Mount Kostrych

Kostrych is a 1,544 m summit on the Kostrycha ridge, in the Verkhovyna district of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. The ridge lies between the Chornohora crest to the south-west and the Pokuttia-Bukovyna Carpathians to the east; besides Kostrych it includes its highest peak, Kostrycha (1,586 m, about 2.1 km to the north-west), and Kostrytsia (1,512 m, about 2.4 km to the south-east). The nearest villages are Kryvopillia (about 3.8 km), Bystrets (5.8 km), Staishche (6.1 km) and Krasnyk (7 km).

Do not confuse Kostrych with neighbouring Kostrycha: they are two different summits of the same ridge. About 1.6 km south of Kostrych rises Yavirnyk (1,460 m), 2.7 km away Rizha Kezhkovata (1,341 m), and 3.4 km to the north Makovytsia (1,161 m) above the Kryvopillia Pass. The ridge is covered with broad pastures where haystacks probably once stood.

How to get there

Four of our routes pass within 300 m of the summit. Almost directly over the top lead Voronenko – Mount Kukul – Staishche (31.1 km) and Krasnyk – Kostrych ridge – Mount Kukul – Voronenko (39.2 km, about 3,060 m of ascent). From Krasnyk to Hoverla via Kostrych runs Krasnyk – Shpytsi – Lake Nesamovyte – Hoverla – Zaroslyak base (35.2 km). The shortest ascent is Bystrets – Psarivka pasture – Mount Kostrych (15 km), and from Staishche there is Staishche – Kostrych (7.5 km), ending about 400 m from the summit. The East Carpathian Tourist Trail also passes nearby.

Water, shelter and safety

Our map shows the nearest springs about 660–800 m to the south-west, south-east and north-east (at 1,270–1,420 m), with more 1–1.8 km away; the condition of most is unknown and some dry up in summer. A working hut on the Bolota pasture stands about 860 m to the south-east, and a hut on the Psarivka pasture about 2.6 km to the south-west. The crest is treeless and exposed to wind, so get off it if a thunderstorm approaches. The nearest summit with our forecast is the weather on Brebeneskul (about 10 km). In an emergency call 112 or 101 — contacts of the nearest units are on our mountain rescue page.

Interesting facts

• The ridge’s name is linked to the old word “koster”, a haystack; another version derives it from fescue (kostrytsia), a grass growing on Carpathian slopes.
• Between the wars a hikers’ shelter in the style of a Hutsul homestead stood on Kostrycha — it served as a model for the shelter below Kukul, opened in 1938.

Photos: Мельник Олександр Вікторович, CC BY-SA 4.0; Мельник Олександр Вікторович, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.