Kartala – New spot for snowkiting in Bulgaria

Přemek and his family visited Bulgaria and described one of the great snowkiting spots he found. The spot is near Kartala resort, just outside Blageovgrad and if you happen to be nearby you shouldn’t miss it. And it’s not Vitosha neither Rila Lakes.

Coming to Bulgaria

After three weeks of planing the slopes and freeride, we finally made it to a resort where you can snowkite. I was looking forward to snowkiting in Bulgaria, I had read a lot about it. But all the articles are only about a few, in words two resorts: Vitosha and Rila Lakes. Both of them have some serious hills to climb. We are on a trip with kids, so hiking is out of the question for me. I don’t want to go on a day trip and have the rest of the team waiting for me in a car somewhere at the bottom of a hill all day. If we kite, it’s the whole family. I wrote another longer article describing more spots in Bulgaria, don’t forget to check it out.

That’s why we were looking for a resort where we could take the chairlift up and ride there. And we found it! But first things first.

It’s a small resort, only one cabin, no other lifts aside from the approach lift at the top (because of the flatness). The cable car starts from the parking lot at 1450m and goes all the way to the top at 2250m. A day pass costs 33 Leva, a single ride costs 10 Leva. You read that right, 10 Leva, that’s 140 CZK or 5.1 EUR. You’ll save yourself half a day of walking.

There are two slopes leading down from the top, which merge into one halfway up the hill. One red, one black. The red one is quite steep, but the black one is a real bump. I don’t recommend this resort to snowkiting snowboarders who can’t ride a board downhill (I know some). You can go down by cable car, that’s for sure. The last one goes at 5 o’clock.

When it’s not blowing and it was snowing recently, there are some very nice freerides. Nothing super long, but freerides on a steep hill, lots of drops, humps and other delights. I hear it’s not a famous freeride resort, but for me it’s great.

Snowkiting spot

Snowkite spot is right at the top of the cabin. You take, in a word, twenty steps and you can pump a kite. When you stand with your back to the cabin, there is a hill to your left (almost due south). It’s great for riding, but it creates a big wind obstacle. There is no other obstacle anywhere else, so the wind should be clear. So all directions are rideable except south. NW, N and NE would be best. It pulls uphill nicely.

Spot is simple, clear, great for beginners too. On the other hand, connoisseurs will find steep hills. And the hill to the south is nice to fly down if the wind is anything from the north. The only obstacle is the lift shack and the approach lift. The lift is about eighty metres long and runs right along the ridge.

There’s a lot of snow here. It has been snowing for the last seven days, so the snow is very fresh, soft and unblown. Anyway, a few windy days and I imagine the hill will be blown out.

The area is huge, it can hold dozens of kiters in peace. Of course, if everyone starts in one place, it will be very crowded at the house. The ridge stretches from southeast to northwest and is an estimated five hundred metres long. But there are other ridges running out of it to the west. When the wind blows, I’ll drive the whole spot and refine the shape and area. I have no idea, for example, what’s over the hill to the south, perhaps another large spot. We’ll see.

Let’s summarize it

Advantages

• Great service. Cabin, parking lot where you can camp overnight with an RV.
• Restaurant, restroom.
• Cable car up to the spot, very cheap.
• Spot open in all directions (except south, there is a hill).
• Spot is clear, great even for beginners. Advanced people will definitely find their own.
• High altitude, lots of snow.
• No major obstacles, no trees, just that wire from the cableway.

Disadvantages

• Not as windy spot as Vitosha. Supposedly it blows almost every day at Vitosha, not here. But the forecast looks fine, so we’ll see. I’ll clarify this later. Again, at 2250m, it could occasionally blow without a solid forecast.
• Clouds and fog are a threat due to the high altitude. It’s white out there, so it’s going to be hell in the fog.
• There is no thermal pool nearby 😊.

So throw your kites, boards, harnesses into the car and get there. And don’t forget the bars. Yeah, and you don’t know where? I saved that for last to give you a little suspense. It’s Kartala resort, just outside Blageovgrad. And finally the spot.

The article was translated with the author’s permission from Mystic Blog.

You can buy perfect kiting equipment from Mystic and North in Czech Mystic Store. Delivery all over the Europe without any problems.

Author: Spots4Kite

The team behind Spots4Kite.