Tsaghkadzor Snowsports Resort in Armenia
The brand new Leitner chair at Tsaghkadzor.
A four-person super modern chair, a bit bizarre given the return to base piste (see photo below)
There is only one that we've ever heard of, but we can't pronounce it. Tsaghkadzor is less than one hour's drive north of the capital of Armenia, Yerevan. Its a pretty small and certainly 'off-beat' resort, so quiet that when we turned up we had to pay them specially to open up. It includes several bizarre experiences - what is probably the worlds narrowest piste, the only time we've ever had an entire ski resort to ourselves, and the first time we ever got a lift on a piste-bully.
There are three chairs and three pistes, although the highest chair gives access to a wide open hillside with some great views of the post-Soviet industrial decay in and around Hrazdan in the valley below... including what looks like an abandoned nuclear power station. When we ere there the middle chair wasn't running but the helpful lifties gave us a lift on the Piste-bully instead....
Pictured above is the narrow return run to the base, seemed to be the only way back to base. I didn't measure it but I think it is narrower than the four-seater chair you go up on...?!
Well, whatever, Armenia was a nice country, the people were very friendly and there was tonnes of snow....
Practical stuff
| When to go | March and April are probably the best months. | |
| Where to go | Fly to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. Tsaghkadzor resort is about one hours drive from there. | |
| Costs | Travel and accommodation in Armenia are very cheap, but paying for the whole resort to open cost us nearly as much as a lift pass in Chamonix. | |
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Curious fact about Tsaghkadzor - The name means 'Gorge of Flowers'
