Mount Tsiukhiv

Tsiukhiv (also Tsiukhiv Dil or Tsiukhiv Verkh) is a 939 m mountain (939.4 m exactly; old maps give 942 m or 931 m) in the Upper Dniester Beskids, the highest summit of the Tsiukhiv ridge. It rises in the Drohobych district of Lviv Oblast, between Skhidnytsia to the west and the villages of Oriv to the east and Urych to the south; the nearest village, Oriv, is about 5 km away.

The top of the mountain is gentle, almost flat; the slopes and most of the summit are covered with fir and beech forest, and only the north-eastern side is partly open. Tsiukhiv stands out clearly above the foothills: it is the highest of the front ranges of the Carpathians visible from Drohobych, and on a clear day it can be seen even from Lviv.

How to get there

Our site has no marked route to Tsiukhiv yet, but the mountain is easy to reach and popular with hikers and cyclists. Several VeloBeskydy paths cross the summit: the shortest, “Tsiukhiv Dil”, starts at the Bukovytsia ski resort (6.3 km, about 380 m of ascent), and the “Jadwiga Track” continues from the top to Tustan fortress (10.7 km in total). There is also a footpath from the Karpatski Polonyny hotel below the summit to Tustan (9.9 km).

Water, shelter and safety

Our map shows a spring near Oriv about 490 m from the summit, at roughly 850 m; there are no other springs nearby, so bring water. The summit is windy — gusts often reach 50–60 km/h, and winter brings snowstorms; the best months for a climb are July to September. In an emergency call 112 or 101 — contacts of the nearest units are on our mountain rescue page.

Interesting facts

• The name is linked to a landowner called Tsiukh who owned the pastures on its slopes; forest clearings here are still known as “Tsiukh’s hollows”.
• In 1935 the Drohobych branch of the Polish Tatra Society opened a mountain hut right below the summit, with running water, showers and a telephone; in winter it housed a ski school. The hut was destroyed during the Second World War.
• In summer 2022 a 15 m lookout tower, nicknamed the “Carpathian Lighthouse”, was built on the summit: it overlooks Truskavets, Boryslav, Drohobych, the Parashka ridge and the western Gorgany.
• As early as Austro-Hungarian times there were plans for a cable car from Truskavets to Tsiukhiv.

Photos: Нелегал, CC BY-SA 4.0; Віра Чопик, CC0; Sama4412, CC0; Unknown author, Public domain — Wikimedia Commons.