Niestachów

Niestachów. Niestachów is a quiet village in a wide valley between the ridges of Otrocz (372 m) to the west and Sikorza (347 m), in the Brzechów Range of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains. In the 2007/08 season a family ski resort opened on the slopes of the Otrocz massif, and from the start it won recognition, above all among the residents of Kielce, a drive of a dozen or so minutes away. The resort lies on the eastern slopes of the hill; in its upper part it reaches into the forest through a wide cutting, and lower down it runs out onto open fields above the village. There are three button lifts on the main slope, which is about 500 metres long and more than 100 metres wide at the bottom, with a vertical drop of up to 70 metres. At the bottom, a little to the side, there are two more training lifts for the youngest and for beginners. The slopes have snowmaking and floodlighting. By the car park skiers have a restaurant, an equipment rental shop and ski instructors, and there is also a GOPR mountain rescue post. These figures alone make it clear that the resort is meant for families and for learning, or perhaps for a pleasant training session after work or a warm-up before the main ski season. Nevertheless, initiatives to build small resorts like this deserve praise, especially in places further away from the Polish mountains. A particularly good feature in Niestachów is a whole area set aside for children, with a separate kindergarten and a playground for the youngest.