Winter season begins in Uludağ! Ski prices announced

The season has opened in Uludağ, one of Turkey's key centers for winter and ski tourism, following snowfall that reached 30 centimeters.

While many hotels are accepting reservations, the snowfall that has been effective throughout the week has given hope to vacationers looking to ski.

While snow depth in the hotel zone has been observed at up to 5 centimeters in some places, it was stated that if the snowfall continues in this manner, it will not be long before the slopes are ready for skiing.

With the new season, ski rental fees have been updated. Under the new tariff, a vacationer renting clothing and ski equipment will pay 2,300 Turkish Lira. The fee for a 1-hour ski lesson has been updated to 3,000 Turkish Lira.

'SNOWFALL STARTED EARLY, THE SEASON WILL BE GREAT'

Noting that they are hopeful about the season due to the early start of snowfall, Yahya Usta, President of the Turkey Ski and Snowboard Instructors Association, said, “We have started the 2024-2025 winter season; the snow level is low, but the precipitation is still continuing. As of today, most of the hotels will open for the season, and all of them will be open by next week. Our expectations are very high this year after a 5-year period that included an unfortunate pandemic, followed by an earthquake, and low snowfall last year. The weather has been cold for almost 2 months, and we have been in full winter conditions for the last month. As is known, Uludağ is one of our mountains that does not have artificial snowmaking. When it snows earliest, it snows in Uludağ and Kars Sarıkamış, and it is the last place where the snow melts.”

PRICE INCREASES KEPT BELOW 50 PERCENT

Stating that there was an increase of less than 50 percent in ski rental and lesson fees, Usta said, “We are ready as of now. Considering the economic conditions in our country, we set a figure below 50 percent for lesson fees. We are already in direct contact with our vacationers. Our entire goal is to keep our own people on our own mountains. Because we are very good in terms of training and provide fast and conscious instruction, we do not want them to go abroad.”

“The daily ski rental fee is 1,300 Turkish Lira. You have the skis for the full day. Last year, skis were 1,000 Turkish Lira; we added 300 Turkish Lira on top. We set the clothing fee at 1,000 Turkish Lira for top and bottom. Of course, our advice this year is for our vacationers to bring their own clothes if they have them, but we are already filling these gaps as a supplement.”

“They have announced daily skipass prices around 1,500 Turkish Lira. I think they made an increase of around 60 percent, but we are not very comfortable with this. We would have preferred they kept it under more economic conditions. But of course, we can overcome these conditions, as long as our people come for a full vacation when it snows.”

LESSON FEE IS 3 THOUSAND LIRA

“Our lessons are hourly. Lesson fees are 3,000 Turkish Lira. The price drops when there are 2 or more people. But we teach skiing in 2 hours. If you learn to ski here, when you come back 10 years later, you continue from where you left off. We always say we provide fast training. We teach skiing in 2 hours. In Europe, they give the lesson we provide in 2 hours over 8 hours,” he stated.

'OUR GOAL IS LIGHTING'

Stating that the quality of winter tourism in Uludağ could be increased with lighting to be installed on the slopes, Usta said, “I also shared this with the Uludağ Area President; the thing we need to accelerate is lighting.”

“In other words, none of our mountains should be without lights; the goal of lighting is to extend the day. People pay significant amounts of money, stay in hotels, rent skis, and pay for training, and if we extend the day where we can make them happy here, it will be more satisfying. One of Uludağ's advantages is its proximity to Istanbul, Izmir, and Ankara. We want our vacationers to leave here having truly gotten their money's worth when they come here,” he said.