Snowsure: 2.8
- Occasionally gets enough snow for skiing
- Is often closed due to a lack of snow
- Occasionally suffers from a lack of snow
- Rarely suffers from a lack of snow
- Mt Olympus is snowsure even in the poorest seasons
Visitor reviews for Mt Olympus Ski Resort
Click here to submit your own review of Mt Olympus
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
(NOTE: Reviews may be edited by our content team for the purposes of ensuring accurate and relevant information)
Latest
March 09, 2010
Costas G from
Cyprus
Costas G from
Cyprus
I am 52 years old and have been skiing in Troodos (Mt Olympus) for the last 23 years.
I agree with everything said in the other posts below, so I will not repeat.
I will say though two things.
Two sundays ago, I was also skiing in Sun Valley.
It was the first time in the 15 years that I have been coming to Troodos (every year) that Sun Valley 1 had less then 15 skiers! Also, it was the first time I did not see any tourists!
So I think people have gotten the message and are fed up with the situation, the condition of the resort and the bad attitude and ignorance of the employees there.
Actually the other couple that usually comes with us (me and my wife) they were in Parnassos in Greece... having the best time of their lives.
The second thing I would like to mention is that I have already written to the government about the bad situation in Troodos and the inappropriate behavior of the employees there, asking to have them all replaced before the next season.
So I agree with the other post below that everyone seperately must take 2 minutes of their time to write a complaint letter and another 2 minutes make a few phone calls.
But to save you time, do not write to the 4 ski federations. The ski federations have never looked after the interests of the skiers. The ski federations do not care about Troodos. The ski federations are as ignorant and apathetic about skiing as a 5 year old is about global warming.
March 04, 2010
George from
Cyprus
George from
Cyprus
Message to Olympus ski resort in Troodos, Cyprus:
Last Sunday I went to the Troodos ski resort. They opened only Sun Valley 1 but they still charged us 23 Euro.
The lift kept breaking down every 20 minutes or so because the T-bar was getting tangled up upon release on top of the slope by the skiers and the snowboarders. To fix it, they were taking 10 to 20 minutes
One of the people in charge there started complaining to us that the reason the lift was breaking down is because the snowboarders did not release the T-bar in time. How ridiculous is that?
If that is the case, then why in the 5 years that I go to Troodos, this has never, not once happened to the other 3 T-bar lifts? Why is it happening only to Sun Valley 1 every single year? The reason has to do exclusively with the tension of some of the lines holding some of the T-bars.
Not only do these people have no idea about how to operate the resort and the lifts, not only do they not care, but they try to blame the snowboarders.
Why is this not happening to the 1000's of other T-bar lifts in other resorts, even on slopes especially occupied by total beginners?
It is not the skiers, it is not the snowboarders, it is the total ignorance of the people in charge of the lift.
After people started complaining and shouting for the other slopes to open, the people in charge said that there was not enough snow. This, of course, was a lie. Because after a lot of complaining and threats that we were going to ask for a refund, they opened the Zeus slope at around 11.30 and there was more than enough snow. Actually, it was 100 times better than the weekend before when all slopes were open and all slopes were full of rocks.
So the people who work there, they are lazy and liars too.
Skiers and snowboarders wake up. Get organized. Start complaining. Start demanding. Do not let anybody destroy the only resort we have in Cyprus. Start writing letters to the government and the federations. Demand that all employees at the Olympus Ski Resort are replaced.
Because they are government employees and because government employees in Cyprus cannot be fired nor penilized in any way, form or shape, these people do not care and are not willing to do any of their duties.
If we want to keep enjoying Troodos, we need to stand up and fight for our rights.
Do not wait for others. Everyone must speak up. Just send a letter of complaint. Even two lines. Ask for these employees to be replaced. All of them. They must be removed from the resort. This must be the last year these people are allowed to work there. Start acting before it is too late. Lets also create a club, an organization or something so that we have power. But do send a letter. Call your local House Representive or politician. Tell them that these people are thieves, liars, ignorant, incapable, not suitable for their job and they make the slopes a death hazard.
ACT NOW
February 17, 2010
Jonny-ski from
Cyprus
Jonny-ski from
Cyprus
Never, never, never in Troodos (Mt Olympus) again.
With 95 euro!!!, you can fly to Thesalloniki, return, 20 euro hotels and you are set.
You know why the side walks have not been done in the Tombs of the Kings road for 30 years now. Because for 30 years they have plans to widen that road. So for 30 years now, they are waiting for the following year to widen the road and then do sidewalks.
