Liepkalnis Winter Sports Centre is an

alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

area in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It has 10 lifts and 9 groomed ski runs. All the pistes are lit and equipped with artificial snow making equipment. The centre is based on the highest point in Vilnius, Laimio kalnas, with a maximum altitude of above sea level. The maximum altitude difference on the hill is .

History

The hill has been used by the alpine skiing enthusiasts since at least 1982, and it has been continually raised by piling rubble until 2000, mostly by efforts of the skiing enthusiast Laimis Janutėnas. Eventually people started calling the mountain by his name, and in 2004 the Vilnius City Municipality officially named the hill ''Laimio kalnas''. The first ski lift was launched in 1984. In 2013, the control of the ski area was given to the Lithuanian-Latvian JSC ''UAB "Trade State"'', which invested around 1 million euros into lighting, snowmaking, snow grooming equipment and built multiple new lifts. Along with the lifts and snow grooming infrastructure, the company operates a ski school and a ski and snowboard rental service.

References

{{reflist

External links

* http://liepkalnis.lt/ Ski areas and resorts in Lithuania Sports venues in Vilnius