Kanin
Slovenia's only ski area above 2,000 m, closed in 2013 after a cable car accident and the operator's bankruptcy, reopened in 2016, and shut again since autumn 2023 when its 1970s cable car lost its operating permit.
- Region
- Bovec
- Country
- Slovenia
- Status
- closed
- Year opened
- 1973
- Year closed
- 2023
- Reason for closure
- Closed the first time in 2013 after its cable car failed - a gondola came down - and the operating company went bankrupt. It reopened in 2016 linked to Sella Nevea on the Italian side, but has been closed again since autumn 2023 after failing to obtain an extension to the operating permit for the ageing cable car. The Slovenian government has since committed around 30 million euros towards renewing the resort.
History
Kanin rises above Bovec in the Julian Alps on the Slovenian side of the border with Italy, and is the only Slovenian ski area reaching 2,000 m - the combined cross-border resort with Sella Nevea runs from 1,140 m to 2,292 m for 1,152 m of vertical, with around 30 km of blue, red and black piste, 5 km of sledging track and some 1,100 cm of snow a year. The cable car up from Bovec dates from 1973 and was refurbished around 2000. In the 2012-13 winter a gondola came off and fell to the ground; the ski area shut, the operating company went bankrupt, and the Slovenian side stayed closed for several seasons while a succession of possible investors came and went. It reopened in 2016-17, newly connected to Sella Nevea so that skiers could cross the frontier on snow. That reprieve did not last: since autumn 2023 the Slovenian side has been shut again, this time because the old cable car could not get its operating permit extended, leaving Bovec without its lift and the resort in limbo for a second time. The Slovenian government has committed around 30 million euros towards replacing the infrastructure. Individual piste names and the specifications of the Slovenian lifts are not documented in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kanin cable car | Gondola | The multi-section cable car up from Bovec, built in 1973 and refurbished around the turn of the century. Its failure caused the 2013 closure and the refusal to extend its operating permit caused the closure from autumn 2023 | |
| Unnamed lift | The cross-border Kanin-Sella Nevea resort counted 12 lift installations in total including a funifor, gondolas, chairlifts and surface lifts, with a combined capacity of about 15,000 an hour; the individual lifts on the Slovenian side are not separately documented in accessible sources |
Sources and further reading
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanin-Sella_Nevea_Ski_Resort
- https://sloveniatimes.com/41740/kanin-ski-resort-in-limbo
- https://breghouse.com/2024/12/16/the-kanin-conundrum-why-is-slovenias-highest-ski-resort-closed-again/
- https://snowbrains.com/new-hope-for-kanin-sella-nevea-cross-border-resort-as-slovenian-government-commits-e30-million/
More in Slovenia
Location
46.3375, 13.5525