SKI VACATION IN TURKEY

I now present you, The List.

First, Kartalkaya. The closest resort to Ankara of worth, and a place we have already been to twice.

Next door, we have another hotel, and another mountain, which we have NOT skied yet. Dorukaya.

Kartalkaya/Dorukaya is only two hours away, and is a pretty good resort, but also 2 hours away is Ilgaz. Now, most people say it's not as nice, but the lift prices are WAY cheaper, and I'm interested in the backcountry potential. We go here this weekend.
Another map of Ilgaz:

Down the road a bit, outside of Istanbul is the very trendy and posh Uludag. I believe there are also several sets of pistes here, but I'm not sure. Here is the one map I have found.

Also near Istanbul is a new resort that gets good reviews, Kartepe.

Another map of Kartepe:



Over towards the Mediterranean, in fact, only an hour away from the ocean is Salkikent, a resort where you could ski in the morning, and swim in the Med. in the afternoon. Rad.

On the road North from Salkikent, back towards Ankara is Davras...a promising resort with lots of snow. I found two maps of Davras.

Southeast of the capital, looming over the wonderland of Cappadocia is the magnificent Ecyries...a huge volcano with a ski resort pasted to its side. Again, I found several maps of this area, including the duly impressive photo/map below:


All of the former resorts are within a weekend reach of Ankara, but far off on the Eastern border, near Iran are some resorts that (at least according to rumors) hold vast amounts of deep powder and long, European-style runs. We've booked our tickets for Paladoken in two weeks:

And, although the maps don't look that impressive, Sarikimis/Cibiltepe is supposedly VERY good for the pow-dah.


Of course, the ultimate option would be to go with one of the two Heli-Ski operations that work the mountains in the Northeastern corner of the country. You know the phrase, "lake-effect snow" yeah, it refers to the dumps places like Buffalo, New York get. Well, in the Kackar mountains, south of the Black Sea, they get "SEA EFFECT SNOW" Not bad. But, I'll need a lottery or a sponsor to go out with these guys, prices start at $9,000 for a week.