The map
The Loop is a complete tourist product integrated with a chain of mountain hostels, entirely based on Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society’s (PTTK) trails. It is an ambitious route that puts to use existing trails in the Żywiec, Silesian and Little Beskids. In order to complete it, one must cross almost 250 kilometers with a total elevation gain exceeding 11.000 meters. We believe The Loop will soon join the list of well-known trails such as West Highland Way in Scotland and GR 20 in Corsica, which is considered the hardest mountain trail in Europe.
The trail is designed based on the premise that one should be able to cross it during a two-week vacation and have access to neat accommodations. A characteristic feature of The Loop is that, as the name indicates, the trail starts and ends in the same place. In our version it is a glade by the Dębowiec, a mountain located within the administrative lines of Bielsko-Biała. The route can be crossed all at one or divided into smaller sections. It’s up to you to decide where you enter the trail end where you leave. Importantly, the adventurers who manage to pass the entire route will be rewarded with attractive souvenirs.
The design of The Loop is also based on flexibility. We don’t enforce a way of crossing the trail and don’t mark certain tracks. We talk about advised marked trails of Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society, that connect selected points into a whole.
The track of the loop consistent with the idea of its originator, Mateusz Zmyślony, are shown in the links below:
https://mapa-turystyczna.pl/route/3w5i2
https://pl.mapy.cz/s/hecebesama
Tomek Habdas, the mountain internet personality, a 2-in-1 kind of person, made the first official crossing of The Loop after announcing the project. The author of the printed guides and the blog ‘W szczytowej formie’ completed the trail in 8 days. He shared his experience, added a few suggestions and modified the GPX track a little:
https://mapa-turystyczna.pl/track/546710ba
https://pl.mapy.cz/s/musuferega
Tomek Habdas’ track leads from Barania Góra to Węgierska Górka through Magurka Wiślańska and Radziechowska, which is justified by the views and the fact that we won’t have to cross the construction site of the S1 expressway by the green trail from Kamesznica. Therefore this section of the trail is a little different from the official one. In the winter period Perć Akademicka is closed for tourists, and in addition to that the tourist conditions on Babia Góra are very hard. That's why in this track we won’t find the little loop around Babia Góra.
The third version of the track includes numerous questions and concerns made by people interested in crossing the trail. We collected them in one file, which the interactive track is a result of. To add a splash of color and highlight that The Loop is elasticity, freedom and creativity, we switched the direction of the trail. Most of the time this proposition does not differ from the official version. It speaks to the ones that view The Loop as a smooth connection of the Main Beskid Trail with the Small Beskid Trail in a form of a loop between the Little, Makowski, Żywiec and Silesian Beskids, and the track looks like this:
The badge
The reward for completing The Loop is a one-of-a-kind badge. An adornment of any backpack, hoodie, jacket or hat. An object of desire and respect of many mountain lovers’, that you will meet on various trails in Poland and abroad. It will be given free of charge to anyone who completes The Loop and documents it by collecting 15 stamps from selected facilities located on the trail. The badge is available in three different colors, that are issued based on how the trail was crossed according to the statute below:
- The badge of The Loop was established by Local Tourist Organisation ‘The Beskids’ with the purpose of promoting tourist assets of the Silesian, Żywiec and Little Beskids.
- The badge is available in three colors: brown, silver and gold.
- The badge, depending on the color, is issued free of charge:
● brown - for a single, documented crossing of The Loop trail,
● silver - for a wintery, documented crossing of The Loop trail,
● gold - for a documented crossing of The Loop trail in both directions. - The badge is earned without time restrictions by individual or group trips.
- A ‘wintery crossing’ is defined as a crossing during the time of meteorological winter, that is between the 1st of December and the 28th of February.
- A ‘documented crossing of the trail’ is defined as collecting at least 15 stamps from facilities designated in the badge book, which is available free of charge at theloop.travel or from selected partners of the project, that are listed on the website above in the ‘news’ section.
- In order to verify completing The Loop trail one has to contact us
at biuro@visitbeskidy.pl up to a month after completing the trail.
Be visible. When crossing the trail remember to tag us in your posts @theLOOPbeskidy
