Nosal

Peaks: Nosal (1206m)

Area: Tatra, Poland

The stunning spell of autumnal weather finally broke overnight, and I woke to low cloud and light drizzle, the first time I had seen anything other than flawless blue skies since arriving. This had been well forecast, however, and I was tired after three big days, so the plan had worked well. I was also planning to head back to Krakow at midday so had deliberately saved Nosal as a quick outing. As such, it worked perfectly as a classic little mountain run. I trotted up towards Kusnice then broke off for the steep and sometimes rocky climb which goes up three distinct rises to the limestone summit (15.01 for the segment from the valley bottom). Views down to the valley below and across to Zakopane, cloud-wreathed and dank for the first time. On the high peaks, snow was falling (yesterday's outing had the definite feel of a snatched ascent, the last opportunity before the onset of winter). I pelted down towards the Nosal pass and then further down on a perfect, fast descent to Kusnice (4 mins from the pass). I extended the road section a bit, but the entire outing still only took 51 minutes from the hotel.