Ski Mountaineering in Poland
A very flat country in eastern Europe, but in the south they do share the Tatra mountains with Slovakia. These are a rugged sub range of the long Carpathian mountain chain. Although the central peaks of the Tatra are generally too steep and rocky to offer good ski-mountaineering ascents, some of the surrounding peaks are really nice.
Skiing over the Ornak pass above Zakopane on a poor weather day, Polish Tatras. Ornak itself makes a good ski ascent on a better day.
Ski mountaineering but not as you know it...taking the easy way up
Skiing down form the summit of Giewont, above Zakopane.
Swinica 2301m, from the cable car station on Kasprowy Wierch above Zakopane. This cable car, which rises over 1000m from the suburb of Kuznice gives access to several good ski touring days, including the ascent of Giewont, the classic traverse west along the frontier ridge over four peaks to Kiry and the ascent of Swinica, which is more mountaineering than skiing...
Practical stuff
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| When to go | March and April are probably the best months for skiing in Poland, but good conditions probably last trhough into May in many years. |
| Where to go | Fly to Krakow, now with many cheap flights from all over Europe, then take the bus to Zakopane (2 hours). There is loads of accommodation near the bus station here and a minibus runs every few minutes to the cable car station at Kuznice. |
| Costs | Costs are pretty cheap, some of the lowest prices in Europe. |
Other stuff - Krakow has a nice medieval city centre to look round, if you can avoid the numerous stag weekends.
