Record attendance in Bláfjöll

“We had a record attendance,” says Magnús Árnason, manager of the ski resort in Bláfjöll yesterday, when huge lines formed in the ski resort, where about five thousand people turned out.

In comparison, Árnason says, about 2,500 people generally show up in the mountain on a “good weekend” but due to the Christmas holiday, the good weather and the thick snow that had formed, an unusual number of people headed to Bláfjöll mountains yesterday afternoon.

“This was one of the five biggest [days] I’ve ever seen,” he tells us today, having worked in the Bláfjöll region since 2007.

Could have been “sold out”

Long lines formed almost everywhere in the mountain and along the road to the ski area. Árnason says that the lines to the chairlifts were moving fast – with up to 2,500 people per hour – but the lines to the ski rentals and restaurants were moving much slower, even though they were fully manned.

“There was a very large line out of the house all day,” he says. “One could almost have said: ‘Unfortunately, the house is sold out, we don’t encourage you to come.’”

He points out that the ski rental gear are in the ‘storage’ of the ski lodge, and therefore, poorly designed for large crowds. “We have seven people working here, who try to keep it moving as fast as they can,” he adds.

Some visitors gave up in the line and parked the car on the road

“We could have had more people in charge of traffic control,” he admits.

Despite a traffic jam on the road to the ski resort, the parking lot was not full, he said. He says that the traffic jam was created because some guests had given up on the line and decided to park their cars on the edge of the road.

“As soon as people felt they were in a jam, they just seemed to park their cars where they were. That made things even more difficult,” says the managing director.

When asked, he says that the ski resort is undertaking marketing campaigns in the winter to encourage people to use a bus to the resort. A bus runs once a day from the capital to the ski resort – sometimes another bus is added if needed – but so far visitors have not used the bus as much as they had hoped for, he said.

“Everything went well”

“Everything went well,” says Árnason, who said he didn’t get a single complaint from a frustrated customer during the opening of the ski area yesterday, although he noticed a negative debate on social media.

He says that there is generally a spirited atmosphere on the mountain.

Are you going to make any changes after this day, e.g. to increase the number of staff?

“Naturally, everything is under consideration. Now we have a snow production system that will allow us to open before Christmas, which will most likely bring more people to us earlier.”