Zagroń

Zagroń photo: skionline.pl. Located in the Olza valley on the northern slopes of Złoty Groń (710 m), the Zagroń complex in Istebna, which includes the Zagroń ski area, is where the village's career as a popular ski destination began; it is sometimes called, a little mockingly, the "Silesian Białka", which certainly does it no discredit. More precisely, it began twice: first in 1982, when the first lift in Istebna was built on this very spot, and again in 2009, when the village's first chairlift was built here. The northern slopes of Złoty Groń, which shelter the Olza valley from the south, have a very good climate for snow: average temperatures here are up to 4 degrees lower than on the surrounding hills, which bask in the sun and are exposed to warm southerly winds. As a result the snow cover lasts here from early December to the end of March, and sometimes even until mid-April. This makes for very good downhill skiing conditions. The backbone of the resort is a four-seater chairlift 840 m long, with a vertical drop of 147 m and a capacity of 2,400 people an hour (ride time 7 minutes). In the lower part of the resort there is also a short button lift and a magic carpet for children. Two pistes run down from the top, one on each side of the lift, across open fields in the upper part and along fairly wide strips cleared through the forest lower down, with one link between them. The slope is wide enough for the map to show as many as 4 pistes, but in reality they are just variants of the two main runs. The piste on the left of the lift (looking downhill) is slightly harder and also marked red, but the steeper stretch is short enough for less advanced skiers to ski it comfortably. At the bottom there is a restaurant, a snack bar, a rental shop, a ski school and a ski service. The picture of a family resort is rounded off by very good facilities: comfortable accommodation right by the slope, the Centrum Zdrowia i Energii (Health and Energy Centre) and, especially popular with the youngest skiers, the small Park Wodny Olza water park. It has to be said that this is one of the best equipped, best organised and most family-friendly resorts in Poland. Unfortunately this also has its downsides: as the "first" resort in the Olza valley (both historically and by location), it takes the largest number of skiers despite not being the largest, so the slope can get very crowded and you have to queue for the chairlift. Zagroń also owes its popularity to the fact that President Bronisław Komorowski often visits it, as it is close to his residence in Wisła.