Kasprowy Wierch

Skiers have known this mountain practically since skiing first came to the Tatras. Ever since ski infrastructure appeared here, it has been the scene of fierce disputes between conservationists and skiers. The cable car to the very summit of Kasprowy, built in record time between 1935 and 1936, was the first cable car in Poland and the sixtieth in the world. In 2007 it was modernised by the well-known company Doppelmayr. The cable car climbs 936 m at an average gradient of 22%, running over 6 towers. The cabin travels at 8 m/s (slowing to 6 m/s at the towers) and carries up to 60 people at a time. In summer its capacity is 360 people per hour, in winter twice that. For this reason it is mostly used only for a single ride up to the summit area. Two chairlifts also reach the top, in two cirques separated by a rocky ridge, Goryczkowy and Gąsienicowy, where the actual ski terrain lies. The first ski lift in the Gąsienicowy cirque was built in 1938. It was a heavy electric sledge lift for 16 people and the first ski lift in Poland. In 1962 a single-seat chairlift was built here, 1,190 metres long with a vertical rise of 345 metres. To increase capacity, a new 4-seater chairlift replaced the old one in 2000. A wide piste runs alongside the lift, steep (black) in its upper part and red lower down. It continues all the way to Kuźnice and the valley station of the Kasprowy cable car. Because the piste lies within Tatra National Park, it is not always groomed and has neither snowmaking nor floodlighting. Many consider the piste in the Goryczkowy cirque the best in Poland. It drops 670 metres through varied, high-alpine terrain. It has two variants: the western one, harder but more interesting, and the eastern one, more monotonous but wider and easier (both are difficult anyway: they are black pistes!). Skiers are carried from the Goryczkowy cirque up to the summit of Kasprowy by an old, well-worn 2-seater chairlift opened in 1969. It is 1,624 m long with a capacity of 720 people per hour. From its valley station you can ski down the skiway to Kuźnice. Despite excellent skiing conditions, Kasprowy Wierch draws fewer and fewer skiers. There are several reasons. First, the pistes rely entirely on natural snow, so in warmer winters they are sometimes open only a few days a year (in 2010 the pistes did not open on a single day of the season). Second, getting to the valley station in Kuźnice is not very convenient: you have to leave the car in a paid car park and take a minibus with your skis to Kuźnice. Third, the ski pass is exceptionally poor value for the quality on offer. Even so, this is without doubt a mountain every Polish skier should "tick off" at least once in their life.