Poland, its not the first place you think of when you think of world class sport climbing destinations, even the locals told us 'our rock is not so good', but for us it provided a convenient adventure, that was different yet familiar and amazingly affordable.
I'll start from the beginning about 2 months ago Edwin was rallying everyone up to the idea of a climbing trip abroad during the summer. We looked at the classic destinations of France Italy and Spain, then out of nowhere we decided to look at crags near Krakow. To our surprise there was an abundance of limestone cliffs about 30 minutes from the city. With very little information apart from a few photos and a website that indicated the campsite was going to be very cheap, we started looking for flights to Krakow.
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| Leaving behind the rain Photo by Me |
Cheap flights to Krakow booked, bags packed, bus times checked and although we had no guidebook or expectations the psyche was high. Skip to the day of the flights both up early getting trains from our respective homes in Kendal and Marske. I arrived at Manchester airport about 3 hours before the flight enough time to grab a coffee before Edwin was meant to arrive (roughly 15 minutes after I got there). But as I started my coffee I got a text from him saying 'the train has stopped'. But it was chill we still had just under 3 hours until the plane took off. 45 minutes passed as had a flurry of texts and many sips of coffee but Edwin was still trapped just outside Manchester on his train. Boarding for our plane closed at 11.25am, so as it got to 10.30am I started looking at weather in the Lake District partially accepting defeat, then the phone rang. Edwin was moving again so we were discussing the fine details of the military operation we would have to pull make our flight. All of sudden Edwin said he had to go, something was wrong. 10 minutes later I got a text from him saying wait by baggage drop off. At 10.50am a bedraggled Edwin was running through the airport towards me shaking his head. We quickly sorted our gear out threw the bag into check in and ran through security, as we got through we saw the gate number and set off sprinting through the airport. We got to the gate. We were the first there.
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| Polish Fields Photo by Me |
After the train debacle, a pleasant flight, a couple of buses and a 1 mile walk with Edwin's cumbersome suitcase we arrived at Brandysowka Campsite. This amazing bit of civilization in the biggest clearing in a densely wooded valley is carefully watched over by Sokolica, an amazing 60mt high limestone wall that towers over the campsite. It reminded me of High Tor in the Peak District and that was the first of the similarity between the Jura and Peak limestone. We set up camp and dined on the awesome Polish food that the campsite sold, belly's full of pierogis, beer and bigos we hit the hay psyched for our first adventure.
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| Attempt at a from the tent photo Photo by Me |
We woke up and escaped from the soggy sweat box that was our tent and looked up, towering above us was the days objective Lot Na Brandysa. The classic line up Sokolica, its a VI on the local grading system called the Kurtyka Scale. This we discovered after a lot of asking and reading works out at around French 6a or around 5.9/5.10 in American. This seemed like an amenable grade for our first day so we ventured up. After some deliberation Edwin won the lead for the first pitch(well pitch 1 + 2 that we would string together), after a few near slips on the unbelievably slippery limestone he reached the belay. A little dehydrated I set off on the second it was very polished (maybe even more than Stoney Middleton) but quite juggy. Upon arriving at the belay ledge I was ready to throw up, maybe it was the lack of water or the tiredness, but either way I manned/womaned up and set off on my lead. After a wrong turn or two I ended up on the right line, an amazing chimney to the top of this pillar, with unbeatable exposure then an airy step across onto the easy final slab. Amazing. With our main objective complete we had lunch, went for a walk and ended up at the single pitch crag that all the locals seemed to be at. We did a couple of easy things but then ended up trying to project this route that felt absolutely nails. We later found out that it was equivalent to 7c/+ which just goes to show how useful a guidebook is and how little we understand the Kurtyka scale.
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| Sokolica Photo by Me |
The next day we woke up to the unmistakable sound of rain hitting the tent, deciding the day would probably be a washout we decided to explore the valleys and crags of the area. Before leaving I threw my towel over a beam in the communal shelter. We walked from the campsite through the nearby village of Bedkowice and down into the valley that contains Dolina Koblyanska, one of the most crag filled valleys in the area. As you walk through the valley the dense woodland gives way to an open clearing flanked on either side by walls of limestone. Some of the best limestone lines we had seen (but British limestone doesn't set the bar that high) and only 30 minutes from the campsite. But even more remarkably the rock had dried in record time. Passing a pizza place and bar we made a note to make a stop there on the return journey. Walking from town to town we eventually decided to work our way back, Edwin drew a line on the map so we could pass the crags of Dolina Bolechowicka on the way. Unfortunately this line didn't correspond to any paths, and after running through what I assume was someones backyard and a very dense woodland we emerged at a cliff edge. He was right, this was where we wanted to be it was just a case of getting down. Carefully scrambling down the ridge we could see another amazing ridge line on the other side of the valley, not knowing its name we named Shitzroy as it looked like a mini version of the famous Patagonian mountain. We would have to return for that.
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| Dolina Bolechowicka Photo by Me |
That evening after a dinner of pizza and beer we bumped it a couple of Polish climbers who we had seen at the previous days crag. They spoke English so we stayed there and chatted for a good couple of hours, comparing experiences of Polish climbing and English climbing and lives of students in both country's it was great. Then it started to get dark. Being the prepared mountaineers we are we had a very bad map and no head torch. But what could go wrong. It started off fairly easy following a road, then due to the lack of scale on the map we turned down this dusty track, only to find out it only lead to a horse farm. With darkness ever encroaching we decided to skirt round the edge of the farm and pick our way through the woods. This was challenging, with no path and with the fear we may be trespassing, we didn't look back and charged head first through the thinnest part of the trees. The last glimmer of sunlight had gone and the moonlight was being blocked out by the ever enshrouding tees. Then we were through and once again in someones back yard so we ran as fast as we could then and thankfully we hit the road. Sweet safety. But there were no streetlights and the forest was dense our imaginations were running wild. Then something darted across the road. Was it a wolf? Are there wolves in Poland? Would we make it back alive? Would my towel still be there?
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