Downhill run
Warsaw's ski buffs and wannabes never had it so good.
No need to trek south to Zakopane or Szczyrk or even west to Poznan's all-weather ski slope to try out those new bindings and test weak knees. Park Szczesliwicki, located in the heart of the Ochota district in Gmina Centrum, now has slopes and lifts.
The new man-made slope opened last month. Flanked on one side by a chair and a bar tow on the other, the slope is 240 meters long, 15 meters at the top and fans out to 50 meters where the slope meets the park's natural floor. The site also features a 500-meter sled run.
General contractor Energopol Trade opened the capital city's only ski slope after winning the tender in 1997 to build and operate the site. While the slope and lifts were up and running last week, other facilities such as rental and catering services and a ski shop have yet to be completed.
So far, the ski slope (depicted here before opening hours) has attracted hundreds of people during its first three weeks of business, operators said. During the first weekend when the lifts were running, Ania Skora was surprised at what she saw.
"I was shocked," said Skora, a law student at the Stefan Wyszynski Catholic University in Warsaw. "There wasn't any chance to park a car or to stand in line (to get tickets)."
People swarmed to test their ski gear out, so Skora simply didn't feel like fighting the crowd and decided to return another day.
There was a day when Warsaw boasted two winter ski slopes, but none of the slope operators or ski enthusiasts interviewed remember when that day was. The two former runs were located in Moczydlo Park in the Wola district and Park Szczesliwicki, where Energopol used the former site as a base for its new slope.
"We piled up the old slope by 16 meters and now the difference in levels is 42 meters," said Grzegorz Sawicki, a vice president of slope operator Energopol-Trade-Tramp, owned by Energopol Trade.
Building of the new slope lasted from March 1998 until August of this year, taking soil from construction sites such as Osiedle Wlodarzewska, Sawicki said. The hill was then covered with a special green mat that allows for year-round skiing. The mat is actually a fine net containing bristles that is moistened by an underneath spray system to provide a slick surface for non-winter skiing. During the winter, snow is preferred but if there's a shortage, the operator has artificial snow, he added.
Sawicki said he was one of the first to test the new slope.
"You have to get used to skiing on a different surface, but it's quite stiff at the moment," Sawicki said. "The surface doesn't allow you to charge the slope very much, but it serves the purpose O.K."
While the slope in Park Szczesliwicki is the only one of its kind in Warsaw, it is the second all-weather slope nationwide. Malta Ski constructed the first slope more than six years ago in Poznan, the company said.
Although Poznan's slope is open all year, it is most attractive to skiers when there is snow on the ground, the company said. Otherwise, it's mostly used for beginners and instruction on skiing methods, said Piotr Mis, a sledge-run manager with Malta Ski in Poznan. He said that those skiing on the mat should wear ski gloves and some kind of leg protection.
"It is compulsory because a falling skier could suffer a contusion," Mis said.
Though neither operator would discuss return on investment figures, Sawicki said he saw a big interest and envisioned significant returns from the slope in Warsaw. He estimated 500 people visited the slope during the first two weeks.
"People have been skiing for two weeks," Sawicki said. "When there was snow, the interest was great."
Energopol Trade plans to run an advertising campaign to introduce its ski slope this month. The company, however, would not say when the official opening would take place.
"Nobody is pushing us and everything depends on us," Sawicki said. "But we want to finish this as soon as possible."
The slope is open between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. with tickets costing zl. 2 in the morning and zl. 3 in the afternoon per ride to the top.
