Dombay - a village of contrasts
I really want to start off on a good note. The nature is magnificent, the mountain landscapes around are of cosmic, unreal beauty, there was little snow, but all the lifts were open. The tracks worked, and their condition was decent. The lack of thaws had an effect - hard packed snow without ice at all made it possible to ride perfectly, albeit with caution - you need to go around the places of scree.
We were pleased with the new lifts: both the Dopelmaer trailers and the six-seat for the fifth stage and the four-seat for the "bump" they pretty much unload the old lifts.
The hotel was lucky. "Photon" - next to the ski lift. New, with excellent cuisine, in the "standard" rooms everything you need is present and working. There is a ski storage, a boot dryer, a bar in the hotel. We tried the sauna - pleasant, beautiful, comfortable. One could only find fault with the lack of a sconce over the bed. Well, we are such strange customers - we love to read before going to bed
We were pleased to discover segways in Dombai - we rode them for several evenings and took a tour of the Gonachkhir gorge. Everything is great. Segway owners not only take pictures of you, but also shoot you on video, so you have two discs as a keepsake. And this is without any extra charges. Both my 5-year-old son and 62-year-old grandmother rode - everyone really enjoyed it. A lot of pleasant impressions. And now about why we will not come here for another five years. Feudal fragmentation and the unwillingness of the owners to agree, the lack of a unified management leads to wild dirt on the streets. On the so-called streets, because even where they are, they are not cleaned. Ice and mud surround all the markets, only frank garbage is taken out. There are places that apparently do not belong to anyone and there are just dumps. Many hotels, even very expensive ones, do not clean their territory and do not bother with a convenient approach, the entrance of tourists is very slippery. Mass of trenches, unfinished, abandoned pipes and panels. Transitions from lift to lift are generally beyond criticism - people fall there even in comfortable boots, and not just in plastic ski boots. Walking from the end of the fourth stage to the ski lifts is a separate attraction. Cool uphill with skis at the ready, you get wet in a minute. It is impossible to buy a single ski pass for a day or a week due to the fact that each lift is private, and you need to pay every time before lifting (the exception is the new pre-Pelmeier bundle - wagons + six for the fifth line, but personally we were not interested in it - it was with us a non-skating grandmother and our skis were stored in a clearing 4 queues). As a result, about 100 euros were left on the slope every day, which is much more expensive than Andorra (700 euros for two for two weeks) with incomparable ski areas.
Dear instructors - a thousand adults and one and a half children per hour. This is more expensive than in Sorochany, and approaches the cost of instruction in the Alps. It's good that we quickly met Masha, who took the kids to a group for 6 hours for 2000 re (the same cost for a school in Andorra)
A wild number of ATVs and snowmobiles interferes with enjoying clean mountain air. Their owners race madly up and down the slopes and through the village itself, hoping to impress potential customers with speed and agility. They should be feared, because often drunken companies have fun in this way, their behavior is inadequate. Terribly smelly.
But it would be possible to restore perfect order on such a small patch, turn it into a fabulous corner for everyone to enjoy and enjoy.
Local grandmothers have become lazy and knit socks on typewriters (with a seam), but the cone jam is still excellent, it seemed to be bought a lot, but they ate it in a week. There are many animal skins, but we were not interested in them. Fur vests are cheap, but upon closer inspection, the quality turned out to be commensurate with the price. None.
The pool in the "Mountain Peaks" was visited once. The water is excellent, but the lack of heating and old, rusty showers, the lack of dryers - in general, I didn’t want to repeat it. Despite the fact that 250 re is taken from a person (for this money in Pas de la Casa you get an entrance for the day to a modern complex with a jacuzzi, saunas, etc. )
More importantly, never come to Dombai for holidays and weekends. You will stand in line for 40 minutes for each lift (20 for a dopelmeier). We took a break from skiing over the weekend and went on a segway excursion.
All rolling snow and take care of yourself.
