Is this trip for you
Activity level 3 — moderate-plus.
This is a cat-ski trip for keen freeride skiers who are prepared to put in some physical preparation beforehand. Our routes follow good, safe riding lines for the most part, but the terrain can be steep and rocky in places and it winds through high alpine mountains.
Most of the route is not exposed to steep or dangerous faces — though some of it is. You will have a very experienced mountain guide with you, and a tail guide behind the group, which is what makes that manageable.
- You should be comfortable riding off-piste in variable snow
- Some peaks need a ten-minute hike from the drop-off point
- Skinning is useful but the tour is not a ski-touring trip
Bjeshka e Junikut
Gear list
Maximum comfort, minimum weight.
Your avalanche transceiver, shovel, probe and airbag backpack are provided and included in the price. Bring your own if you would rather use kit you know. Everything else below is on you — and keep the total weight down.
Required
Do not travel without these.
- Freeride skis
- Ski boots
- Ski touring bindings (optional)
- Ski poles
- Skins
- Warm jacket
- Hardshell jacket
- Hardshell pants
- Warm baselayers
- Thermal midlayer
- Winter hat
- Winter gloves
- Ski mountaineering helmet
- Goggles
- Sunglasses
- Skiing socks
- First aid kit
- Multitool
- Medications
- Thermo bottle
Optional
Worth having, not essential.
- Headlamp
- Ski wax
- Skins wax
- Trainers or sandals
- Shorts
- Bandana
- Casual clothing for travel and town
- Spare clothes
- Spare batteries for transceiver
- Pen-knife
- Ear plugs
- Camera and accessories
- Reading and writing materials
- Small binoculars
- Luggage tags and locks
- Water purification tablets
- Whistle
- Your own transceiver
- Your own probe and shovel
- Your own airbag backpack
Travel documents: your passport, and your airline tickets with confirmation and itinerary.
Gacaferi Guest House
Accommodation
What the rooms are like.
You stay in a hotel and a guest house, both well built, in the mountain architecture of the region and warm for it. Rooms are shared between group members — a maximum of three to four people per room, twin or double at the hotel.
If you want a single or private room at the guest house, you have to request it in advance.
- Hot shower, towels, bed linen and blankets
- Heating throughout, and a drying room for wet kit
- WiFi — Starlink at the guest house
- Restaurant, bar and a fireplace
- Room service at the hotel
Weather
Cold air, wet storms, deep snow.
Kosovo has a largely continental climate. Winters are cold and snowfall is common; January is the coldest month, averaging around −5 °C.
Our operating zone in the Accursed Mountains gets cold temperatures, dry continental air, and frequent snowstorms arriving from both the Adriatic and the continental Balkan weather systems. That combination is what produces the deep coverage and the powder.
Why it snows so much here
The range sits close to the Adriatic. Storms coming off the Atlantic pick up moisture over the sea and deposit it on these peaks — the highest snowfall in southeastern Europe.
ATMs
Deçan, 10 km from Belle Resort. Also in Pristina and Peja. There is nothing at the guest house, so draw cash before you go up.
Useful contacts
Numbers worth saving.
Keep these in your phone before you travel. Mobile coverage reaches the valley and parts of the zone, but do not count on it everywhere.
Embassies in Pristina — Netherlands +383 38 516 101 · United Kingdom +383 38 254 700 · United States +383 38 59 59 3000 · Germany +383 38 254 500
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