The Olympic Center “Bjelašnica” officially opened its slopes today for the new ski season 2023/2024, and visitors can expect a 40 percent discount for daily ski tickets, announced the company ZOI’84 in Sarajevo.
The official opening of the ski season was preceded by free night skiing on Saturday for all visitors on the Kolijevka track.
Over the past few days, the snowmaking system has been operating 24 hours a day, with a team of snowmakers battling strong gusts of wind and high temperatures.
As they pointed out from the Bjelašnica Olympic Center, in the past weeks everyone worked tirelessly to make the ski slopes and the ski area ready for the coming season.
“It has been a long time since we could count on natural snow to provide a skiing experience that meets the demands of our guests. Snowmaking systems are therefore used at full capacity. Our teams are proactive and prepare equipment based on forecasts to maintain proper track conditions. The snowmaking system was upgraded with 30 new cannons and over 11 kilometers of pipelines, which is also the largest infrastructure project of the snowmaking system. In the spring, we will continue upgrading the system and building a new storage lake,” said Jasmin Mehić, director of ZOI’84.
On the first day of the new season, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Sarajevo Canton once again awarded free ski passes intended exclusively for children attending ski and para-ski schools, with the aim of cultivating a love for winter sports from an early age. This initiative aims to encourage physical activity and a healthy lifestyle among young people, emphasized the Minister of Culture and Sports of Sarajevo Canton, Kenan Magoda, who distributed free ski passes.
“We must nurture and invest in what we have, primarily in the continuation of the renovation and construction of cable cars, renovation of the rolling stock, arrangement of trails, snowmaking system and other infrastructure. We should be proud and talk about the beauty and importance of Bjelašnica and its proximity to the Sarajevo airport, hotels that are financially acceptable, and all of these are opportunities for even greater development of tourism. And I must mention that this season we will officially host the FIS European Cup in addition to other winter events,” said Magoda on this occasion.
The Minister of Economy of Sarajevo Canton Zlatko Mijatović also attended the press conference, pointing out that the ministry has a clear commitment in the context of the development of Bjelašnica and Igman.
“In this regard, since I have been at the head of the ministry, we have concluded agreements about 20 million BAM worth of investments this year, and a good part will be tied to the next year. We are close to solving the new regulatory plan, i.e. amendments to the existing regulatory plan from 1982, which is necessary in order to be able to develop further. If we adopt it as soon as possible, and I believe we will, then we are talking about new cable cars, new gondolas, new ski slopes, which will enrich this area. We see this as an important and significant project from the aspect of tourism. We also spoke with representatives of caterers, what they need from us to meet them and how we can help them to enrich the offer. It was no accident that the introduction of new airline routes with world centers also happened,” said Mijatović.
In the coming weeks, the Bjelašnica Olympic Center will continue the preparation of other tracks and the opening of the ski resort at full capacity. In anticipation of the 40th anniversary of the XIV Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, the Olympic Center is in full preparation for the celebration of this great anniversary, as well as preparations for the European alpine skiing competition FIS Europa Cup 2023/2024.
On February 16 and 17, 2024, the Bjelašnica Olympic Center will host the FIS European Cup in alpine skiing for the second time. The organization of this great event confirms for the second time that Bjelašnica met the high criteria of the International Ski Federation (FIS), which is the result of continuous investment in the development of the ski center and the clear strategy of the Management to return OC Bjelašnica to the list of important ski destinations. It is an exceptional honor and a great responsibility to see Bjelašnica in the company of the biggest ski centers – pointed out the director of ZOI’84 Jasmin Mehić.
Bjelašnica is back on the map of important ski competition destinations and destinations of ultimate skiing pleasure. The organizing committee says that visitors should come and enjoy top skiing and winter fun.
The working hours of the ski cash desk are from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. every day, and the cable car is open every working day from 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
For night skiing, the ski cash desk is open from Thursday to Saturday from 18:30 to 21:00, while the lifts are convenient from Thursday to Saturday from 18:30 to 20:50.
