The Kalinderu Ski Track Is Open for Business

Busteni was always one step behind the more famous mountain resorts in its vicinity: Sinaia and Predeal. This time, the town fights back with the Kalinderu ski track. Winter settled in for the past days in the Prahova Valley: snow fell, the resorts are full to capacity, tourists are swarming all over the place, and yet no one is skiing.

"Kalinderu ski-slope was open for business last year too, but only this year we put all things in place and are ready to provide top service for the winter season," said Emanoil Savin, the Busteni mayor.

The founder of Kalinderu ski track is Mihai Dobre. He manages the transportation gondolas’ system carrying the skiers on the top of the mountain.

"I was born here, and after school hours I took my skis and climbed the slopes for two hours, to have the thrill of coming down skiing," remembered Dobre. "Still, I never dreamed at the time we will have here, in Busteni, such top equipment and high rate ski track," added he.

Indeed, the ski-track at the foot of the Caraiman Mountain makes you believe you are in some other country, not in Romania. State of the art transportation system may take up the mountain as many as 1,200 people per hour, at a speed of five meters per second.

"No one stands in line; there is no need to queue," explains Dobre.

The ski-track in Busteni belongs to the City Council, and reached international standards after a 5.2 million euros investment.

The money from the Phare EU funding program was ear-marked for community use only. Hence, apart from the investment in the ski-slope, the 1.7 kilometers road linking it to the national road was upgraded, and the houses in the area were connected to the water, sewage and gas systems.

The 1.5 kilometer long Kalinderu ski-tack is for medium level skiers and was approved by the International Ski Federation for use for sporting events.