UKC

Morning all, I've just booked some cheap flights in Feb to Wroclaw for my family (kids under 10). Anyone on here an expert in Polish mountains? Mountain huts? Etc. I get that it'll be very conditions-dependent but I'm wondering whether there are huts that we should book, places we shouldn't miss, etc. Never been there before and no idea about the polish winter scene!

I've done a couple of short trips - nothing technical but we took harnesses, rope, axes and crampons.

Trip 1 - Zakopane and Tatras national park.  Zakopane is (I think) the main skiing town in Poland so is relatively prosperous and expensive.  The area has a lot of famous routes and mountains.  Potentially serious in feel although we were just hiking.  -10 on the tops.  Hiked up to a hut and stayed a couple of nights.  A couple of hours up to the hut - not too strenous.  The walks to the ridges needed crampons and axes.  I was glad we had a couple of local friends who knew the area. 

Trip 2 - We 'did' Sněžka on the Polish/Czech border.  We stayed the first night in Karpacz and then hiked up to this place - http://strzechaakademicka.pl/ and then up to the top and down the next day.  We walked past a couple of other huts - all looked fine with decent accommodation and good hearty food.  We had the clothing and gear in case the weather got bad but there were a lot of folk about who looked like Ben Nevis summer tourists.  We took it easy and had nice, pleasantly tiring days.  You could go much harder or do shorter 'up and down' routes.  It's popular and busy so doesn't feel too commiting but as you say, in bad weather and visibility it could get challenging quickly.  All hiking and no climbing.

Vang Stave Church in Karpacz is worth looking at (wooden Norwegian church moved to Karpacz).  Lots of places to stay and eay in Karpacz.

Let me know if you want pics to get an idea of the place.

A night in Morskie Oko would be very good.   I spent an excellent week based there this Feb and the frozen lake in front of the hut is spectacular.    What can be done is very dependent on snow conditions as it can be very avalanche prone.

Mark

I have X-skied in Harrakov (czech) and the border area in Feb. Harrakov used to be on BBC Ski Sunday for downhill. But the XC is very good, and extensive.

Chains almost mandatory. - The locals take the wheels off to put them on!

Skied into a border village to see all the locals scratching their heads, we were on the carpark, the cars were under 3+m of snow (in one night).

Language: Most of the locals speak German, but to speak German will start WW3. Start in english, then suggest german.