Luboń Wielki

Luboń Wielki is a 1,022 m summit and the most prominent mountain of the Island Beskids, rising about 512 m above its key col. In the national register of geographical names it is listed simply as Luboń, but tourist literature and maps call it Luboń Wielki to distinguish it from other peaks of the same name. Local people once called it Biernatka. It stands north of the spa town of Rabka-Zdrój, where Limanowa, Nowy Targ and Sucha counties of Lesser Poland meet.

The fields and farmsteads of Tenczyn, Glisne, Krzeczów, Mszana Dolna, Raba Niżna, Rabka-Zdrój (Zaryte) and Skomielna Biała lie at its foot. The Glisne Pass (634 m) separates it from neighbouring Szczebel. A long ridge with Luboń Mały runs west from the summit all the way to Naprawa. All streams of the massif feed the Raba or its tributary, the Smugawka, and the massif rises almost 500 m above their valleys.

How to get there / trails

Five marked trails lead to Luboń Wielki:

• Yellow "Perć Borkowskiego" from Rabka-Zaryte through the nature reserve — the hardest route, with scrambling over rocks inside the reserve. 5.1 km, 560 m of ascent, about 2 h up (1 h 30 min down).
• Red Little Beskid Trail (MSB) from Mszana Dolna via the Glisne Pass: 8.3 km, 560 m of ascent, 2 h 15 min (1 h 50 min down). This long-distance trail ends on the summit.
• From Naprawa Dolna via Luboń Mały and the Surówki clearing: 7.6 km, 460 m of ascent, 2 h 15 min (1 h 40 min down); the blue trail crosses the clearing.
• Two more trails from Rabka-Zaryte: 4.4 km (530 m of ascent, 1 h 50 min, 1 h 05 min down) and the shortest, along the Rolski Potok, 3.3 km (550 m of ascent, 1 h 20 min, 50 min down). OSM shows a blue trail and the green PTTK Rabka – Luboń trail on this side.

The view from the top

The summit offers views to the north and west. The widest panorama is from the Surówki clearing on the western ridge, crossed by the blue trail: from there you can see the Tatras, the Gorce and Babia Góra. The mountain is easy to recognise from afar by the mast of its radio and TV transmitter.

Nature and history

The lower slopes are covered with spruce and fir forest, the upper ones with Carpathian beech forest. Two clearings survive, Surówki and Lugusowa. On the south-eastern slope a nature reserve of about 12 ha protects the largest block field in the Island Beskids, the rocks known as Dziurawe Turnie and a cave. Many legends and folk tales are linked to the summit.

On the summit stands a small PTTK hut built in 1931; it survived the Second World War and in 2009 was entered in the register of historic monuments of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. Next to it are a radio and TV station and a weather station. The transmitter was built in 1961 to broadcast the FIS World Championships in Zakopane. During the war the large wooded massif sheltered partisans: halfway along the Czarny Potok, in a place called Jamy, they had a camouflaged dugout and a wooden barrack, and at times they also occupied the summit hut.

Safety, season and rules

The mountain is accessible all year. Perć Borkowskiego crosses rocks and the block field, which are slippery in rain and ice, so it is best used for the ascent in dry weather, coming down by another path. Do not leave the marked trail inside the reserve. The mountain lies outside national parks.

Mountain rescue in the Beskids is provided by GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300, and 112.

Photos: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jan Biernat, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 3.0; Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.