is Maliovica peak.
 
 

Click Next Page to read and see some pictures about Bansko(Pirin) , Vitosha and Stara Planina

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