Ukraine wasn’t blessed with much snow in the last few years, so we decided to go to the resort near the mountain of Drahobrat, famous for having snow almost seven months a year. The season starts in November when all boarders and skiers come here for a so-called “New Year’s celebration,” and finishes in early May, when the mountainsides are already green and air temperature rises up to 18 degrees centigrade, but the mountain top remains covered in snow.
Service was never a virtue of Ukrainian tourism. But the economic crisis hit people’s pockets quite hard in the recent two months, so it was no surprise that Drahobrat was pretty crowded.
“Usually, I prefer Austria and Italy for boarding because of their service, better track conditions and better safety,” says snowboarder Vadim. “If I want something more extreme… I go to the Caucasus – Georgia’s famous resort Gudauri or Russian Cheget. But now when the dollar and euro rose against the hryvnia so much, I can’t afford plane tickets either to Europe or to Georgia. This is why I came to the Carpathians by train.”
Price-to-quality ratio was always a problem people complained about when taking vacations in western Ukraine. Ski passes at Drahobrat are expensive (Hr 15 per lift). And the torture I faced getting up the hill on a platter pull (instead of a chair lift that most European resorts have) wasn’t worth those three minutes of fun I had skiing down the mountain.
The living conditions weren’t good either. Hr 600 per room that seemed reasonable at first suddenly seems quite expensive when you realize that the room is closet-sized and you have to share it with four other people.
But to be honest, the most dangerous part of the trip was on our way up in a minibus from the village of Yaseni to Drahobrat itself. This route is quite legendary among skiers for the adrenaline rush you get sitting in the back of the 30-year-old van that looks like it will fall apart after the next turn. The 40-minute trip may turn out to be the biggest impression of your life.
There is no safe road up the mountain, but plenty of dangerous turns, rocky steeps and shaky-looking bridges. There were 15 other people in the van that had chains on the wheels to stop it from slipping, and most of them continuously drank alcohol. I guess it was their way to fight the fear of death. As far as I know, each year a couple of vans turn over and people are injured.
I think that a better road would attract more people to the resort – thus more hotels will be needed, more “kolybas” (traditional wooden restaurants), so locals would have opportunities to earn money in a less dangerous way. But no advance planning is a second non-virtue of Ukrainian tourism, so the road remains as it is and probably will stay the same for years.
It’s not that I didn’t have fun skiing, but if I go to the mountains again, Dragobrat will not be my first choice. And its cheapness is an illusion easily shattered by the miserable conditions.
Of course, there are resorts like Bukovel, built to European standards. In the last couple of years it was getting bigger and better. Prices there are quite European too, but service is not – although you would expect that higher prices would make people who serve you more smiley. Nevertheless, Bukovel has many positives in comparison with Drahobrat – lots of tracks with different degrees of difficulty, discounts on ski passes and better roads. At least you can drive here in your own car and its doesn’t require a Hummer.
“I skied in Switzerland and France before, but now I come to Bukovel instead, as it’s still cheaper than Innsbruck for example, and better than other Ukrainian resorts. People’s attitude is still very Ukrainian. But I like the variety of trails, so I close my eyes on lame service,” says Max, an experienced skier from Kyiv.
There are other resorts in the Carpathians – Pylypets, Podobovets, Slavsk, and so on. I’m pretty sure they will all be crowded this winter, no matter how bad the roads, lodging and lifts. I guess making good money off tourists should encourage owners of resorts, lifts and hotels to improve services, as the crisis is not eternal and, as soon as it’s over, people will turn to more expensive, but tourist-friendly resorts in Slovakia, Poland and the Alpine region.
