The cableway to Kasprowy Wierch was built in 1936 in only seven months. The person who initiated the construction of the cable way was Aleksander Bobkowski who was an officer of the Polish Army, a skier, president of the Polish Ski Association, as well as, the son-in-law of the president, Ignacy Mościcki. In order to carry out this project, help from Linkolkasprowy made construction possible. With great effort and working a total of three shifts, around one thousand workers had to endure a long winter to complete this project. Construction began on August 1st 1935, and on February 26th 1936, the cableway took off from Kuźnice to Myślenickie Turnie. The first cable car arrived at Kaspro wy Wierch on March 15th 1936 after 227 days of construction. This cableway was the first of its kind in Poland and in the Tatry mountains. The modernization of the cableway was carried out within two seasons after seventy years of accident-free functioning. President Lech Kaczyński had a celebratory opening after its completion on January 18th in 2008. The cableway transports 360 people during the winter, and 180 during the summer when the bandwidth is limited for safety reasons. The construction of the cableway sparked controversy and one of the protestors was the State Council for Nature Conservation. Still, the cableway was built and became a part of the Tatry/Zakopane land scape. The 15 minute cableway ride takes on a 4,300 metre distance, a 936 metre difference in altitude. The halfway destination is Myślenickie Turnie where the interchange station is located. Pope John Paul II took the cable car up to Kasprowy Wierch on June 6th 1997. Once he got there, he blessed all the workers, and touri sts that were already hiking. A plaque at the interchange station is there to commemorate the Pope’s visit.