KASPROWY WIERCH CABLE CAR

Kasprowy Wierch cable car

Kasprowy Wierch cable car - tips for tourists:

• Before you decide to go go to Kasprowy Wierch I recommend to check at www.pkl.pl if the cable car (and ski lifts - if you plan to ski there) are open
• The cable car station is located in Kuznice (upper part of Zakopane)
• The road between John Paul II Rondo (the roundabout) and Kuznice is closed for most traffic, except for those with permits. A walk from Rondo Jana Pawła II takes approximately 45 minutes, also taxis or public transportation are available.
• In high season /Christmas, New Year, school holidays and weekends/ cable car can be very busy.
• To avoid waiting in the queue to the ticket office in Kuznice, tickets for the Kasprowy Wierch cable car can be purchased in advance on-line - www.sklep.pkl.pl/en/
• Notice please that the ticket-office in Kuznice (cable car station) sells tickets only for the current day immediately before the departure of the cable carriage. All the passengers for whom tickets are being bought should be present in front of the ticket-office. Once the tickets have been bought, passengers check-in and proceed to the departure platform.
• The cable car trip to Mount Kasprowy (1987 m asl) takes approximately 10 minutes and takes place in two stages with a change in Myślenickie Turnie (1325 m asl).
• Guaranteed time of stay at Mount Kasprowy for those with return tickets is 1 h 40 min, the departure time is specified on the ticket. The ticket is valid all day but only at the mentioned departure time one can get to the return cable car without queuing.

Worth knowing - tickets for the Kasprowy Wierch cable-car are also entry tickets to the Tatra National Park - so if you are going to visit Tatra National Park on the same day as a trip by cable car you don't have to buy an entrance ticket to the park.

Barbara

• More about Kasprowy Wierch
• Kasprowy Wierch - skiing and snowboarding
• Kasprowy Wierch - photo gallery

History of the cable car

The cable car to Kasprowy Wierch is one of the oldest still working cable cars in Europe. The construction of the Mount Kasprowy cable car started on August 1935. The most difficult phase of the construction was transportation of building materials to the top of Mount Kasprowy itself and putting up of nine wooden pillars on the steep slopes of the mountain. Horse carts went as far as Hala Gasienicowa, afterwards all the materials were transported by hands by workers employed at he construction. In the meanwhile complicated mining works were done, together with foundation laying, which often required true climbing skills. After the main pillars were constructed, temporary transportation lift was opened in mid October to help the materials transportation. In those days, the working staff comprised of 600 building workers. By mid October temperatures at the top of the mountain fell down to - 4, -10 and there was already some snow on the very peak. This is when a wooden protective barrack was built which made brick or stone laying possible, as temperature within was a few degrees plus. Workers were working in shifts 14 to 16 hours a day ... The grand construction was completed and the first passengers travelled with the cable car in March 1936, after only 227(!) days of constructing.