Friday, March 29, 2013

Freeride spots in Szczyrk

As I promised in the last post I'm going to describe and show you some interesting spots in Szczyrk.
The spot decription will be in polish due to small popularity of Beskidy mountains among foreign skiers.

1. Duże Skrzyczne:



Ze szczytu Dużego Skrzycznego kierujemy się w lewo, patrząc na schronisko. U góry czeka na nas polana, która niestety zarasta młodnikiem, więc trzeba się spieszyć. Jest to najprzyjemniejsza część zjazdu. Potem jedziemy w lesie, ale na tyle rzadkim, że jazda nadal sprawia frajdę. Kierujemy się w lewo, żeby trafić w dolinkę, która doprowadzi nas do Słotwiny; inaczej czeka nas podchodzenie. Ze Słotwiny zamówionym busem (40 - 50 zł za kurs) lub autem (jeśli mamy kogoś, kto po nas przyjedzie) wracamy pod Skrzyczne i możemy powtórzyć zjazd. 
Ze szczytu Skrzycznego możemy również wybrać podobny wariant zjazdu. Ruszamy tą samą stroną, ale kierujemy się bardziej w prawo do Lipowej; powrót pod Skrzyczne będzie dłuższy o ok. 6 km. 




2. Małe Skrzyczne - zjazd do Malinowa

To ostatnio ulubiona miejscówka wszystkich riderów. Jeszcze 2 lata temu tylko nieliczni o niej wiedzieli, ponieważ ze szczytu musimy kilkaset metrów przejść granią w stronę Malinowskich Skał. 
Stamtąd czeka nas miły zjazd szeroką polaną. Poniżej polany wjeżdżamy na drogę leśną i nią możemy zjechać na sam dół do Malinowa lub przecinamy nią i zjeżdżamy kawałek przez las i do drogi leśnej, tyle że niżej. 
Wybierając opcję pierwszą tj. drogą leśną, a nie lasem, dojeżdżamy do placu, gdzie składowane jest ścięte drzewo. Tu droga się rozwidla. My kierujemy się ostro w prawo, nie przejeżdżając przez polankę. Potem już cały czas za drogą, która doprowadzi nas na sam dół, w okolice domów w Malinowie. Droga jest dość płaska, więc czeka nas odpychanie kijami lub spacerek z buta z deską snowboardową pod pachą.



i parę zdjęć z tej miejscówki:

Łukasz i Marco

Martyna

My

Dziękujemy Marcinowi za robienie zdjęć :)

cdn...

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Birthday weekend


If only all spring weekends gave us so much snow and sun as the last did... 

Saturday woke me up with severe frost and strong sun.... Unfortunately this day I was about to spend on tiding, shopping and other before Easter duties. I was afraid if any lines last unmarked for the next day cause I was sure no one quit such a powder day with 40 cm of fresh snow. 
All day I was thinking about good place for riding on Sunday. As I supposed probably all polish riders spent their Saturday on skiing. All the afternoon I was receiving info one after the other about perfect conditions in all regions together with sadness  due to passing through all accessible areas. 
That's why Facebook sometimes drives me mad! In Tatras nothing lasted, in Korbielow nothing lasted...
Fortunately my new friend  from Friday - telemark skier Jack gave me some directions to unown lines in Szczyrk. I was hopefull that I'll find smth new and fresh. As it turned out it was te best birthday gift I received ...maybe except for a little snowflake charm from Mark :) 
Despite a real frost I spent amazing birthday marking new lines in deep pow. Evening party was only the icing on the birthday cake. 

In next post I'd like to describe the most popular freeride spots in Szczyrk.

Powderly, Snow Flake


Friday, March 22, 2013

Hello Ms. Winter again

Yesterday I promised you I'll write more about my blog.
But...unfortunately or rather fortunately for me and other riders, I had to change my plan. 
Yesterday Ms. Winter sprang a surprise on spring (it sounds funny: spring a surprise on spring) and She came. It was snowing the whole day and night  in polish mountains, the temperature dropped below 0 and I couldn't do nothing different than skiing. 
I woke up early morning and after an hour of driving I was ready to ski. I chose Sczyrk for today exploration, just beacause it's nearest. 
During the first hour I didn't need to look for fresh lines behind the prepared slopes because some of them weren't preperared indeed. It was a blessing to me that today I was alone. I did't use to ski in forests alone... 
If you are going to ski in forest areas, never do this alone even if you are an experienced and good skier equipped in helmet and goggles!
But today I broke this rule the first and last time. I was so stupefied by fresh powder, I decided to mark some new lines in my favourite beech forest (see below).


I cracked my leg on a small spruce and my shank is red, gray, swollen and aching. I had a luck I didn't broke my leg. And what if I crack my head on a tree and lose consciousness...It was stupid and irresponsible!
Luckily it's happy ending story and good lesson for the next time.
Afterwards I met 3 riders: a telemark skier, a fat skis skier and a snowboarder who joined me for the rest of my skiing day. Probably because I knew some secret passages ;) They were surprised doubly: seeing female rider, alone in the forest. They took some nice shots.







Thursday, March 21, 2013

It's high time to start blogging.

Hello everyone for the first time in the first spring's day!

I'm so happy I found time and mobilisation to start making my dreams come true eventually.

One year ago I decided to set up my first blog "Snow Religion" about active women, mainly who prefer freeride skiing...and I did it. But it was the only matter I did at this time. The whole year was passing by and now I'm back...and I'm going to stay here longer.

First, just a little bit about me.
I'm Martina and I'm addicted to snow. After years of observing some symptoms I can say it's addiction, but not bad habit...I hope.

I started my adventure with skiing as a small kid. I was 3 or maybe 4 when my mum and grandpa took me to Szczyrk in Beskidy mountains to show me what the skiing is and how to use all that heavy and uncomfortable equipments.
In my opinion they did it their best, cause I don't have any bad impressions from that time. Since then I'v been spending my winter weekends and holidays on skiing.
It's already 30 years! Time is passing too fast...
For all those years I'v been trying to use this time the best I can. 
During my secondary school I finished the proffesional courses for the ski instructor's assistant. I could't wait till I reach a magical age of 18 to have a possibility to become an outright ski instructor. It gave me an opportunity to use skiing at my work. 
I worked as a ski instructor for many years but I wanted more and more...
That's why I started backcountry skiing 3 years ago and since then it's become my life passion. 
Below, there is my first freeride photo from Tatras in Poland.




Next time I'll tell you more what is my blog about.

Powderly, 
SnowFlake