Szczyrk is still closed, but we're already opening the season
When does the ski touring season actually start? Probably not when the lifts start running – that's actually the worst time to go touring. The best time is right now, before anyone else notices.
End of November. Szczyrk is closed – the lifts are standing still, the ticket offices are boarded up, and the parking lot is almost empty. But the snow cannons are already running at full blast, because the season has to be prepared. The result is that down low we get snow that is snow in name only – hard, uneven concrete that softens a bit during the day and freezes back to rock at night. Higher up, from about the middle of the slope, it starts to get real – natural snow, the kind you dream about in November. Zuza, Łukasz and I (me on a splitboard, them on skis) decide that's good enough. These aren't magazine-cover conditions, but a true connoisseur will make it work anyway – because it beats nothing.
First ascent, first reward
We climb Skrzyczne from the bottom, up the pistes, counting every meter of concrete under our skis as an investment in what awaits higher up. And sure enough – the higher we go, the better it gets, until the snow finally starts behaving the way it should.
The descent follows practically the same route, with different variations at the forks, because even on a single route you can spice up your day.
At the top, the most important item on the program awaits: coffee and cake at the mountain hut, eaten on skis, without taking off our boots. A top-class spiritual experience – after all, nothing clears the mind like hot coffee after an ascent, when you still don't know whether your legs will survive the descent.
Banoffee pie and 21 kilometers of penalty
Conditions up high are good enough that the plan gets more ambitious. From Szczyrk, over Duże Skrzyczne and Małe Skrzyczne, all the way to Biały Krzyż – because there, at the end of the route, the goal of the trip awaits: the legendary café BikejCafe and their banoffee pie (I recommend it wholeheartedly, not a sponsored post, it's just good).
Sun, no wind, perfect conditions for a break with a view. And then comes the news that spoils the mood: the 120 bus hasn't been running up to the top for quite some time. We won't be riding it down. We have to go back on our skis and descend via the new loop – Szczyrk Solisko.
A moment of resignation at Biały Krzyż, but a few kilometers later, down at the bus loop, all that's left of it is laughter. Because the planned tour turned into 21 kilometers – a completely unplanned, but pretty decent result for the start of the season.
What does it take to call it a good season?
Not much, as it turns out. All you need is a closed resort, hard snow-cannon concrete at the bottom, some natural snow higher up, and the will to make the most of it all instead of waiting for perfect conditions, which never come as a full set anyway.
Eaten and drunk during the season opening:
2x coffee and cake at the mountain hut on Skrzyczne (day 1)
1x coffee and banoffee pie at BikejCafe on Biały Krzyż (day 2, the goal of the whole trip)
Unplanned extra kilometers: 21 km instead of a shorter loop
Season open. See you on the tracks!