Winter resorts gear up for influx of skiers on semester break

Winter resorts gear up for influx of skiers on semester break

Ski resorts managers are hopeful about the winter break and are working to prepare for vacationers. Turkey's ski resorts, most of which have ample snow for skiing and will soon be full of skiing enthusiasts, are working hard to prepare for vacationers arriving for the school semester break.

In Kartalkaya, a leading ski resort town in the northwestern province of Bolu, which has received two meters of snow, hotel reservation figures show that the town will be full of skiers. Businesses operating in Kartepe, located in Kocaeli province, have planned a number of events for their guests, and they have also taken measures to ensure the safety of their skiers after a recent tragedy on Uludağ in which a young snowboarder died on Wednesday after getting lost in the freezing cold.

Speaking to the Anatolia news agency, Mehmet Calayır, who is responsible for the safety of ski runs at Grand Kartal, Kartal and Golden hotels, said there is no risk of becoming lost in Kartalkaya because of its geography. Noting that they employ 22 safety personnel who know the region quite well, Calayır said they have instituted new safety measures and have increased the number of security personnel since the Uludağ incident.

Snow depth has fallen to one-and-a-half meters since Jan. 18 on Uludağ, Turkey's most popular ski resort, but hotels in the region are at near 100 percent occupancy since there is still enough snow for skiing. Recent snowfall has made hotel owners and managers in Ilgaz, a resort town in the Bolu Mountains, happy as the snow depth has reached one-and-a-half meters

Eray Öztürk, president of the Union of Ilgaz Hotels, stated that hotels in Ilgaz will be at full capacity during the semester break. Pointing out that recent snowfall has thrilled both hotel managers and skiers, he said they had prepared activities to ensure that their guests would enjoy their time there.
Although most ski resorts have received enough snow to accommodate skiers, at Erzurum's Palandöken Skiing Center, where insufficient snow has fallen, artificial snow is being made to cover the slopes. The Lenko snow machines being used convert 10 tons of water to snow per hour and have so far covered 22 ski runs with snow. The snow depth on Palandöken Mountain is 20 centimeters, and the occupancy rate at local hotels is expected to be around 50 percent. Hotel managers also noted that they are anxious about the cancellation of current reservations due to the lack of sufficient snow.
Bayraktepe Ski Center in Sarıkamış district in the eastern province of Kars, where snow depth is 70 centimeters, and Erciyes Ski Center, where snow depth is 65 centimeters, are also ready to host skiers.