Winter outing in Vitosha Mountain

Georgi Georgiev, VisitBulgaria.NET

The New Year came with a lot of snow and the mountains revealed their extreme cold beauty and their tempting dangerous charm. So I couldn’t resist and last weekend I went for a walk in Vitosha Mountain. I equipped myself as an Arctic explorer, because the weather was rather cold, I called a friend of mine, threw my camera bag over my shoulder and I left my sweet, snug home, making my way to the white covered, proudly standing Vitosha Mountain.

After half an hour my friend and I reached the parking lot in front of Simeonovo lift station and left the car. We bought tickets and we hopped in the cabin. My friend, who is a photographer too, had bought new lenses not a long time ago, so we were eager to test them. Durig our lift ride we observed the weather changes. After 10 minutes the thick mist spreading as a black curse above Sofa city was left behind us. The sun merged behind the clouds and the sky became crystal blue. We were very happy to see that, but after 20 minutes as we reached the last lift station – Aleko chalet, the mountain uncovered its severe nature. A heavy snowfall started just minutes after we got off the ski lift. At first we wanted to climb Cherni Vruh Peak. But the weather and the mountain rescue officers stopped us. We didn’t lose our enthusiasm, such as the hundred skiers and snowboarders, who kept on entertaining themselves on the slopes. After we hanged around Aleko chalet taking some snap shots we made our way through the forest and the ski runs.

And it was the right choice. It was too windy and frosty above Aleko chalet but on our way down the slope it was very sheltered and quiet. We were walking down the run very close to the forest because we were risking to be swept away from some rushing skier or snowboarder. But as we saw later the real danger came from some people with sledges who were like shells without direction. Fortunately accidents didn’t happen and we reached the station of the ski tow undamaged. There we made some pictures of the people, resting or preparing for the next rush. The kids from the ski schools were especially amusing, joking and teasing each other.

After we spent about an hour huddled under the awning of the tow station, testing our cameras and lenses, we continued our way through the forest following some white narrow path. We walked under the branches of the trees covered with snow. From time to time a free ride skier or snowboarder rushed between the trees and from time to time the magnificent snowy peaks of Stara Planina Mountain merged between the frozen branches. This quiet and beautiful path took us at the end of Vitoshko Lale ski run, which is the steepest and the most difficult slope in Vitosha, where our winter walk in the mountain finished. Of course we made many pictures before to catch the cabin lift down to Sofia.

As a result my friend and I had spent an excellent day in Vitosha full of good frames and memories.