Wisła Ski Arena

Soszów is the most varied and largest ski area in the Wisła valley, second in the Silesian Beskids only to the COS and SON ski areas in Szczyrk. It lies at the head of the valley of the Jawornik stream, where the valley climbs to the border ridge running from Stożek through Soszów to Czantoria. The pistes are on the north-eastern slopes of Soszów Wielki (886 m). The first lift was built here in the mid-'80s and showed the scale on which the mining "monopolies" built ski resorts. Built in a very short time, it was the first lift in Poland with a line that bends at an angle. It quickly became one of the most popular places for skiers in the region, in many respects even ahead of Stożek, which has a much longer skiing tradition. The resort's lower building was built from the start to double as a kind of mountain hut for skiers. The whole layout made Soszów one of the more modern resorts of its time. Over time more lifts were added and piste number 1 from the bridge was floodlit, allowing skiing after dark. Finally, to keep up with the new resorts in the Beskids and below the Tatras, in the 2008/09 season the second four-seater chairlift in the Silesian Beskids (after Czantoria) was built here, which again put the area among the best equipped places for skiers in the Beskids. It is the backbone of the whole resort, following the line of the lower section of the old lift up to an altitude of 806 m. It is a four-seater Tatrapoma chairlift, 815 metres long, with a vertical drop of 183 m and a capacity of 2,400 people an hour. The upper part of the old T-bar was modernised: it runs over a distinctive bridge across the piste (in the '80s a highly practical and innovative solution) up to the upper part of the area, where pistes have been laid out among numerous clearings and small woods. The main run is a blue piste that alternates between meadows and clearings through the forest, steepish in a few places and fairly varied. From the top you can also ski down the cleared strip along the border through the forest, past the private mountain hut of the Murzyn family, to the top station of the chairlift, where a wide, difficult and steep descent (red piste) begins, with a black 200-metre variant branching off to the right. In total there are 6 pistes with a combined length of more than 5.5 km, served by the chairlift and four lifts (two longer ones and two for children, in the upper part of the resort). Quite a lot by Wisła standards. There are food outlets at the valley and top stations and on Górna Polana (by the blue piste); at the bottom you will also find a rental shop, a ski service and accommodation in the resort building. You can also sleep on the slope, in the mountain hut already mentioned, which gives the whole resort a very pleasant mountain atmosphere. Besides the fairly interesting, varied runs, the resort's strength is its good snow: natural snow cover very often lasts here until mid-April, allowing the lifts to run at least until the end of March. The drawback is the difficult access: the last stretch of road to the resort is steep and, when covered in snow, can be hard to manage without chains. On winter weekends you also have to reckon with long queues, especially at the valley station of the chairlift (as long as 15 to 20 minutes).