Winters in the Balkans are usually filled with snow, but not everywhere in the same measure – usually it’s the mountains that get the heftiest portion of the white powder. This year is different, however, because it was probably the snowiest and strongest winter in the past ten years, with temperatures dropping 10-20 degrees below zero. In fact, it was so snowy that some enthusiasts saw an opportunity to test their winter gear in their cities. Take a look.
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina:
The height of snow reached epic proportions last Friday in Sarajevo: 110 cm and counting. While Facebook statuses ranged from „Dude, where is my car?“ to shout outs to Chuck Norris, Saturday morning brought a different vibe: the cleared main street and the small park in the center of the city became impromptu snowboarding tracks; people went out for walks armed with thermos bottles of warm (and unknown) contents, shovels and good spirit.
Few broken legs later and in line with Sarajevo’s Olympic tradition, a new discipline was invented for all those not cool enough to have a snowboard: Snow Diving, which attracted untrained and trained enthusiasts alike with interesting results. Rooftops, windows, balconies and walls were used as a starting point for a jump, consisting of somersault or, more commonly, plain nosedive into 1 meter high snow. Some did it in winter attire, others in their underpants. The most important thing was not to win but to take part in the game, obviously.
Along with snow diving, a more ancient winter discipline had its grand return: “lavording” (or lavor-boarding, from “lavor” = an old metal or plastic dish once used for laundry washing). Two lavors and a rope is all these guys need. No David Guetta overdub this time, just that ol’ Bosnian folk tune from the car speakers:
Split, Croatia:
Nobody is used to so much snow in Split. In fact, they are so not used to snow that they consider this a winter sport.
Belgrade, Serbia:
Kalemegdan park finally comes in handy for something other than just taking a romantic walk.
…and some proper snowboarding had to be done as well:
