Clubs, skiers gear up for start of season as they wait for more snow

With the arrival of November, the first snow of winter has also arrived in numerous skiing spots, including Uludağ in Bursa and Kartalkaya in Bolu, but the season has not yet started in earnest as warm weather is lingering in some places.

The ski centers are looking forward to getting enough snow for skiing. “We wait for the snow to be as deep as 60 centimeters and kick off competitions in January,” said Cavit Üstündağ, the president of the Sarıkamış Kayak İhtisas Kulübü, which is a professional ski center in the eastern province of Kars. They are currently training their skiers for the upcoming season, and they also hold camp programs for children throughout the year.

Sarıkamış Mountain is the perfect place for skiing with its high potential for snow, and new ski runs are currently being constructed which meet the standards of Olympic ski runs, Üstündağ said. Üstündağ, who is now 65 and has been the president of the club for about 25 years, says they train more than 300 skiers and organize their activities in accordance with the program issued by the Turkish Skiing Federation, stressing that they are one of the clubs bringing up large number of skiers to the national skiing team.

One of the club’s trainers, Bahadır Üstündağ, also said they are currently preparing their skiers for the skiing season and the upcoming national and international competitions.

The Buhara Tıp Merkezi ski club, a new club in the eastern province of Erzurum, one of Turkey’s leading ski centers with its Palandöken Mountain, is also getting ready for the season with its year-round activities to prepare its members both physically and mentally. “Palandöken has the best natural ski runs in the world, with its slopes appealing to both amateur and professional skiers. There is no other ski run you can reach 15 minutes after you get off the plane in Turkey,” the deputy chairman of the club, Selahattin Doğrusoy, said.

Preparing for the new season in facilities outside Turkey with the support of the Turkish Skiing Federation, national skier Erdinç Türksever, the winner of a large number of medals in national competitions who aspires to be successful on an international level as well, said he mostly trains in European countries close to Turkey, including Austria and Switzerland. “We do not yet have snow in Turkey, so we have to chase the snow wherever it is,” said Türksever, who started skiing in Kars thanks to his father.

Preparations for 2011 Winter Universiade continue

As 454 days are left until the start of the 2011 Winter Universiade games to be held in Erzurum, preparations for the large event have already started. Investments in the event are the largest of their kind so far in Turkey. State Minister for Sports Faruk Özak has said about a total of $400 million has been invested in the event.

“The 2011 Winter Universiade will contribute to Turkey’s promotion and development,” Özak said, arriving in Erzurum earlier this week to view and check the facilities prepared for the games along with Turkish government sports official Mehmet Atalay and Youth and Sports General Director (GSGM) Yunus Akgül. Özak said they plan to turn Turkey into one of the leading ski centers in the world and added that they will invite the envoys of the missions of Turkey’s neighboring countries, which take Turkey as a model in such events, and will show them the work achieved so far.

A seminar for snow sports is being held this weekend in Erzurum as part of the preparations for the 2011 event, with various authorities participating, including Turkish Skiing Federation President Özer Ayık.