Bjelašnica

The ski resort of Bjelašnica

The start of the Olympic downhill race in 1984 Bjelašnica had to be artificially extended to the required length erreichen.bdep2

The Bjelašnica ( Cyrillic Бјелашница ) is a mountain in central Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located southwest of Sarajevo, directly following the Igman (1502 meters). The highest peak of Bjelašnica reaches a height of 2067 meters, it is also called Bjelašnica.

The name

The name of the mountain comes bijel from the Slavic word root, which means "white".

Geography

The Bjelašnica is part of the Dinaric Alps. It starts about 15 km southwest of the center of Sarajevo directly behind the church Ilidža and the Igman and extends about 25 km to the valley of the Neretva. In a north-south direction it extends about 15 km.

In the north- east it is bounded by the Igman and then from the Valley of Željeznica which opens to the south in Ilidža in the Bosna; lie behind the mountain ranges Jahorina and Treskavica. In the south, the Visočica follows, which is separated by the deep gorge of the Rakitnica of the Bjelašnica. In the southwest of the valley of the Neretva River forms the boundary to the mountain range Prenj. In the north of the Neretva River Bosna - furrow lies with the valley of the Trešanica, another tributary of the Neretva, between Bitovnja and Bjelašnica.

The area of Bjelašnica is heavily wooded, but the tree growth ends at about 1500 meters above sea level. There are numerous trails that are set up and managed by local mountain clubs and lead to the bare peaks.

Traffic

By Trešanica Valley between Neretva and Bosna leads past an important transport link between the Adriatic Sea and inland to the Bjelašnica. It is part of the European Corridor Vc by rail and road connection via Mostar and Sarajevo; future here extends the A1 motorway.

Recreation and Sports

Short situated beyond the outskirts of Sarajevo, the Bjelašnica is a popular recreation area for hiking and skiing.

During the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo Bjelašnica was a competition venue, among other things used for alpine skiing competition of the men. Noteworthy were the first gold medals for Americans in Alpine skiing at the Olympics: Bill Johnson scored his gold medal in downhill skiing. Similarly, the twin brothers Phil and Steve Mahre won gold and silver in the slalom. The alpine competitions of the women were held in Jahorina.

Throughout the area, the infrastructure was improved at this time, including hotels and ski resorts. Much of it was destroyed during the Bosnian war and built up only slowly.