Dear Wendy,
I saw that you’ve written an article about the greek resorts. I’d like to add some comments and some more resorts.
There is the Chania resort at mt Pelion. One of the most beautiful mountains I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen mountains from New Zealand to the Alps). The mountain dives into the sea so if you’re at the top you can look down to the Aegean. It would be really nice if it was possible to ski for some hours in the morning and then have a swim at the sea and have tsipouro and meze at the local taverna, but I’m afraid (unlless you can swim during the heart of the winter) it’s not. If it was, mountain Pelion would definetely be the right place.
There is the Elatochori resort (100km from Thessaloniki) with one double chair an 4-5 drag lifts. It’s close to mt. Olympos. Small and very cute.
There is the Vassilitsa resort near Grevena town. One of the best, snowboarders like it a lot. The only place in Greece I’ve seen 3 meters of snow! Allthough it’s far from Athens, its citizens travel there a lot.
There is the mountain Falakro near Drama town. It’s almost as big as the Parnassos but it is run by the local authorities and most of the time is closed. I’ve never been there but people who visited it say it’s impressive (by Greek standars of course). Falacro means bald. As you can guess, it has no trees (pretty rare in Greece cause of the low altitude).
Another bald resort is the Mt Voras (Kaimaktsalan). If there is a snow sure resort in Greece, this is the one. Unfortunately high winds blow and its (3seat I think) chair is often closed. It also has 4-5 drag lifts.
There is the Lailias, near Seres town. Small with 2-3 pistes if I remember well.
There is one even in Crete! Crete is the southernmost (does this word exist?) place in Europe… I’ve never been there and I don’t think it’s open more than 1 day a year. Maybe it’s a myth…
You can even ski at mt Olympus! There is a drag lift and 1-2 pistes used by the special forces as training ground, but you can get a permission and ski there.
In general greek resorts are better for having fan than skiing. The vertical drop is small but the scenery is really beautiful. It’s not big scaled like the Alps. It’s close to human size. Friendly and welcoming.
Two more things:
3-5 Pigadia’s main piste is one of the few true reds in Greece and it’s used for national competitions.
Since last year there is heli-ski available in Pissoderi.
I hope I contributed to the subject.
Take care you all and have patience.
Summer has began so it will be over soon.
