Rarau Mt. ski slope opens officially, Tourism Minister attending

The Rarau Massif ski slope, a government-financed investment, officially opened on Saturday in the presence of Minister of Tourism Bogdan Trif.

Trif said that the Ministry of Tourism provided 90 percent of the roughly 15 million euro worth of investment, and that attempts will be made to allocate funding for the second section of the Rarau slope, which would make it Romania's longest ski run.

''I am very happy for being present at the opening of this ski slope, which was made 90 percent with money from the Ministry of Tourism. We are talking about an investment of almost 72 million lei, that is about 15 million euro. (...). I think it is a new beginning for the Campulung Moldovenesc mayor [Mihaita Negura], because plans are afoot to achieve the second section. If we succeed, this will be the longest ski slope in Romania. The snow is good. I invite all ski lovers to come to Campulung, where all the conditions are in place for skiing," Trif said.

In his turn, the mayor of Campulung Moldovenesc provided some figures, adding that he will take the necessary steps to have the second section completed as well.

''Today we open the highest standard ski slope in northern Moldova. It is 2,850 meters long, the departure altitude is 1,220 meters, the arrival altitude is 765 meters, with an elevation drop of about 500 meters. This is an average-difficulty slope. The gondola lift has 33 cabins, there is a 10,000 cubic meters reservoir for nine snow cannons, night lighting. (...) Speaking of the second section, Minister Trif assured me that we will do everything possible in terms of procedures to allow me to present him in two weeks the documentation for the second section. It is not easy, but we are both optimistic we will carry this through, because the Rarau Massif investment will reach top efficiency when we hit the 1,650-meter elevation," the mayor said.

Negura mentioned that, together with president of the Suceava County Council Gheorghe Flutur, he will seek solutions for building a parking in the nearby area.

Works on the Campulung Moldovenesc ski slope started in 2009, and should have been completed by the end of 2012, but were halted at 80 percent of completion due to lack of funding; they were resumed in September 2016.

In the final form, the ski slope will run on a distance of 4,200 meters from 1,564 meters to 765 meters altitude, including two seamlessly connecting sections of different difficulty.

The width of the slope varies from 27 meters at the departure point to 86 meters around the gondola mid-station.

Cable transport will be done with an eight-seater gondola lift.

The first section of the slope is 2,850 meters long and is of average difficulty; it is serviced by a 33-cabin gondola lift, has nine snow cannons, a reservoir with the capacity of 10,000 cubic meters, 176 light poles, an administrative building, parking, ticket office and snow grooming equipment. AGERPRES (RO - author: Silvia Marcu, editor: George Onea; EN - author/editor: Simona Klodnischi)