Wielka Krokiew Ski Jump
Wielka Krokiew in Zakopane opened on 22 March 1925, and Stanisław Gąsienica-Sieczka won the first contest with jumps of 30 and 36 metres. The chairlift on the hill is 356.8 metres long, rises 133 metres and runs 50 two-seat chairs. The town names the jump after Stanisław Marusarz and describes the ride as the view along the inrun.
The sports district at the foot of Krokiew
Wielka Krokiew is the ski jump in Zakopane, run by the Central Sports Centre. The town's page places the chairlift on the hill named after Stanisław Marusarz. The Centre's own history starts earlier, with the man who drew the hill: Karol Stryjeński (1887–1932), architect and visual artist, described there as a lover of the Tatras and of highland culture. In 1922 he won the competition for Zakopane's regulatory plan. That plan split the town into zones and set the southern part, at the base of Krokiew, aside as a sports district, with a ski jump as its main piece.
At the end of 1922 Stryjeński started the Sport Park partnership. A priest and mountaineer, Jan Humpola, headed it. The State Council for Nature Conservation reviewed the scheme positively. On 25 December 1923 the paper Głos Zakopiański wrote that the build had been consulted with people it called ski powagas. Money was short and the work went slowly. The army was brought in to help. In January 1925 the Parish Council of Zakopane granted a subsidy for the jump. On 22 March 1925 the hill was formally opened. Stanisław Gąsienica-Sieczka won the first contest, with jumps of 30 and 36 metres.
The chairlift on the landing hill
The municipal page calls the present lift an all-year, two-section chairlift with two-seat chairs. LST Loipolder Lenggries of Germany built it. The length is 356.8 metres, the height gain is 133 metres, capacity is 608 people an hour, and there are 50 chairs. The first lift on Wielka Krokiew went in in 1962. It was a pulse system, with the chairs parallel to the track. In 2008 that line was rebuilt as a circulating railway of two-seat chairs.
The town's description of the ride is the jumper's view: up to the top of the hill, then a look at the inrun, the angle athletes have before a World Cup start. A café at the upper station serves hot and cold drinks and homemade cake. The landing hill below is the jump opened in 1925, not a separate viewpoint. The chairs are open. The ride is the profile of the hill, from the start bar down the landing slope, seen from the cable rather than from the outrun.
The same municipal page says the hill is not only for competitors. It invites tourists onto the lift for that inrun view and for the outlook from the top. The operator it names is the Central Sports Centre, which is also the body that publishes the founding history. Between the two pages the visit splits cleanly: one tells how the sports district was willed into the 1922 plan, the other puts you on the cable over the slope Stryjeński sited at the foot of Krokiew.
FAQ
Is the Wielka Krokiew chairlift wheelchair accessible?
Neither the Central Sports Centre page nor the municipal chairlift page describes wheelchair boarding, a step-free route, or staff help onto the chair. Ask the operator before you rely on it: +48 18 263 26 60, sekretariat.zakopane@cos.pl.
How do I get to Wielka Krokiew?
The municipal page gives the address as Bronisława Czecha 1, 34-500 Zakopane, and names the Central Sports Centre as operator. It does not publish a bus line, a stop, or a walking time.
Does the cheaper ticket include the chairlift?
No. The operator sells a ski-jump tour on its own and a separate ticket that adds the chairlift. They are listed as different products.