The other reason is because Paphos had incabable mayors for 30 years. I am in Limassol. Our mayors are passionate about our city, they our proud, they fight and things get done. I will never understand why you people in Paphos elect mayors with no soul, no strength, no will to do anything good for their city.
Back to the ski resort (Mt Olympus). The forest authority and the green party are indeed the cancer of Cyprus when it comes to making parks, resorts and other places where young people can experience nature. We are losing billions of euros in tourism every year because the government does not realize that tourists no longer want just to sit in the sun. They want activities. And Cyprus offers none.
February 15, 2010
Andreas from
Cyprus
Andreas from
Cyprus
It is because of opinions like that of another reviewer that we never get anything done in this island. Things like "oh we are so small, we are just an island, we are lucky we even have this..." are destructive to us as a nation.
In addition, we don't get snow only for one month. With the exception of this year, Troodos starts getting snow from mid December and last until end of March/beginning of April. In 2009, the resort on Mt Olympus opened on Dec 26 and closed in late March. If the snow canons could be put to use, the season would be close to 4 months...
I was in Troodos two days ago. All pistes were open and all pistes were full of rocks and were as ungroomed as you have ever seen. It was like a mogul piste, only worse and with rocks. Sun valley 1 was only working for 4 days and already, two T-bars were missing from the lift. In addition, the slope of Sun Valley 1, which is a slope for beginners, was full with non skiers. From children to pregnant women, creating a death hazard. Tell me where in the world you see non skiers casually walking, playing and sitting on a ski slope...
I was once speaking with a politician (house or rep) and I mentioned how small Troodos is and he said in Cyprus we cannot take out any trees because we don't have many. What an idiotic answer. A country in the Alps, yes, they have 50 times more trees than us, but they have resorts 100 times bigger than ours and they took out trees 100 times more than we would have to enlarge Troodos.
We are lucky to have the shack at Troodos and when it falls down and kills a baby, we are lucky that it only killed one, and when tourists disappear from the island because we offer them facilities that are 50 years old, and we starve, we are lucky that at least we did not get hit by tsunami... and so on...
The government speaks about agrotourism. Do to what? To see what? I am in the tourist industry and speak to tourists every day. Has any politician taken the time to speak to a single tourist? During the hunting season, the mountains of Cyprus are a war zone. Worse than Afghanistan. Hundreds of shots per minute. Tourists are terrified to visit the mountains.
Quality tourism they say they want. What quality when the roads have been a construction site and death traps for 10 years now. What quality tourism when the most touristic road of Paphos, the tombs of the kings road, does not even have a side walk and tourists push their baby carriages on dirt and mud or have to walk on asphalt half a meter from speeding cars?
Anyway. I do not think anything will change in Troodos (Mt Olympus). That's why we started going on a ski trip every year. With around 400-600 euros you can go to Lebanon, Greece, Bulgaria, etc, for 4 days, ski more than 50km of piste and have a great time. Instead, you can go to Troodos, pay 23 euro for the ticket, 15 gas to get there and back, 15euros for a snack and coffee and be happy about it. By the end of the season, if you go to Troodos 10 times, you would have spent over 450 euro and you would have skied the same 300 meters of slope quite a few times.
Troodos, never again.
February 11, 2010
Costas from
Cyprus
Costas from
Cyprus
I agree with another post that they could do a lot better up there at Mt Olympus.
On the other hand we only get snow for a month during the whole year so personally I don't care if is just a shed I find up there.
This doesn’t change the fact that some changes should be made. A proper research from a group of environmentalists, urban designers, skiers, architects etc would find solutions to various issues and offer changes that could both protect the environment and offer better facilities and services.
Let’s hope the owners or the ski federation of Cyprus finds the will to start thinking of improvement.
February 09, 2010
Jimmy from
Cyprus
Jimmy from
Cyprus
On the one hand, someone could claim that we are lucky to even have snow in Cyprus let alone a resort (Mt Olympus). This is the argument of idiot Cypriot politicians with a brain the size of a pea and balls the size of a sand grain.
Cypriots (and I am one of them) are incapable of taking initiative, having a vision of the future and taking action to implement a vision.
What we have today, we owe to the sun, the beach and the English. We did nothing on our own to improve anything. If Cyprus were located in Central or northern Europe, we would still be living in caves.
The "rental shop" is ready to collapse, leaking from all sides, broken muddy floors. They did not even install an A/C in there. It is exactly as it was a few decades ago. No improvement. An embarrasment to every Cypriot and even European citizen (as we are part of EU now, go figure)
The people who work there (Mt Olympus), have no clue and the equipment can get you killed.
