If you’re prepared and determined, the weather doesn’t matter when MTB cycling. We discovered Stronie Slaskie on the Polish side of the Sneznik Mountains by chance during an autumn search for affordable adrenaline. That’s how I came to the MTB bike park Czarna Gora: perhaps the most photogenic downhill on the Royal Snieznik—more about the park here.
Off-season advantages
Taking the cable car up and skiing down the slope doesn’t bother me as much until later. Since I’m not a very technical type, I needed to find the courage to try a proper ski alp. I’ve been favouring endorphin, off-road, easy cross-country skiing in recent years.
Just like winter, I’m not at all attracted to summer holidays. Crowds of tourists, noisy kids, overpriced services and overcrowded parking lots are not my favourites.
It’s the off-season that holds special experiential meaning for me. Sticks, sneakers, bike, and let’s do it. If a person has good clothes and a heated room in the evening, nothing can surprise them.
MTB climb to the top station of the cable car
The climb out of the valley to the trailhead is surprisingly easy. An excellent gravel road goes around the trails up to the top of the lift, crossing the course a few times. It takes you to the top lift station.
Singletrail Czarna Góra
The start of singletrack under the cable car starts with a rock, very optimistic and unobtrusive.
The nearest kilometre past that rock got me. It was supposed to be a red, moderate trail, but you couldn’t stick a pin in my ass on some of the drops. I was all alone on the single. It was the weather.
Fear doesn’t let go. Awareness of the technical driving deficiencies only underscores this. Dangerousness, awkwardness, reflexes, and overweight versus the biting, wet November weather with steep drops, slippery roots, and rocks forced me to ride at a near-stepping pace. I had a similar initial feeling on the Trebec single-track run-up to Trhlina. 🙂
I had three in my head at once. The first one instructed me: “It takes speed, inertia and stability. The slower, the more dangerous and the greater the risk of falling.” The second one countered: “Slow down, or you’ll crash again. One clavicle wasn’t enough?” The third one, still depressed, chimed in, “You’re a complete moron. What are you shaking yourself for? Was that what you needed? Why are you playing around here? You should have had a spa and a beer instead.”
Photo nirvana
The second one won, and thanks to him, I experienced adrenaline and photo nirvana.
When I exited the black, wet forest onto the road, I put my bike down and pedalled the track on foot with my camera. I’ve never ridden a more beautiful singletrack (maybe it was also due to the atmosphere of that deep black mountain).
If you are going down the hill with death in your eyes, you don’t have time to notice how magical and mysterious is the forest in which you are moving. What colours, scents, nooks and crannies do the mist, the semi-darkness and the dew on the needles conjure up? I would give one piece of advice to all photo hunters. The drizzly weather allows you to materialize in a photograph of the genius loci of such a mountain.
The lower part of the trail wasn’t as steep, nor was it as flow, as more rocks and a few technical obstacles were added.
MTB Czarna Gora is perhaps the most photogenic downhill on Kralický Snežník.
Czarna Góra bike park
Biking at Czarna Gora captivated me so much that we returned here even through the most challenging winter. How else with cross-country skis and a bicycle? This time with an electric fat bike. I was determined not only on the slopes but also on and off the slopes. I became a local figure that winter. Most of the skiers in Stronie Slaskie sincerely enjoyed my fat bike.
When I looked at the maps a year later, there were a few more single trails around the cable car, and Czarna Gora became a proper bike park. So again sometime.
