Kartalkaya is a small ski resort located off the Istanbul - Ankara highway, 50 km from Bolu, in the Koroglu Mountains. Kartalkaya is much quieter and cheaper during the week because of weekend coaches from Istanbul and Ankara. There are 14 trails at Kartalkaya and the vertical drop is 1210 mtrs. 10 lifts and a terrain park are available. There is accommodation slopeside at Kartalkaya.
I am living in Ankara for the winter and a friend desperately wanted to go skiing so I happily agreed to accompany him. We drove up to Kartalkaya on Sunday afternoon from Ankara through the Dortdivan route (rather than through Bolu). From the point these two roads converge; tyre chains were essential. We arrived at the resort only to find that all 3 hotels were completely full for the evening. We were very surprised but we were told it was because there had been some tour specials offered which included staying on Sunday night. We went into the ski rental store and the manager informed us that there were a number of pensions in the villages along the road down to Bolu. He also told us that they had a ski rental store in a small village where the rental selection wasn't as good but was much cheaper. We drove back down the mountain and stopped at the rental store. I rented skis for half the price than at the resort ($25ytl instead of $50ytl). I am an advanced skier and was very happy with the equipment. They did not rent snowbords but said there was a store just down the road which rented them. We went there and my friend rented a great snowboard for half the price as the resort ($35ytl instead of $60ytl).
We then stayed the night at the Yayla Hotel ($60ytl each for room and full board). The cozy/village alpine decor restaurant was very busy with apres-skiers and the dinner was excellent. We were the only guests overnight but the room was very warm and comfortable. In the morning the owner cooked us an amazing and huge breakfast and then put the chains on our tyres for us.
We then drove back up the Kartalkaya mountain to find the parking lot and ski hill virtually empty - we had no idea what happened to all of guests who had filled up the hotel. We purchased our lift tickets from the ski rental store ($50ytl for weekdays rather than $85ytl for weekends). We chose the Kartal lift pass instead of Dorukkaya and I'm very glad we did. The only down side was that two of the lifts were not open (I assume because of the lower mid-week ticket prices and the small crowds). However, that didn't really matter since there was still plenty of terrain to ski on. There was a huge amount of fresh, dry powder snow and we skiied on it all day. I was very suprised that all of the skiers were sticking to the piste runs and leaving all of the powder to us. Don't Turkish skiers like powder.
We had an awesome day at Kartalkaya and I would definitely go back. It's not Whistler-Blackcomb from back home in Vancouver but it's still a great ski and well worth the money.
