Śnieżka - Karpacz

Snowmaking earns the warmest words - reviewers call it the resort's strongest asset, since the guns keep the slope alive through mild winters. People also like that when cover is good, riders can head into the trees. The gondola up Kopa is rated a convenient ride not just for skiers but for walkers heading on towards Sniezka.

Queues top the list of complaints: terrible lift lines and loading the cabins as full as they will go come up again and again, while the two-seat chair crawls upwards. Grooming is called poor, and skiers complain that in practice only one blue run plus a short red with a drag lift are working, while the main four-seater often has no snow beneath it at all. Prices irritate, as does the paid car park, a long uphill walk from the base. Novices skiing down plough into the lift line.