Skiing in Cyprus
It’s March 2015, the sun is shining, it’s 23 degrees C, what to do? Let’s go skiing, in Cyprus!
Here’s a little video we made of our afternoon on the Cyprus Ski slopes:
Want to see that awesome jump again? Check out this edited version!
When you think of Cyprus you don’t usually think of skiing as a pastime, yet the Troodos mountains rise to almost 2,000m (6,500 ft) which is high enough for snow and at the top there is a small ski resort with around half a dozen groomed runs. The skiing season is very unpredictable. Some years there is barely enough snow for only a few day’s skiing. Other times the ski season can last from mid december through to the end of March. February is usually the most likely time for good snow though.
There are two main ski areas; Sun Valley and the North Face. Sun Valley is the central area with lots of parking, a ski shop for renting equipment, a restaurant and a T-bar lift which takes you to the top of the southern peak. Across the road from the ski-shop there is a path, if you can find it, to the north face (after crossing the road walk/ski through the trees and bear left while looking for the top of the path on the right). The path is narrow, but not too steep, and takes you to the bottom of the Hera lift on the North face. If you take this lift you then ski through the trees (see video) to reach the foot of the North face where you will find the Dias restaurant, terrace and the 3-man chair lift (Zeus). You can also drive to the Dias restaurant where there is parking by heading down from Sun Valley and turning left when you reach the T-junction. The north face is more challenging and has longer runs than Sun Valley and is usually much less busy.
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- Jonny and Mark go skiing
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- Troodos Chair Lift
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- On the Piste in Cyprus
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- Troodos Mountains
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- Troodos trail map from skicyprus.com
More about skiing in Cyprus
The skicyprus.com website has a webcam looking at the north face which is updated a few times a day and sometimes this can be viewed live on this page. You can also visit the Cyprus Ski Federation website at www.cyprusski.com for more information including road conditions, which is useful because after fresh snowfall the access to Troodos can sometimes only be for 4×4 vehicles and/or equipped with snow chains.
