Bánkút

What people valued was the snow and the setting: Bankut sits high in the Bukk hills inside the national park, and by Hungarian standards it held snow well. Those who skied it while the lifts ran remember decent value for money, though it suited confident skiers willing to put up with rough edges. There was a sledging slope, a rental shop and a ski school.

The complaints now come down to one thing: there is nothing to ski. The lifts are not running and the slopes do not open, and the local press calls this a deadlock twenty years in the making. The cause is snow - there is no proper snowmaking system, the national park refused permission to build one, and the water supply and studies would cost more than the owners could raise. A single ageing gun can only patch worn spots. So even with snow in the valleys the hill may stay shut, while Slovak centres nearby moved on long ago.