The students from two bulgarian universities has their own almost secret ski place in Rila mountain - Semkovo. It’s a small ski resort, difficult to access, with only one peak month for the whole year when it becomes full of students, because of the two universities’ hotels there, built long time ago for the future architects and engineers to practice winter sports almost for free. Actually money doesn’t mean a lot here since there is no place where you can spent it. Some people call it « The student Courchevel of Rila mountain » 😂😂 The road that leads to that place is narrow, slow and long, so once you get there you feel completely detached from the civilization. There are no shops around, poor or non-existing internet connection, no roads and cars, poor conditions but some authentic atmosphere, that I’ve never felt anywhere else. Different students come and go for a week, and for this week everyone becomes friends and know each other. So the whole place feels like home. 70-80 years old ski-teachers partying and skiing with the same enthusiasm as the 20 years old students, stuff coming late in the morning for the starting of the drag-lifts, and so bad pistes that if you learn to ski here, other places with perfect pistes can become boring :D That’s exactly what happened to me. I just miss the “trying to survive” element when I ski in perfect conditions, that’s why I started skiing freeride. It is certainly not the place where you can come only for skiing. Being disconnected from the real world high in the mountain is just great. The post-Semkovo syndrome in pretty hard(the first week back in the city and in the universities after the week spent in the mountain paradise). A friend of mine that used to live there for a long time(he was the only one living there in the summer) said to me that some people come once and never come back, but if they come twice it means that they’ll continue to come almost every year at least for once. I am from the second type. Maybe there is something in the air or in the specific energy of the place that makes you wanna go back again and again :) (Actually this mountain range is considered to be one of the strongest energy centers in the world). This is the place where my love towards nature and mountains started to grow. And almost all my other posts related to skiing, climbing and trekking exist now because of one week that I spent here years ago. I didn’t become an architect, but I become a Nature Appreciator :)
Let’s roam together around and above Semkovo!
A little bit higher than Semkovo you can find breathtaking views.
This is a parking... full of cars underneath the snow :)
Me making pictures suitable for #treetuesday :D while waiting the road to be cleaned up.
The result. It is great to look up sometimes
Thanks for reading and/or watching :)