The ski season was opened in Jasná on the first day of December. Three pistes were available for all keen skiers and snowboarders on the northern side of Mt. Chopok – blue piste no. 13 Biela Púť, red piste no. 1 Pretekárska between Priehyba and Záhradky, and red piste no. 2 Májová between Priehyba and Jasná. More than three kilometres in total. “The weather has been on our side these days, we have been making snow intensively and plan to open more kilometres of slopes soon,” said Matej Hulej, the general manager of the resort.
A traditional regional event – meeting of locals of the Liptov and Horehronie regions took place on top of Mt. Chopok on Friday to introduce the winter season opening atmosphere. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Czechoslovakia, Ján Laco, a successful Slovak ice hockey goalkeeper who was born in Liptov, and Martina Dubovská, a Czech skier, joined maps of the Czech Republic and Slovakia symbolically at the altitude of 2,004 metres. The Horehronskí chlopi folklore ensemble and a children´s choir “sealed” the connection with the Czechoslovak anthem. The evening talk show of Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová and her guests was the last event of Friday.
On Saturday, the ski pistes were filled with skiers. The so called Liptov bandits (ensemble) were there to secure great mood in the area of Priehyba and even ski boots could not stop skiers from dancing on the traditional Demänovka Ratrak stage. While the amusement was all about dancing at lower altitudes, body hardening was the main motto at higher located areas. Erika Barkolová, the well-known presenter of TV JOJ tested her courage. Although it was just below zero degrees, she took out her swimming costume and did some posing on top of Mt. Chopok to celebrate the ski season opening.
The legendary Winter Jasná Opening is the best warm-up event. “This year, we have prepared a special Funky bashavel dancing edition. We are very happy to declare that more than one thousand people came to the party to launch the ski season with us,” said Jana Kňavová, the marketing manager of Jasná Nízke Tatry. The evening began with a concert of one of the best and most popular Slovak funky bands – Funkiez. Unique Balkan rhythms were presented by DJs Jakub and Roman, known as the MALALATA duo, and the spectacular music show was joined by top DJs such as DJ EKG, DJ MIKIAS, DJ JUST DAVE and PABLIK DJ. Martin Nikodým, a popular Slovak presenter helped create the romantic Christmas atmosphere with an original Christmas jumper. Besides the above mentioned personalities, visitors of Jasná had a chance to meet top model Pavlina Němcová, Samo Trnka, Robo Papp, Zuzana Haasová, Ivan Jakeš, Lukasz Jakobiak, Anna Nowak, Martin Dejdar, Anna Polívková and Marek Němec during the weekend.
Resorts in the High Tatras cannot wait to open the ski season too. Štrbské Pleso could begin with skiing in a week, on Friday 7th December. The pistes of Interski, Turistická and Junior are the first to be covered with man-made snow if temperatures are low enough. Regular autumn cableway maintenance is in progress at the resort of Tatranská Lomnica until 7th December. All cable cars and chairlifts are out of service but snow is made on the slopes between Skalnaté Pleso and Tatranská Lomnica these days. The resort is going to be opened on Saturday 8th December and if some of the pistes are ready and groomed until then, there is a good chance they will be available for skiing too. The official SKI EXCLUSIVE Opening of the season in Tatranská Lomnica is scheduled for 15th December. For more details, please visit www.vt.sk.
Tatry mountain resorts, a.s. (TMR) is the leader in tourism in Central and Eastern Europe; it owns and operates attractive mountain resorts, amusement parks, restaurant facilities, sports services, shops and hotels. In the Low Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Jasná Nízke Tatry and hotels Wellness hotel Grand Jasná, Boutique Hotel Tri Studničky, Chalets Jasná De Luxe, Hotel Srdiečko, and Hotel Rotunda. TMR is also the owner of Aquapark Tatralandia, the largest Slovak aquapark with year-round operation, which besides water entertainment includes Tropical Paradise, a special tropical indoor hall with sea water, as well as Fun Park, and accommodation in bungalows and apartments of Holiday Village Tatralandia. In the High Tatras TMR owns and operates the resort Vysoké Tatry with mountain areas of Tatranská Lomnica, Starý Smokovec, and Štrbské Pleso, which TMR co-manages. In the High Tatras TMR also owns hotels Grandhotel Praha Tatranská Lomnica, Grandhotel Starý Smokovec, Hotel FIS Štrbské Pleso and Mountain hotel Hrebienok. TMR also owns a 9.5 % share in Melida, a.s., which leases and operates the resort Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic. TMR also leases and operates the ski resort Ještěd. In Poland TMR owns a 97% share in the mountain resort Szczyrkowski Ośrodek Narciarski S.A. (SON), a 75% share in a company that owns and operates Silesian Amusement Park (Śląskie Wesołe Miasteczko) and a 7.3% share in an amusement-educational project via the Polish company Korona Ziemi Sp. z.o.o. TMR also owns and leases hotels Slovakia, Kosodrevina, Liptov and Ski&Fun Záhradky a Bungalovy to third parties. By the end of 2017, more than EUR 300 mil. had been invested into development and modernisation of TMR’s resorts. TMR shares are traded on three European stock exchanges – in Bratislava, Prague, and Warsaw.