Spindler's Hut: The Karkonosze's Toughest Road to a Pass Between Two Historic Huts

The first 5 km (3.1 mi), from Podgórzyn through Przesieka, are a warm-up by this climb's standards: each kilometer runs between 3.4% and 6.1%, for an average of about 5.3%.

Everything changes in the forest. Kilometer 6 climbs at 9.3% and kilometer 7 at 13.7%; kilometer 8 eases to 7.7%, then kilometer 9 averages 11.5% and the final 0.8 km (0.5 mi) to the pass averages 14.6%. The steepest 500 m (0.3 mi) averages 16.6%, the steepest 1 km (0.6 mi) 15.9%, the steepest 2 km (1.2 mi) 12.1% and the steepest 5 km (3.1 mi) 11.0%, and individual ramps are steeper still - figures of up to 24% have been published for the Polish road. With the hardest gradients saved for the very end, ride the first half conservatively.

Provisions: The two huts at the top are the natural refuel stop: the PTTK Odrodzenie hut on the Polish side serves regional food and has rooms, and the Špindlerova bouda hotel complex sits just across the border. Below that there is nothing to buy once you leave Przesieka, so carry enough for the steep upper half.

Gear: Run the lowest gearing you own - the final 4.8 km (3.0 mi) average about 11% with ramps well beyond that. Carry ID if you plan to cross into the Czech Republic, a helmet, basic repair tools and a first-aid kit, as local route guides advise for this road. The ridge is colder and windier than the valley, so pack a layer for the descent.

Our Przełęcz Karkonoska (Podgórzyn) page covers Przesieka and its Podgórna waterfall, so this page looks at the pass and its huts.

Špindlerova bouda has a long and dramatic history. Franz Spindler, the village reeve of Bedřichov, built the first chalet here in 1824; it burned in 1826 and was rebuilt the same year on the original foundations, then burned again in 1885 and was rebuilt in 1886. A wide road was built up from Špindlerův Mlýn between 1914 and 1921, with a toll for cars and buses, and by 1942 the hut had 110 beds. During the Second World War, Allied prisoners of war were held there. After a 1978 demolition order, a new resort was built on the site, the basis of today's hotel. On the Polish side, the building that is now Odrodzenie was confiscated from its Jewish owner under Nazi rule and used as a Hitler Youth hostel.

On the way up you cross the Droga Sudecka, a road begun just before the war to run along the Sudetes; only the Podgórzyn-Borowice stretch was ever built, and a cemetery in Borowice commemorates the prisoners of war who worked on it. See other climbs on both sides of the border with our Routes in the Area tool.