Cieńków

Photo: J.Ciszak/skionline.pl. Located in the southern part of Wisła, the Cienków ski resort is one of the largest, most interesting and at the same time most popular ski areas in this well-known holiday town. Its skiing history began in the mid-1980s, when a mine from Jaworzno built a large double T-bar here. Today it is owned by Nadwiślańska Agencja Turystyczna, which in recent years has modernised the resort so thoroughly that it has become one of the most skier-friendly places in the Silesian Beskids. The ski area lies near the centre of Malinka, on the road from the centre of Wisła to Szczyrk. In the 2010/2011 season a four-seater chairlift, 1,000 m long with a capacity of up to 2,200 people per hour, was built here, replacing the T-bar mentioned above. It climbs to the Cienków ridge, which some guidebook authors consider the most beautiful in the Barania Góra range. When the lift was built, the slope was widened, creating a new and attractive layout of pistes. The slopes, 4.5 km in total, are covered by 11 snow cannons, groomed and floodlit: two red pistes for intermediate and good skiers and three blue ones for beginners. Intermediate skiers have a button lift serving blue piste no. 3, laid out alongside the main "number one". As part of the modernisation the resort also built a button lift linking the "number one" with red piste no. 2. Near the valley station there are two more button lifts for beginners, and there is also a ski kindergarten for the youngest, where little ones have a 50 m magic carpet and a gentle slope, ideal for learning their first turns. Another attraction is a ski carousel, the so-called "Rotondo". There is a GOPR (mountain rescue) post by the valley station, and on site you will also find a bar, a café, a ski hire shop and a ski service. A large, level car park lies 100 m from the chairlift. Altogether this makes an interestingly laid-out, well-equipped resort with a family character, but also with room for those who like more dynamic skiing. It is also worth mentioning that you can tour on skis along the Cienków ridge: ski tourers can make a superb trip to the summit of Barania Góra, returning through the Czarna Wisełka valley. It is hard not to mention an attraction of a completely different kind: the Adam Małysz ski jump in Malinka, close to the resort. It is the most modern facility of its kind in Poland, with a K-120 construction point. It stands on the site of two earlier jumps and was built from scratch on the back of the success of the "Eagle from Wisła". The modern jump has its own chairlift, which takes you up to a small café by the in-run, provided of course that no competition is under way. The resort is covered by a joint ski pass called "Wiślański Skipass", which includes a total of 11 ski resorts and lifts in Wisła and Ustroń.