Pilsko

Pilsko, the second-highest mountain in the Western Beskids, rises to 1,557 m (the main summit is in Slovakia), almost a thousand metres above Korbielów. Its squat outline, visible from most Beskid summits and, in good visibility, even from the mounds of Kraków or the high-rises of Katowice, dominates the landscape of the whole Żywiec region together with Babia Góra. Thanks to its height and snow that lasts until early May, it is certainly one of the best ski mountains in the country in terms of natural conditions. The first ascent of the summit on skis came as early as 1909, but the turning points in Pilsko's skiing history were the building of the mountain hut on Hala Miziowa in 1930 and then, in the '80s, the creation and expansion of the "Pilsko" Mining Ski Centre (Górniczy Ośrodek Narciarski, GON), much as in Szczyrk. It is worth knowing that back in 1926 Kazimierz Sosnowski, author of the first and now classic guidebook to the Western Beskids, wrote that "Pilsko is one of the most magnificent ski mountains in Poland". The rapid expansion of the ski resort in the '80s and '90s adapted the mountain's northern slopes to downhill skiing, but it also damaged the local nature, which is particularly valuable near the summit, one of only two places in the Polish Beskids with a natural dwarf mountain pine belt. Protests by conservationists halted the expansion in that area, and one of the lifts already built had to be taken out of service. The dispute with conservation groups has still not been settled, so the resort has no coherent plan for operating above Hala Miziowa, which lies about 300 metres below the summit. Pilsko, one of Poland's cult ski spots in the early '90s, also had problems of a quite different kind. As in Szczyrk, GON "Pilsko" passed into the hands of the Gliwice Tourist Agency (Gliwicka Agencja Turystyczna), which all but stopped investing in the infrastructure. Besides the outdated T-bars, what was missing most was a modern snowmaking system to stabilise the snow cover on the pistes. Fortunately Pilsko has put that period behind it: for several years now a new owner has been investing in modern infrastructure. Admittedly, the first chairlift on Pilsko was built back in 2000 (the Baba lift, which is not part of the Pilsko complex, although it is covered by the joint ski pass), and in 2005 a 2-seater chairlift went up from the Kamienna valley to Szczawiny, but this second lift, a dismantled second-hand unit made in 1981, was already outdated when it was installed. In 2013, however, a new 4-seater chairlift opened to Solisko, and this season another one is being built, to Buczynka. Change on Pilsko is gathering pace, which bodes well for skiers looking for genuine mountain settings in Poland with varied, long pistes. The resort's layout is fairly complex. The main car park is in the Kamienna valley, about 1 km south of the centre of Korbielów. This is where the valley station of the new Solisko chairlift stands. A little higher, at the edge of a clearing, is the Jontek holiday complex, the resort's lower centre, with a bar and the valley station of the Buczynka chairlift, now under construction. Above it there is one more gentle T-bar, from which a gentle traverse takes you down to Hala Szczawiny. You can also reach Szczawiny directly from the Kamienna valley: from the upper part of the car park, climb the steps to the Strugi clearing, where the valley station of the 2-seater chairlift mentioned above stands, and ride it up. From Szczawiny the next stage is two old and worn but fairly high-capacity T-bars up to Hala Miziowa, home to the new mountain hut (more like a mountain hotel). Above it are three more T-bars, whose use and future, as mentioned, are uncertain. From Hala Miziowa, with a superb view of Babia Góra, you can ski down an easy piste to Buczynka, or much more steeply along those T-bars: a red piste on the right and a steeper black one on the left. In total the resort described here has 6 T-bars and two chairlifts (a third, under construction, will replace one of the T-bars), plus two children's lifts (on the Strugi clearing and on Hala Miziowa). The pistes add up to more than 18 km, which puts Pilsko second in Poland in this respect (after SON in Szczyrk and ahead of Białka Tatrzańska). Importantly, Pilsko offers genuinely long runs: the longest piste is more than 4.5 km. There is no shortage of bars and restaurants, and accommodation is available both on the pistes (Jontek, the hut on Hala Miziowa) and in the centre of Korbielów. Pilsko's drawbacks are obvious: for now most of the infrastructure is still outdated (though this is changing) and most pistes lack modern snowmaking. Things on Pilsko are moving fast, and there is hope that within a few years a complete rebuild of the infrastructure will restore the resort to its rightful place among Poland's best ski resorts.