There are few places in Poland where you can enjoy 4-7 km descents. However, it is possible in Szczyrk, where the blue and red trails are as long as the trails in the Alpine bike parks.
The bike park in Szczyrk (Szczyrk Enduro Trails) is serviced by two lifts. The first is a comfortable gondola that holds two bikes and takes bikers to Hala Skrzyczeńska. From there, you can get higher by chairlift, which leads to Zbójnicka Kopa. Here, it is not as convenient, because you have to hang your bike on a hook and there is no service to help you with this, as in Soszów or Skolnity.
From June to the end of September, the bike park is open daily until 6 p.m., and on Saturdays in July and August, the gondola runs even until 8 p.m. As everywhere, a deposit is charged for the pass, but if you want to get it back, you have to finish riding before the lifts close. Once, I rode until the end and then I had no way to return the card, because the cash registers were already closed and there are no refund machines in Szczyrk, like those found in other bike parks. It is also worth knowing about discounts with the Go Pass card. A one-day pass is PLN 20 cheaper.
Blue trails in Szczyrk
Theoretically, there are two lines of this difficulty, but one leads from Zbójnicka Kopa to Hala Skrzyczeńska and the other from there to the very bottom, so they can be treated as one trail over 7 km long.
Both are flow trails, i.e. smooth trails with berms and jumps. Most of them are tables, so you can practice jumping without worrying about not reaching the landing. The upper trail – Hip Hopa Air has larger tables than the lower one – Hip Hopa Flow.
Red trails in Szczyrk
The situation with the red trails is the same, i.e. at the top you have the Zbój trail, from which at Hala you can immediately enter the Otik trail. Zbój starts at Małe Skrzyczne mount, so after leaving the lift you have to get to it a few hundred meters along a hiking trail. Otik, on the other hand, ends 2 km from the lower gondola station. After finishing the trail, you have to get to the lift on a busy, asphalt road, at least slightly downhill.
Both trails have a natural character and a lot of obstacles in the form of smaller and larger drops and other jumps. There are especially many of them on Otik. It was hard for me to remember which ones were suitable for me to jump and which ones were too difficult, and on each descent I skipped something because I only remembered that I was supposed to jump it when I was riding past it :)
Black trails in Szczyrk
The black trails are Bestyja, which starts at Hala Skrzyczeńska, and the short Otesanek, which branches off from Otik. I didn’t ride either of these trails. I walked part of Bestyja while watching the Downhill World Cup and I saw that it had places where I would walk my bike. The World Cup trail looked like it could be ridden, if I just avoided all the drops and gaps. It runs along Bestyja and intersects with it in a few places.
Skill zone in Szczyrk
On Hala Skrzyczeńska there is a short loop for beginners, which allows you to learn turns. There are also north shores, i.e. narrow footbridges, a rock garden and three drops of different sizes (0.5 m, 1 m and 1.8 m). Behind them there is a table, but I think you have to pedal hard to be able to jump over it.
In general, the bike park in Szczyrk is one of the places I will definitely want to visit more than once again. At my level, there are actually only two lines – blue and red, but they are long and good that they are of a different nature. And the black trails are waiting for me.
Thank you :)
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