Tree-Clearing Begins for What Would Be Poland's Largest Indoor Ski Slope

A sizeable patch of forest has already disappeared from a wooded hillside above the small village of Babica, near Wadowice. That is where, under a building permit already granted, Poland's first year-round, fully covered ski slope is due to rise — a project billed as set to become one of the largest facilities of its kind in Europe.

Preparatory work — clearing the site at the top of the hill where the run is meant to begin — was confirmed in mid-September by Gazeta Krakowska. It's the first tangible sign that a long-running project, shelved and revived more than once, is finally moving into construction.

A hall covering 27,000 square metres

The idea itself isn't new. The first reports of a covered ski slope, an aquapark and hotels in Babica surfaced back in late 2018, before the story went quiet for years. It resurfaced in 2023, when public consultations began and the Wadowice municipal authority opened the environmental review procedure for the planned "ski hall." The following months brought an environmental decision, and in June 2026, the long-awaited building permit.

Under the approved plans, the covered run will have a gradient of 10 to 35 degrees and will be kept at a constant -2°C to -5°C through a cooling and artificial-snowmaking system — regardless of the season or the weather outside. The hall itself is expected to cover around 27,000 square metres and hold up to two thousand people at once. A 700-space car park is planned alongside it.

The slope, though, is only part of the plan. Next to it, on a four-hectare plot, a much broader tourism and leisure complex is envisaged: a luxury hotel, an aquapark with both indoor and outdoor sections, restaurants in a highland (góralski) style, shops, a sports-equipment rental outlet, and play areas for families with children.

A rival to Bottrop, Dubai and Shanghai — with caveats

Length is the headline selling point in the developer's promotional materials, and different sources cite slightly different benchmarks — a good illustration of just how fluid the race for the title of "world's longest indoor ski slope" currently is. Some reports put the planned length at 650 metres, which would overtake the current European leader, Germany's AlpinCenter Bottrop, whose slope runs 640 metres. Other trade sources instead benchmark against China's L+Snow complex in Shanghai, described as the world's longest indoor slope at around 460 metres. For comparison, the well-known indoor slope inside Dubai's Mall of the Emirates measures roughly 400 metres.

Whichever ranking one accepts, Babica would be joining a narrow club: only around 26 facilities of this kind currently operate across the whole of Europe.

The project is backed by Wacław Prorok, an entrepreneur from nearby Ryczów and owner of the construction and development firm Wakom, until now known chiefly for residential projects in Kraków — including in the sought-after Zakrzówek and Dębniki districts. Prorok is also a locally recognisable figure as strategic sponsor of Orzeł Ryczów, a club playing in Małopolska's regional fourth-tier league. He began his own sporting career with Wisła Łączany and Orzeł Ryczów before going on to compete as a track athlete for Górnik Zabrze, where he won the Polish junior title in the 3,000-metre steeplechase. On the details of the investment itself, he's for now staying tight-lipped: "I'm not commenting publicly on the Babica investment for now. At the latest within a few months, everything will be clear," he told Gazeta Krakowska.

Climate change is pushing investors indoors

The project fits a wider trend playing out across Central Europe's ski industry: increasingly mild winters are shortening the natural season and making it harder to maintain snow cover on traditional, open-air slopes. Trade outlets note that a hall like this could give skiers from southern Poland a place to train year-round without travelling to the Alps, let ski schools operate twelve months a year instead of a few winter ones, and give equipment manufacturers somewhere to test gear out of season. It's this climate argument that investors and local officials reach for most often to justify a facility that, at first glance, looks more like something from the Gulf than a village outside Kraków.

Babica on the map — and questions about the access road

For a small, forest-hidden village of a few hundred people, the project represents a step change. One Babica resident, speaking to Gazeta Krakowska, compared the potential effect to what Energylandia did for the nearby town of Zator: "A dozen or so years ago hardly anyone knew where Zator was, and thanks to Energylandia everyone in the region knows it now. It'll be the same with our village," she said. "There will certainly be some inconveniences, but weighing the pros and cons, I think the region will develop."

The biggest practical worry remains access: a narrow, winding road leads to the hilltop site, one where two cars can barely pass each other. "I hope the route to the resort will be better connected. I can't imagine the current road staying as it is once traffic increases," another resident cautioned.

Wadowice's local authorities are counting above all on economic benefits: new jobs, upgraded road infrastructure, and a boost to the profile of a region that has, until now, been known to tourists mainly as the hometown of Pope John Paul II.

What's next

The developer has yet to release a construction timeline, a cost estimate, or an opening date — Prorok has said only that a clearer picture of the project, including the run's final shape, will emerge in the coming months. Formally, though, the key hurdles — the environmental decision and the building permit — have already been cleared, and the site-clearance work now under way marks the first visible step toward a project the region has been talking about for nearly eight years.