Industry News
all photos from Vrátna ski resort facebook page
Vrátna ski resort in northern Slovakia took a big hit this week when a flood and subsequent landslide destroyed the base area and gondola.
We haven’t been able to find any news about this flood and destruction besides this short blurb:
The ski resort of Vrátna in northern Slovakia was devastated by a flash flood that caused a mud and rock slide which engulfed a lift station.
The photos they put on their facebook page say everything that you really need to know. These photos were uploaded to their facebook page on Wednesday.
It’s impressive just how much rock was able to get into the base station of the gondola.
We wish them luck in getting this cleaned up. It appears to be a daunting task.
PHOTO TOUR:
I haven’t been to Slovakia for years but I had a blast. I hope they recover soon.
obviously, no geologists or geomorphologists were consulted by the engineers before they built this resort….sad
Stopped by this resort this past winter on our way from the Tatras to Bratislava. Sad to see the destruction. Vratna is a delightful mountain valley with an obviously proud community of enthusiasts! I really hope this isn’t the end for them. This past winter was essentially snowless, and they can’t be seeing a lot black ink at this point in time. 🙁
Hey Greg,
Very cool that you were there. We’d love to learn more. Do you have any photos from Vratna. thanks.
more from vratna -> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150926116485015.755680.415046275014&type=3 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151201354225015.793886.415046275014&type=3
a few, but not many.
we were there in Feb. we didnt ski at Vratna since the place was snowless but for manmade, and we had just finished up a great hut-to-hut tour in the tatras, and so we were pretty spanked.
here’s all i got:
a pic of the trail map.
http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_3561.jpg
a pic of us drinking sliebovitz in the parking lot to celebrate the news that our mtn guide from the Tatras had just had a newborn child!
http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_3568.jpg
the rock formations that guard the entrance to the Vratna valley
http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_3570.jpg
and some pics of some sad low elevation white ribbons of death near where the landslide was. these were likely unaffected since they are a good distance from where the slide was.
http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_3545.jpg
http://www.famousinternetskiers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IMG_3553.jpg
PS the local ski culture in slovakia is incredible. we circumnavigated the tatras from Poprad to Zakopane to Vratna to Bratislava, and we must have passed 100 ski areas all about the size of Cochrans in Vermont, all with rope tows, all with lots of skiers, and all sadly with almost zero natural snow :/
I hope they have some rock skis.
I LOVE skiing but I wonder if trees (removed where trails currently are) would have kept the soil and rocks in place.
This was steep high elevation avalanche terrain it wasn’t cleared ski runs
Check out the pictures on their Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vr%C3%A1tna-dolinaVr%C3%A1tna-valley/228602207201715?sk=photos_stream&tab=photos_stream
It’s definitely a factor, but not the most important one. Soil composition, like a snow pack is a greater factor. It’s a very big factor in equatorial countries. In our ski area latitudes, the quantity of rain needed to move that much stuff is massive. My guess is that it moved soil from the bottom hills, not the ski slopes. Hard to tell from the pictures.