The road leading to Sun valley 1 (and the ski shop) is a death trap in winter. It is narrow, cars are bumper to bumper and they do not know how to clean it property. So it is basically an ice skating ring. There are accidents every year but who cares, right?
The Troodos square; they rennovated it a few years ago. It cannot even fit two cars. It has no amenities.
The whole of Troodos square and the pistes, have no parking spaces. They accomodate about 10% of visitors, with the rest having to park on the side of the road, creating a death hazard and traffic jams.
The lifts are archaic. They only changed the Zeus drag lift and installed an archaic chair lift which they did not even operate last year because they are simply stupid.
The slopes are even worse. And they are too small. The average run is 300 meters!
The ski lift operator does not even hand the T-bars to the skiers. He sits in a chair and expects people to grab them.
Half of the T-bars are broken off within a couple of weeks of operation of the lifts and no one replaces them.
Half the time, only 1 of the 4 lifts are operated, because they lie to the skiers at the ski shop, telling them that it will open later, so that they buy the ticket, for the full cost, and they never open them.
On top of all these, they charge over 20 euros for 300 meters of slopes, even when only 1 of 4 lifts is open!
They bought canons a few years ago and they do not even use them.
Troodos ski resort could easily have been at least 3 times its current size with modern amenities, parking spaces, well maintained slopes, fast chair lifts and every facility that other European resorts have.
The problem is two fold.
The first is the Forest Authority and the Green Party. These are the cancer of Cyprus. They think by protecting two trees, they are serving the environment. Instead, they are creating a culture which grows up away from the environment. They cannot see the big picture. We could have taken 200 trees out from Troodos and planted 1000 elsewhere. But no, god forbid if Cyprus takes out a few trees. As if Cyprus is the number 1 enviromentally concious country in the world.
The other factor is the government which is manned with irresponsible, incapable and corrupted politicians.
They talk about winter tourism. How? Where? They do not even do the minimum. No amenities. The roads are death traps. The ski shop is 50 years old with no improvements. The slopes are 300 meters long. Which tourist is going to visit twice?
With the beautiful sunny winter weather, the Troodos resort could have been a top place for international competitions for skiing and snowboarding.
Imagine if they could create a snow park. Imagine if we had slopes of 1000 - 2000 meters (which could be made).
No dream, no vision, no effort, no responsibility, full corruption. In one word, Cyprus
February 08, 2010
Simon from
Cyprus
Simon from
Cyprus
Accidents happen!!! When I got off the ski lift at Mt Olympus a few years ago there were people on the ground who had already gone over on the compact ice, I couldn't avoid them and went over as well dislocating my shoulder in the process. I walked back to the shed and handed my boots and skis in and asked if there was a medic around or a first aid centre, the reply was no, you will have to go to hospital. I was lucky in having a driver who was able to take me to the nearest hospital at Kaperunta. There, I think the cleaners could have done a better job than the staff. They couldn't even put a drip in. I was put in an ambulance but not strapped in on the bed, this meant having only one good arm I had to choose between staying on the bed as we went around all the bends or holding onto my arm which was not strapped in and was falling off the bed under it's own weight. My driver followed in the car behind while my nurse sat in the front oblivious to my predicament. This continued all the way to Limassol General with me trying to stay on the bed and hold on to my useless arm. The pain killers were given at Limassol where I was treated well but to get there it took six hours and was very, very painful.
Think about your trip before you ski, it's freeze thaw conditions. The quote 'you can ski and swim' is technically possible though the conditions for both would generally mean skiing on ice and swimming in a very cold sea, the Med looses it's heat after the summer and takes until the next summer to warm up.
My advice would be to go and look at the scenery at Mt Olympus or go somewhere else.
February 01, 2010
susanna from
Cyprus
susanna from
Cyprus
October 13, 2009
Helen Clarke from
New Zealand
Helen Clarke from
New Zealand
I have skied at Troodos (Mt Olympus) on a number of occasions since we moved to Cyprus. I think February is the best time to ski. Skiing at Mt Olympus is cheap by, say, Australian standards and for the best adventures you have to go off-piste. The Cypriots are friendly and warm people. There are few tourists, especially on weekdays, and if you ski the back of the mountain you can have it all to yourself. We stay at Kakopetria (Naughty Rocks) in old stone built homes; lots of fun.
February 03, 2009
Chris from
Cyprus
Chris from
Cyprus
Was up at Mt Olympus for skiing on the 1st of February. They tried to rent us useless skis (meaning that you where wondering if the previous renters where skiing on snow or rocks). Their manners are getting worse.
If the slopes were owned by a private company I am positive that the conditions, rentals and restaurants would of been much much better at Mt Olympus.
Nearest