31/365: The Góra Kamieńsk ski slope

31/365: The Góra Kamieńsk ski slope, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 31st

Today was considerably more exciting than yesterday! Thanks to the spontaneity of a few adventurous friends with access to a van, I ended up on a ski slope. The surprising thing about this is we live on flat land- there are a few mounds and solitary hills scattered here and there, but nothing to be too proud of. And here, just 40 miles out of the city of Lodz, we find a proper ski slope.

The Kamieńsk Mountain (Góra Kamieńsk) is a ski slope set up on the largest elevation in central Poland, an artificial mountain which was the byproduct of nearby lignite or brown coal mining. The mound began piling up in 1977 and finally reached 1266 feet above sea level in 1993. The terrain has been reclaimed for nature by planting a forest and reintroducing widlife- it is now part of a park complex. There is a wind power plant at the top with fifteen turbines:

but the northwestern view is of the massive Bełchatów power plant which the lignite mine supplies with fuel:

The plant happens to be the biggest thermal power station in Europe, and since its two exhaust chimneys are almost a thousand feet tall, it's no wonder they are visible for miles around. The less glamorous statistic is its 2009 title of the biggest carbon polluter in the European Union.

The slope works year round and has artificial snow machines, but during winters like this they're not at all necessary. I know nothing about winter sports- I tried skiing once when I was ten, so my slate is practically clean. This time everyone decided to rent snowboards, and I didn't want to be stuck trying to ski all by my lonesome.

Now I am sore all over and I am not entirely sure my knees will work tomorrow, but I had the best time, even though I'm sure I looked like a fool.

28/365:In the forest

28/365:In the forest, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 28th

Never ever use your built-in flash, they say. Well, I say otherwise.

I went to the forest again. Of course, there was no sunshine, but at least the temperature was just right. And it was snowing. My goodness, how it was snowing. Well, you can see for yourself in the photo. I was trying to get the falling snow with my flash without making the picture look cheap- I think I managed. I'm very happy with this shot, and pretty much all of the others, even if I didn't manage to get a good picture of the family of boars.

With all the snow walking I've been doing recently I'm seriously considering buying some snowshoes. Of course the problem is winters are unreliable- one year we're up to our necks in the stuff, the next it's all mud. Who knows if I'd ever use them again? But they would certainly come in handy. I had snow up to my knees more than once today.

24/365: Goodnight, forest

24/365: Goodnight, forest, originally uploaded by Magic Madzik.

January 24th

The Łagiewnicki forest is named after the XIth century settlement of Łagiewniki which supplied the nearby court in Zgierz with vessels of wood, clay and hide. Such a bowl or flagon was called 'łagiew' and the craftsman who made it a 'łagiewnik'. Hence the name.

Today the forest is a natural preserve covering almost three thousand acres. Almost half of it is composed of oak trees- a good twenty percent is birch, which you can see in the photo.

It is a lovely place to visit at any time of year. Unfortunately it's very cold right now, so cold that when I got off the bus I almost wanted to get right back on it again. Which means I was a bit careless with my photos. The thing is, when you've got a long walk ahead before you get out of the woods, night is falling quickly and your fingers are frozen stiff, you really don't feel like messing with the tripod and the f-stops.

I think I will try putting on more clothes sometime this week and going back for another shot.