New climbs for Poland

Here some brief info about of Poland.

Population and biggest urban agglomerations.
Poland has population of roughly 38 million people. Biggest urban agglomerations are:
Katowice and its dozens of connected Upper Silesian cities - 5,2 mln
Warsaw - 2,8 mln
Cracow - 1,2 mln
Lodz - 1,1 mln
Tricity (Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot) - 1 mln
Poznan - 0,9 mln
Wroclaw 0,8 mln

Geography
As you can see from the topographic map,



north of Poland doesn't have any mountain ranges. The highest peak is 328m high with a little over 100m denivelation so it's not suitable for a road mountain challenge. Central Poland doesn't have any mountain ranges too. Around 150 km south of Warsaw we have Gory Swietokrzyskie (Holy Cross Mountains) mountain range. It is very underdeloped and one of the poorest regions of Poland. Though you can find some nice hotels here, built recently, mostly closer to Kielce, city with population of around 200000 people and bike expo held twice a year there. Gory Swietokrzyskie highest peak is Lysica, 612 m high, not accesible on road. Second highest peak, Lysa Gora also called Swiety  Krzyz (Holy Cross) does have asphalted road and it is highest, 2nd category climb, in these mountains with denivelation of 275m and average grade 4,4%. Here is its profile:
http://www.altimetr.pl/podjazd-swkrzyz.html


All the rest of the mountains in Poland are located on southern border.

Going from west to east we have two big mountain ranges Sudety (Sudetes/Sudeten) and Karpaty (Carpathian Mountains).

Part of Sudety in the south-west, bordering with Czech Republic and close to Germany is smaller range called Góry Izerskie (Jizera Mountains, Czech Jizerskie Hory, German Isergebirge). Its highest peaks are little over 1000m high. The main mountain resort on the Polish side is Swieradow Zdroj (Zdroj means spa, bad in German). On the Czech side, biggest city is Liberec. Here is where we have one of the proposed climbs, Stog Izerski: http://www.altimetr.pl/stog-izerski.html
I don't know this climb myself. It is supposedly asphalted climb but with partly pretty bad surface in that version from  altimetr.pl. But there is more sides of this climb. On one of them from Swieradow Zdroj, there was road marathon going there some time ago: http://www.altimetr.pl/stog-izerski2.html

Going east, we have Karkonosze (Giant Mountains, Czech Krkonose, German Riesengebirge) which are pretty well covered with 3 climbs (2 Czech, 1 Polish). Then we go east to part of Poland called Kotlina Klodzka with some smaller mountain ranges and where we have an empty spot. There is also many resorts here, though this area is not very well developed. There are some amateur road races here. There is few climbs here with Czarna being the toughest:
http://www.altimetr.pl/gora-czarna2.html
http://www.altimetr.pl/gora-czarna.html
I don't know this climb myself. It is supposed to be asphalted road with some concrete blocks near the top and 2 or 3 sides of the climb. We couldn't agree on this climb as there are some more mountain ranges in that area with some passes being more pupular but there was no consensus here. Further east we have very popular resort area called Beskid Slaski (Silesian Beskids, Czech Slezske Beskidy, German Schlesische Beskiden) with one climb Przelecz Salmopolska. This is very popular area among cyclist with many amateur races and stages of Tour de Pologne held here. There is at least 3 more interesting climbs here. If necessary I can list them here. If it will be decided to add one more, my personal pick is Rownica: http://www.altimetr.pl/podjazd-rownica.html. Very popular amongst both tourist and cyclists with great restaurants at the top but with partly cobblestoned road. This climb was used for one of the stages of Tour de Pologne. There is also amateur mountain TT being held here annually.

On the other side of this mountain range we have another mountainous area called Miedzybrodzie Zywieckie. It is located around two big lakes neighbouring each other and a middle sized city Zywiec. It is very popular amongst cyclists, with many climbs and many amateur races being held here. The most famous being Gora Zar, 1st category climb:
http://www.altimetr.pl/gora-zar.html.
I've done it myself and it's relatively tough, though nothing special. On the top of the climb we have nice view and and some restaurants. Fully asphalted to the very top with very good road surface. There is annual mountain TT being held here.

My other pick is Magurka Wilkowicka: http://www.altimetr.pl/gora-magurkawilkowicka.html. It is very tough climb, probably the toughest in that area with many 15-20% ramps. It is asphalted climb though last 200 metres is dirt road to  the restaurant on top of the mountain. No nice views here and not very attractive touristically.

Going further east, we already have Przelecz Krowiarki climb and then we get to Tatras Mountains. It is largest and highest mountain range in Poland, extremely popular amongst both tourists and cyclist. A place with toughest stages of Tour de Pologne and many amateur races being held here. We only have one Polish climb here which is understatement in my opinion. This year one of the stages of Tour de Pologne was going through Gobalowka mountain, close to Zakopane, the most famous Polish mountain resort. Gubalowka is one of the most popular mountains in Poland with enourmous number of restaurants and accomodation infrastructure and excellent asphalted road to the very top. So it is nearly everybodys's pick: http://www.altimetr.pl/podjazd-gubalowka4.html
There are at least two more sides to this climb.

Further east we have some smaller mountain ranges, Gorce and Pieniny. This area is getting developed quickly as it is close to Tatras Mountains and has a lot to offer. Szczawnica being probably the most famous resort here. There is one climb here, not very challenging but my personal pick, which is Przelecz Knurowska. A pass with two sides with excellent road surface: http://www.altimetr.pl/przelecz-knurowska.html

Further east we already have Przechyba. Then we have some smaller mountain ranges with some resorts not being very popular. Then we get to the very end and arrive at Bieszczady, at the Polish-Ukrainian-Slovakian border, a part of Carpathian mountain range. Highest peaks within 1300-1400 range. Beautifull and vast area with very little industry and great rolling terrain. No challenging climbs but worth promoting in my opinion. Main resort probably being Polanczyk at huge artificial lake. There are two famous cycling loops here. Mala and Wielka Petla Bieszczadzka (small and big loops around Bieszczady). Both very nice. A lot of cyclists here. I've cycled here many times.

Not easy to pick up a climb here. My pick is Przelecz Przyslup (a pass): http://www.altimetr.pl/przelecz-przyslup.html. Maybe not very challenging but with a lot hairpins. Other pick is one way climb here : http://www.altimetr.pl/podjazd-jawor.html, close to Polanczyk and its lake.