Skiing

Snow that "freezes" Helmos Mountain welcomes skiers of every level to enjoy the pleasure of skiing.

The visitor of Achaia can easily take with him his ski sandals. They will use them anyway, to some of the best and safest tracks of Greece.

Kalavryta Ski Centre

In 1988 the Ski Centre of Kalavryta was opened to public at Xirokampos, 14 klm from the town of Kalavryta.

This place has taken advantage of snow and unique mountainsides of Helmos mountain, covered in fir forests. The Ski Centre of Kalavryta has been a significant source of income, which has turned Kalavryta into a major tourist centre with dozens of hotels, bars, cafes and several other attractions. The Ski Centre is situated at the Northern Part of Helmos Mountain, its elevation varying form 1650 to 2340 metres.

There are seven (7) elevators (2 for beginners, 2 chair-type and 3 rolling) able to transfer up to 5000 persons per hour, sub serving 12 tracks of a total length of 20 kilometres.

There are also cross ski country tracks and various pathways. Moreover, there are three reception buildings where lunch and coffee are available. Parking places are easy and convenient, while there is also first aid station available, ski equipment renting shops and ski school.

The Ski Centre of Kalavryta is open daily during winter season (from mid December to the end of April). Visitors reach 100.000 in winter and are mostly young people of different levels of ski expertness. At Neraidorachi peak of Helmos, reaching 2.340 m, next to Ski Centre, a super modern telescope will be installed with a diameter of 2.3 m by the end of 2001. It will be the biggest telescope in Balcans and Eastern Mediterranean. This telescope is being manufactured in Germany by Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH Company and will be able to observe objects at a distance of 5 billions light years.

The telescope was named after Aristarhos, the first Greek astronomer to have conceived the theory of our sun-centred system.

Source : Development Enterprise of Achaia Prefecture - Greece