Kozie Żebro (Grybów Mountains)

Kozie Żebro (also Kocie Żebro, "Goat's Rib") is a wooded 888 m summit in the western Low Beskids, in the Grybów Mountains. It is the highest peak of the Kozie Żebro and Czerszla range and one of the highest in the Grybów Mountains. It stands between Jaworzyna (821.6 m) to the west and Tokarnia (830.2 m) and Czerszla (877 m) to the east; the ridge carries the boundary between Kamionka Wielka and Łabowa communes in Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland, and the summit itself belongs to Kamionka Wielka. The villages of Bogusza, Łabowa and Kamionka Wielka lie at its foot.

The southern slopes drop steeply to the Tokarski Potok valley, the northern ones descend in a long gentle spur to the houses of Bogusza, cut on both sides by deep valleys. Spruce-beech and spruce-fir forests cover the mountain, but there are viewing gaps near the top. It should not be confused with another Kozie Żebro (847 m) in the Low Beskids between Regietów and Wysowa-Zdrój.

How to get there / trails

The yellow trail Nowy Sącz-Jamnica – Kozie Żebro – Czerszla – Florynka – Wawrzka (continuing via Ropa to Gorlice) follows the ridge of the range over the summit. There are also many unmarked paths, including from Łabowa. Since 2023 a spring hiking and running event, "Hipnij na Kozie Żebro", has been held here with several routes to the top; local councils have discussed building an observation tower on the summit.

Łabowa, from where unmarked paths lead to the summit, is an old Lemko village on road 75 (Nowy Sącz – Muszynka) and the seat of the municipality of the same name. Its Greek Catholic church of the Protection of the Mother of God dates from 1784 and keeps its old furnishings.

What you can see from the top

The mountain is wooded, but near the summit there are view gaps between the trees. There is no full panorama – which is why local councils raised the idea of an observation tower in 2021.

The Grybów Mountains

The Grybów Mountains are the westernmost part of the Low Beskids, between the Sącz Basin and the Hańczowa Mountains. In the west they are bounded by the Kamienica Nawojowska valley (the Krynica-Zdrój – Nowy Sącz road), in the east by the Ropa valley. Besides the Kozie Żebro–Czerszla–Kopiec massif they include Jaworze (880–882 m), Chełm (779 m) and Maślana Góra (753 m). Within the massif the highest tops are Kozie Żebro (888 m), Czerszla (877 m), Kopiec (864–870 m), Sapalska Góra (831 m), Tokarnia (828–830 m) and Jaworzyna (822 m). From Kozie Żebro the ridge leads gently west to Jaworzyna, while to the east, between Kozie Żebro and Tokarnia, lies a distinct unnamed pass. The sources do not explain the origin of the name – "goat's rib" or "cat's rib".

Safety, season and rules

The mountain is accessible all year and has no difficult sections, but the many forest paths make it easy to go astray in fog. Mountain rescue in the Low Beskids is provided by GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300, plus the general emergency number 112.

On the ridge: Kopiec (870.5 m)

About 2.5 km further east along the same ridge of the Kozie Żebro and Czerszla range lies the forested Kopiec (870.5 m), between Czerszla (877 m) and Ubocze (819 m), above the village of Kotów. The same yellow trail Nowy Sącz-Jamnica — Kozie Żebro — Czerszla — Kopiec — Florynka crosses it, and on the pass between Kopiec and Ubocze it meets the blue trail Nowy Sącz — Krynica-Zdrój.

Photos: Photos / Zdjęcia: Jerzy Opioła Captions / Napisy: ŁukaszWu, CC BY 3.0; Kacper Szymański, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.