Krasiya ski resort

This is a mid-2000s travel note about Krasiya ski resort near Kostryno and Vyshka in Transcarpathia, not a description of the resort today. At the time, Krasiya was one of Ukraine's least known ski resorts, but actually among the most developed. It had one of the few chair lifts in Ukraine and had supposedly just installed snowmaking machines. At the same time, Krasiya was the most north-westerly resort in Ukraine - right next to the Slovak and Polish border - and one of the most distant from Kyiv.

If you were coming from Kyiv and other cities in central and eastern Ukraine, you would take the train (or drive, or fly) to Uzhhorod, then get on a bus (or taxi, or elektrichka) to Kostryno village, 60 km to the northeast of Uzhhorod. Then you took a taxi another few kilometers to Vyshka village at the foot of the mountain. If you were coming from Lviv, you also had the choice of taking the Lviv-Uzhhorod elektrichka (electrical train) that wound through the mountains near Poland and stopped at Kostryno village.

Skiing at Krasiya

Krasiya was one of the few ski resorts in Ukraine where you skied through a deciduous forest (without leaves, of course). The mountain that the ski runs are on rises to 1036 m and faces the northeast - which makes for good snow quality. There were six lifts - one chair lift and five tow lifts - and runs of up to 2500 m, which is quite long for Ukrainian resorts. Supposedly there was a half-pipe for snowboarders. The runs were conveniently organized so that you could get to the bottom of any lift from the top of the mountain.

The slopes were groomed each evening. Ski equipment was available for rent, and accommodations were nearby. Because of its fairly distant location, there were relatively few skiers on the slopes, even on weekends. The ski season was a bit shorter than at Slavsko and other resorts further east, because the climate is milder in Transcarpathia.