I am a stalwart fan of Slovenia. I packed up my entire life to come and live here. I even wrote a book about the country (Dormice & Moonshine: Falling for Slovenia). But the closure of Kanin ski area is a rare example of Slovenia surprising me – in a bad way.

When did Kanin ski area close?

In the run-up to winter 2023, a seemingly innocuous note on Kanin’s website stated it was ‘temporarily closed’. That was nothing out of the ordinary; it’s common during big storms for ski areas to close for a day or two then reopen once the wind has dropped.

Indeed, the fact that just one week later, the Slovenian press commented that Kanin was still closed, suggests Kanin’s long-term failure to open came as a surprise to most.

Well, the whole winter of 2023/2024 passed and Kanin remained shut. And as we now head into the winter of 2024/2025, there is no news of it reopening.

Will Kanin become a new ghost resort?

Small, low-altitude ski areas around the world have been closing at a depressing rate over the last decade. Indeed, several of the tiny ski areas in Japan where I had incredible one-man powder nights during my two-year stay in Fukui prefecture are no more.

The same is happening across mountains in the US, France, Italy, Austria and Slovenia itself (see: A tribute to Koroška’s Lost Ski Centre); with the climate warming, low-lying ski areas struggle with poor snow conditions and shorter seasons.

However, low altitude and insufficient snow are not problems that Kanin suffers from. On the contrary, Kanin’s peak is over 2000m high making it Slovenia’s highest altitude resort and offering a vertical drop of over 1000m. It’s also Slovenia’s only cross-border ski area; it connects with Sella Nevea on the Italian side of the Julian Alps.

So how is it that one of the jewels in Slovenia’s winter sports crown can fail to open two winters in a row – and if some locals are to be believed – possibly never to open again?

What is the official reason given?

The reason behind the closure is where the story gets murky. Officially, the gondola was closed as it did not pass its safety inspection. Yet it’s not like having to maintain your lift infrastructure so that it passes muster, could come as a surprise to resort management. So the question becomes: why was the lift not properly maintained?

If you read the reports in the Slovenian press, there’s seems to be a tangle of blame, with three supervisors of the company claiming they resigned in 2023, and taking aim at the company director for “violations and careless behaviour” as well as “the lack of responsiveness from Bovec municipality”.

However, the Bovec municipality claim they already dismissed the supervisors and that the case was “reported to the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption”. There is also mention of “missing safety reports”. Meanwhile, the municipality are requesting funds from the national government (who understandably might be reluctant considering the nature by which the maintenance money evaporated).

The local rumour mill has been grinding out its own explanations. Slovenes from the area tell me that corruption is the real reason; money meant for maintaining the lift was skimmed off for years rather than spent on repairs.

Whatever the truth behind Kanin’s closure, it seems an example of incredible ineptitude. How could you let your nation’s highest ski resort, the one that should have many decades of operation ahead of it – close?

Contrast this with the Italian side of the mountain – Sella Nevea – who have been investing steadily over the last decade to ensure lifts are in working condition. It’s of course a blow to the Italians too; part of the allure of Kanin-Sella Nevea is the novelty of being able to ski two countries with one pass. Now the ski area offers half the terrain it did before Kanin closed.

Not the first Kanin closure

It’s not the first time Kanin has shut down. In the 2012/2013 winter, following an accident where the gondola lift plunged to the ground (thankfully no one was injured) the ski area was closed, and remained so for four years! Indeed, the late Marko Grilc, a pro-Slovenian-snowboarder – (and friends) had some fun on the ‘abandoned ski resort’ when they made this short film. Perhaps the fact that Kanin has re-opened once after an extended closure, offers a shred of hope that it might do so again?

Will Kanin ski resort ever open again?

I sincerely hope so; its closure has been a huge blow to the town of Bovec and Slovenia in general. There have been reports of foreign investors stumping up cash but such stories have so far amounted to nothing. And the Slovenian press reports that Kanin has had financial troubles since it first opened in the ‘70s.

Locals I have spoken to don’t seem to hold much hope either.

“I doubt we’ll see it open in the next five years,” said a hotel owner in the region.

“I don’t think Kanin will ever open again,” said one local snowboarder who has spent many winters there.

It’s unbelievable to me that this situation could be allowed to occur. If the rumours about corruption are true, then it’s all the more awful that people – by negligence, lack of due diligence, or perhaps downright dastardliness – let this happen.

I can only cross my fingers that the lifts will one day reopen. Until then, pack your skins and splitboard; the only way to ski Kanin’s slopes now is with touring kit.