Łamana Skała

Łamana Skała (on many maps also called Madohora) is a 929 m mountain in the Little Beskids (Beskid Mały) in southern Poland. It is the second-highest peak of the Little Beskids after Czupel and the highest summit of their eastern part, the Andrychów Beskids. The mountain rises in the Łamana Skała range, which carries the main ridge of the Little Beskids, and has two tops: the higher one, 929 m, stands above the valleys of the Kocierka and Pracica streams, while the lower one, 915 m, is the junction from which the short Łysina side ridge branches off.

The boundaries of three villages meet on the higher summit: Las and Ślemień in Silesian Voivodeship and Rzyki in Lesser Poland. The mountain therefore lies right on the border of two voivodeships, inside the Little Beskids Landscape Park.

How to get there / trails

Two marked trails cross the massif, and both skirt the summit itself on a traverse along the northern slope:

• the red Little Beskid Trail (Mały Szlak Beskidzki) on the section Kocierska Pass – Groń Jana Pawła II: from Kocierska Pass 7.4 km with about 370 m of ascent, roughly 2 h 30 min; from Groń Jana Pawła II 5 km and 140 m of ascent, about 1 h 30 min;
• the yellow Frys Family Trail: Targanice – Jawornica – Potrójna – Zakocierska Pass – the student hut «Chatka pod Potrójną» – Przełęcz na Przykrej – Łamana Skała – Anula – Rzyki-Pracica.

About 300 m south-east of the summit, through the Anula area, run two more trails: the blue one (section Łysina – Krzeszów: 8.4 km from Łysina, about 2 h 25 min; 6.1 km from Krzeszów, about 2 h 05 min) and the green one leading to Ślemień (7.2 km and 480 m of ascent from Ślemień, about 2 h 20 min). Times are taken from Polish Wikipedia. The nearest shelter is the student hut «Chatka pod Potrójną», about 1.5 km from the summit.

The view from the top

The top is covered with old spruce forest, so do not expect a wide panorama: between the trees you only catch glimpses of the neighbouring ridges. The best view of Łamana Skała itself and neighbouring Smrekowica opens from the open slopes of Potrójna to the west, where most photographs of the mountain are taken.

Nature and history

The slopes are covered with lower-montane beech forest and the summit area with natural spruce forest resembling the upper-montane spruce woods. In 1984 the botanist Aleksy Siemionow wrote that the spruces here were about 160 years old, with conical crowns reaching down to the ground. Today the old spruces are gradually being replaced by natural regeneration of fir, rowan, beech and sycamore.

Along the ridge lie tors of Istebna sandstone and conglomerate, rocks a few metres to more than ten metres high known as Zwalisko or Znalezisko. As early as 1960, on the initiative of Professor Stefan Myczkowski, the Madohora nature reserve was created here; in 2026 it was enlarged to 447 ha, of which almost 33 ha are under strict protection. The reserve hosts 129 species of vascular plants, including protected species such as yellow monkshood, stiff clubmoss and willow gentian; red deer, roe deer, wild boar and badgers occur, and dozens of bird species nest here.

The name refers to the rocks near the summit. A document from 1445 describing the boundary between the duchies of Oświęcim and Zator already mentions «Łamana Skała». The Polish WIG map of 1934 mistakenly moved the name «Madohora» here from the neighbouring summit of Mlada Hora to the east, and the error persisted in guidebooks for a long time. Researchers later restored the correct name, but «Madohora» still appears on maps as an alternative name.

Safety, season and rules

Łamana Skała is a low wooded mountain that can be visited all year round, but in winter the paths can be snowy and icy, and in fog it is easy to take a wrong turn at trail junctions. The summit lies inside a nature reserve, so stay on the marked paths, do not pick plants and take your rubbish home. In the Polish Beskids outside the Tatras, help comes from the GOPR mountain rescue service: call 985 or +48 601 100 300, or the general emergency number 112.

Interesting facts

• Łamana Skała is only slightly lower than Czupel (931 m), the highest peak of the entire Little Beskids.
• The rocks on the ridge are made of the same Istebna sandstone as many rock tors in the Western Beskids.

Photos: Cancre, CC BY-SA 3.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.