“Currently, it’s really luxurious spring skiing on a completely snow-covered red slope, something that could not be said until now. Thanks to the night frosts, the pistes maintain optimal condition throughout the day. We’ll see what the weather does over the Easter holidays. In any case, we will go until Monday, April 10,” stated the director of the Sports Complex in Harrachov, Jiří Krejčí.
This year, the Harrach lift operators counted only 83 so-called ski days, during which the weather conditions allowed skiing. This year’s average of all ski areas in the Czech Republic is 94 ski days, which, with the exception of two covid years, represents the second shortest season since the winter of 2016.
The length of the ski season also corresponds to roughly twenty percent lower attendance than last year. “Only a three-week period since the turn of the year, when there were no rides until January 24, brought us 10 million crowns in sales. I fear that together with more expensive energy, we will fall into the red this year,” says Krejčí.
The surface does not loosen
This year, the lift operators in Orlickohorské Říčky managed to keep the trio of slopes in operable condition. The surface of the downhill tracks does not soften even during the day, and skiers do not have to worry about snow slush more suitable for water skis.
On Easter, twice as many Czechs head to the sea
Travel
“There are worn out spots in places, but they do not in any way complicate the passability of the tracks, on which there is an average of thirty centimeters of technical snow, hardened by night frosts. We will start the prepared area again on Thursday, and if a sufficient number of skiers arrive, we will go until Monday. It only depends on the people, of whom there should be at least thirty per day,” plans Jan Duffek, director of the Ski Center in Říčky.
There were 116 days of skiing in Říčky this season, which was used by 110,000 skiers. “We were very lucky that thanks to the slopes shaded by the forest and the unique microclimate, we stopped for another catastrophic topping. We didn’t have to stop the operation even for an hour,” recalled Duffek.
The lift operators had to be very careful with the production and use of technical snow this season. The raw material necessary for the operation of ski areas has become more expensive this year due to energy, which could not be compensated by the higher price of ski passes. The operation of the snow machines was made more expensive by the mild winter with temperatures almost 2 degrees above the long-term average.
“Investments in effective technical snowmaking and retention tanks proved to be essential. With a more efficient snowmaking system, it is possible to halve the time it takes to prepare slopes and achieve significant energy savings,” says Libor Knot, director of the Association of Mountain Resorts of the Czech Republic.
They will open a comb shop in Czech Switzerland. It measures 101 kilometers
Tips for trips
