Only weeks separate us from the inauguration of the ski season on Vitosha Mountain, yet squabbles, conflicting interests and obscure conspiracy theories appear boundless. Seemingly every single party, organisation or company that is in any way represented, involved or concerned with the mountain, is in direct or indirect conflict with everyone else.
In the aftermath of the news conference at the Sofia Press Centre on October 29, little was explained, if anything at all.

Asparuch Machirski, head of Machirski Ski School, accuses Vitosha Ski concessionaire company of having done nothing to improve the resort, short of developing the Lower Laleto ski run and covering it with floodlights. Machirski went on to accuse them of over-dramatising by complaining that Vitosha Ski had received no assistance from the authorities in preparing for the new season, going as far as attempting to involve Prime Minister Boiko Borissov in the discord; he also accused them of gross discrimination and monopolistic behaviour.

In their own defence, Vitosha Ski put a media statement on its website accusing everyone of "conducting a pathetic attempt to shift blame; of a certain group of people, who have transformed Vitosha Nature Park into something akin to a personal belonging, of trying to explain their actions to the general public – and ultimately failing to do so". The  statement continues: "They even organised a news conference, striving to clean up their smeared image".

Discrimination?
Vitosha Ski still demand an explanation because the outcome of the earlier conference was uncertain. "Naturally, they failed to answer every elementary question – who actually gave them the right to call the shots in the mountain, and why are they violating the law by appropriating land for themselves without legitimate procedures and documentation?"
Machirski, who accused Vitosha Ski of monopoly and gross discrimination because the company charges ski instructors 2000 leva for an annual ski card - whereas the same card costs "civilians" only 500 leva - received a personal rebuke in the concessioner’s media statement: "He ought to hang his head in shame. As far as Machirski is concerned, gone are the days when he could use state property for free, supposedly for the interest of children, and still claim educational and training benefits and get away with it. These are arduous times for Machirski, as he finally realised he needs to work in a market economy – and that is precisely why he is being discriminated against – he can complain to anyone he likes."

But Vitosha Ski also focused its anger on Toma Belev’s management, the Vitosha Nature Park’s director. The company demanded answers from the authorities, claiming that Belev and Machirski worked in tandem in which one party always defended the actions of the other, receiving in turn "a portion of the park".

As far as Belev is concerned, however, there are no such cases of illegal allocation of facilities and illegitimate appropriation of land. He claimed he would support any company that desired to conduct rehabilitation and modernisation work with the existing facilities, or construct new ones for that matter, but "only if the concession is done legally with appropriate documentation". Still, when asked direct questions at the conference, he had difficulty answering who exactly was responsible for the construction of temporary buildings in the park, and who will modernise the facilities, if at all.

Dilapidated
To add more confusion to the chaos on the mountain, the Bulgarian Ski Federation (BSF) will file a court action against the Vitosha Ski and Snowboard Schools company, claiming that they were victims of defamation. In a letter to Borissov, the BSF were accused of demanding "excessively high taxes for staging competitive events on the mountain, which is why ski tournaments this season are facing a total collapse". Valentin Stefanov, head of the racing department of the BSF, was accused of charging as much as 10 000 euro for staging an event. He said that this was utter nonsense, and that the tax was standard for everyone – 200 leva. Stefanov also expressed bewilderment that no-one had bothered to invite a BSF member to the news conference in the first place, to provide their view on the matter, given the fact that the BSF are an "integral and inseparable part of the mountain".

Skiers, climbers and tourists are naturally left to pick up the pieces and pay the price. Vitosha Ski have cancelled single tickets and introduced daily cards, forcing people to pay for something which they may not need in the first place. Tourists who don’t ski but wish to climb the mountain with the ski lift are now left with no alternative. Lodges are dilapidated, or falling apart, deforested areas in the mountain are left to fend for themselves and the entire park is strewn with rubbish.