Freeride Kosovo

Freeride Kosovo with Balkan Natural Adventure

Freeride Kosovo can be done by ski touring, off a ski lift, or even by catski. It is an activity that keeps growing here, and it still stays remote.

As a ski destination, Kosovo is climbing the ladder with all the difficulties that come with weak ski infrastructure, and what it lacks there it pays back in wilderness, hospitality, and the uniqueness of its terrain. Brezovica opened in 1954, and by the eighties it was something the country was genuinely proud of. It was chosen as the reserve venue for the downhill events at the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics, and it went on hosting FIS races through the eighties and nineties. Then it stayed exactly like that, with almost no investment since. Basically a dinosaur of a ski centre sitting in the middle of very good snow.

The comeback came through ski touring. First it was a few individuals, then guides like Xavier Carrard from Switzerland, who pioneered ski touring in the region for the general public. Before Xavier, there were individuals and brave groups coming, but nothing like what started with Helyum and the support of Balkan Natural Adventure.

Later, Balkan Natural Adventure explored other destinations and worked with other companies, bringing up to ten groups a year. That is what built the expertise for freeride in Kosovo. Over those seasons, local guides worked next to some of the best guides in the world, and that knowledge stayed here.

Barnaby Parker, one of our clients, wrote in his review:

“BNA set up a fantastic ski tour across the 3 Balkan countries, the pre tour communication and organisation was excellent. The tour itself was exceptional with a knowledgeable guide and comfortable, well located guest houses. The mountains themselves are stunning, up to about 2600m high, the snow was plentiful too.”

Many clients have said the same. Martin Chester, an IFMGA guide, gave a long interview to Virtyt Gacaferri on the Peaks of the Balkans podcast about freeride in Kosovo and about the mountains here and in neighbouring Albania and Montenegro. Martin was on a familiarisation trip with Balkan Natural Adventure that winter, the same winter The Guardian sent a writer to see what this is really like.

Katy Dartford wrote in her article: “We escape the mists of Albania, carving through powdery snow into sun-drenched Kosovo.” (The Guardian, 4 November 2024)

What she found worth writing about is exactly what we sell: scarcity. These mountains see a couple of hundred visitors in winter. There are no lifts to speak of, and instead of queues you get untracked snow. The days are honest ones, four to eight miles with around 800 metres of climbing on skins, so you want decent off-piste skills and legs that will hold. The moment people remember is Trekufiri at 2,366 metres, where the three borders meet, and then skiing down into a country you did not climb up from. Her week also took in the Ali Peja Pass at 2,275 metres, Maja e Bard at 2,392 metres, Shpati Peak and the Zalli Rupes valley.

To freeride in Kosovo with Balkan Natural Adventure, you have to win it by skinning the climb. Which is usually the better half anyway.