Skiing at Kartalkaya

Coming to Kartalkaya last Saturday from Istanbul by car was a pleasant trip. From the Istanbul toll station on TEM highway to Bolu the drive was about two hours. As usual before taking the road to Kartalkaya we stopped at Bolu Mountain to have a bite. Ulusoy and Varan premises are the ones I prefer. If you are hungry there is a wide choice of food, but if you just want to have a bite, I suggest you try double cheese toast made with Çerkez Peyniri which is a special cheese to the region or have tomato soup with cheese or try the Turkish sweet Ekmek Kadayıfı with Kaymak (thick cream). It is plenty of calories but after all you are going to ski, you will need a lot of energy!

I also suggest you to pay a visit to the markets of these premises where you will find a variety of local specialties, such as cheese, honey, jam, helva (sweet) and many others… I have also taken a glance at them but left the shopping pleasure to the return trip.

The Kartalkaya junction is 10 km after Bolu and the road is about 28 km from there to the top. (Be careful traffic is controlled by radar in this area!). After paying a fine we took the 28 km drive in about 45 minutes. On the road I met a sports shop called " KayKay Kiralama Merkezi" renting ski and snow board equipments. This is their first year; they offer new equipment at reasonable prices compared to the hotel rates. The price of a set, which includes skies, shoes and batons, varies depending on the model of the skies. The rental of a set with classic skies cost 15 million TL, where as the sets with carving skies cost 25 millionTL. (Note that ski set rentals at the hotel cost 30 million TL).

After renting our equipment we headed to the final destination of our drive. Road became icy. On both sides there were some peasants trying to attract your attention and were offering assistance to put chains on our tires. I also found out that if you do not have chains you could rent or buy a pair from them.

After ten minutes of challenging journey (about 2 km) we have reached Kartalkaya located at Bolu Köroğlu Mountains at 2000m altitude. This ski resort is composed of three hotels. Kartal Hotel, Grand Kartal and Dorukkaya. We were booked at Kartal hotel through our travel agency. This is the oldest hotel in the area. Friendly welcome. Decoration gives you the signs of seventies. Our bedroom has two single beds and a couch, which can be used as an extra bed. There is a TV set where we could find CNN and BBC World as foreign channels. The bathrooms were renovated last summer. It is furnished to meet the standard needs such as hair dryer, bath products etc.

When you book for Kartalkaya Hotels you pay for full board. Open buffet breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is also a 5 o'clock tea service included. All meals are quite rich in choice. You will be amazed by the variety of vegetables cooked with olive oil.

Now let's mention the lifts and slopes… Kartal Hotel and Grand Kartal offer the same ski lifts to their guests, all for free of charge. You have a selection of several blue, about for red and couple of black slopes. Compared to most of the European black slopes these are easier. The total length of slopes is 20 km, there are two chairlifts, 6 ski lifts and two baby lifts.

For ski breaks, you have only two spots to rest. One is Tepe Café located at the top of the hill (2300m), and one at the bottom of the main chair lift. Don't expect central European Alpine Cabin's ambience and offerings but still very useful for getting some rest, warming up with a hot Sahlep and visit the restrooms (very clean). The food is limited to toast with cheese and Sucuk.

The second development area for slopes is called Köroğlu. Having a 1200m ski lift it is said that the slopes are harder. However due to foggy and stormy weather conditions this area was closed whole week. The Hotel management does not take risk when it is foggy and stormy and closes the lifts immediately.

Each hotel has its own ski school offering private and group lessons. In Kartal hotel the private lessons for one-person costs 80 million TL and for maximum 3-student groups the price is 50 million TL/per person. Group lessons starting from 4 people, cost 40 million TL/person. Lesson duration is 50 minutes. If you take a tour to all slopes with a ski instructor this will cost you 140 million TL. Please note that credit cards are not accepted at the ski school.

The most boring event that can happen to you at a ski resort is bad weather conditions, which will imprison you at the hotel, which of course happened to us. What are the facilities in a hotel building? Well, you have a fitness room with limited equipment, sauna, massage and a swimming pool of a modest size. Two bowling lanes, four billiard tables, and an Internet café with two computers are also at your service. Kids can spend time at mini club or at "Cine Theater" showing movies for kids. All that may sound good enough but don't forget that the hotel can host up to 500 guests. So remember to bring your books with you, if the weather is not kind to you, you will have plenty of time to read or write… (As I actually do!)

Few remarks for the two other hotels, which we made short discovery visits in one of the afternoons.

Grand Kartal is a larger hotel built in 1998. Owner being the same as Kartal Hotel, the daily rhythm of both resemble much. Grand Kartal offers more entertainment as live music in the evenings, bingo games etc. I have not seen but heard that its rooms are quite large and well decorated.

Dorukkaya the second hotel in the area was built in 1990. Its lobby made us feel like we were waiting for a delayed flight at the CIP lounge of an airport at the school holidays time. What a crown packed among leather chairs and sofas and kids running from all directions… The hotel offers different lifts and slopes. Some blue and some red. I have not skied on them so I cannot say more than what I read on their bulletin board. If you stay at another hotel you should buy a ski pass to use Dorukkaya's lifts. Needless to say, other hotels apply the same system.

It is also possible to have daily trip to Kartalkaya. In this case you will have to buy a daily skipass, which will cost you 25 million TL in weekdays, 40 million TL on Saturdays and 50 million TL on Sundays. I heard from the people I have met that during the weekend many ski lovers from Ankara do benefit from the proximity of Kartalkaya to Ankara (Approx. 200 km, 2hrs drive) and enjoy daily skiing holiday. (There was also a large group of foreigners residing in Ankara spending their weekend in Kartalkaya.)

A little note about medical assistance, the hotel has a little boutique selling basic medicine that one may need to fight with cold or hurt muscles. The doctor is available all the time at the hotel. Nearest hospital is the State Hospital in Bolu, which is about 40 minutes drive.

Well, this is all we can write about Kartalkaya. In summary it is a place for skiing with your family and resting at the remaining hours. There are other ski resorts in Turkey such as Uludağ at Bursa, a skiing resort that is more famous in now days with its entertainments. Palandöken and Sarıkamış in the eastern Turkey and Ilgaz in Central Anatolia are the other alternatives.

You may find basic information on these areas in our site. So if you are ski fan why not plan a holiday in Turkey?

Note: The easiest way is to make arrangements with a travel agency. I did mine with Asya Tour, but there are other agencies such as Irem Tour, ETS, ANI Tour offering ski vacation packages. Prices are same everywhere but payment conditions may vary. You can find the addresses in our yellow pages.

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