site.btaBansko Prepares Grand Opening for 2025/2026 Ski Season on December 13

The new 2025/2026 winter season in the ski resort of Bansko will open on Saturday, December 13. As in previous years, the opening will take place on Banderishka Poliana, where hundreds of keen mountain lovers, skiers and visitors to the town will gather.

The event will begin with two traditional games, "Join the champion's team" and "Treasure hunters," which always spark real competition and plenty of smiles. The young talents from Bansko's ski clubs will make a mass descent. A stage performance of the Dj Alexandros Traw & Anstasis Voukis Percussion Show will bring rhythm and good cheer to the snowy slopes.

In the afternoon, the celebration moves to the centre of Bansko. From 17:30, on Nikola Vaptsarov Square, guests will enjoy "Unique Bansko," a culinary presentation with tastings of famous local dishes.

At 18:00 the season will be officially opened in the presence of special guests, the ski legends Giorgio Rocca and Marc Girardelli, who will be part of the ceremonial launch. Rocca is one of five athletes — alongside Ingemar Stenmark, Marc Girardelli, Alberto Tomba and Marcel Hirscher — to have won five consecutive slaloms in the World Cup. The Italian won in the 2005/2006 season and took the small World Cup in slalom. In his 17-year career, Rocca recorded 11 World Cup victories and 22 podiums in total. In the all-time list of World Cup achievements, he ranks tenth. At world championships, the skier, born in Sur (Switzerland), has two bronze medals in slalom, in St Moritz 2003 and Bormio 2005. Rocca also took third place at the world championships in the combined event in 2005. His only weaker performances were at the Olympic Games, where his best result was fifth place in the combined event at the Turin 2006 Games.