Groń Jana Pawła II

Groń Jana Pawła II (John Paul II's Groń) is an 890 m summit in the eastern part of the Little Beskids in southern Poland, in Wadowice County of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It lies on the main ridge between neighbouring Leskowiec (922 m), from which it is separated by the shallow Midowicz pass, and the more distant Magurka Ponikiewska (817 m). The nearest villages are Ponikiew (about 3.8 km) and Rzyki (4.6 km). Together with Leskowiec the mountain forms one of the most popular hiking areas of the Little Beskids, and its present name is linked to Karol Wojtyła — Pope John Paul II.

Two side ridges branch off the summit: one north-west to Gancarz, the other south-east with the tops of Jaworzyna (662 m) and Harańczykowa Góra (624 m). The Rzyczanka, Ponikiewka, Tarnawka and Targoszówka streams rise in the valleys between them. There are two glades on the summit: Polana Beskid on the northern slopes and Polana Bargłowa with a mountain hut on the southern slopes.

Getting there / trails

Several marked trails cross the summit and the glades below it:

• red — the Little Beskid Trail from Bielsko-Biała via Chrobacza Łąka, Porąbka, Żar, the Kocierska pass and Łamana Skała to Krzeszów;
• yellow — Krzeszów – Groń Jana Pawła II – Gorzeń Górny;
• green — Andrychów – Groń Jana Pawła II – Świnna Poręba;
• blue — Wadowice – Ponikiew – Groń Jana Pawła II – Tarnawa Górna (in OpenStreetMap the Czesław Panczakiewicz trail);
• black — Rzyki – Groń Jana Pawła II, plus the family trail "Białe Serduszka" (White Hearts) from Rzyki, marked by Stefan Jakubowski.

According to OpenStreetMap, the Beskid Way of St James also passes nearby. Next to the summit, on Polana Bargłowa, stands the PTTK Leskowiec hut, built in 1933 by the Wadowice circle of the Polish Tatra Society. A ski lift has operated on the northern slopes since 1953, and in winter PTTK marks ski-touring routes here.

What you can see from the top

The summit is not high, but two open glades — Beskid on the northern slopes and Bargłowa on the southern — leave room for views: the first looks north towards the foothills, the second south. The sources we used give no detailed panorama with a list of peaks, so we do not offer one here. The nearest summits on the ridge are neighbouring Leskowiec (922 m) and Magurka Ponikiewska (817 m).

Nature and history

The summit was originally called Jaworzyna. Karol Wojtyła climbed it many times as a child and young man, and later as a bishop: on foot in summer and on skis in winter. He last climbed Leskowiec and Jaworzyna in 1970, already a cardinal, after a Mass for the 25th anniversary of his priesthood in Kalwaria Zebrzydowska. The summit was therefore renamed: the mountain tourism committee of the PTTK branch in Wadowice adopted the decision on 9 December 1981, and the name was made official by a regulation of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration.

In 1991 a steel cross dedicated to "the people of the mountains" was erected below the summit, and in 1995, on the initiative of PTTK activist Stefan Jakubowski from Andrychów, a chapel was built on Polana Bargłowa. It holds the armchair John Paul II sat in during his 1995 visit to Skoczów and an altar inscribed "There are three of us: God, the mountains and I". Smaller shrines followed, and on 15 July 2001 the highest-situated monument to John Paul II, by Bogdana Ligęza-Drwal and Światosław Karwat. There are also plaques honouring Solidarity (2005) and the victims of Katyń and the Smolensk air disaster (2010). The mountain sanctuary of Our Lady Queen of the Mountains holds services according to its own schedule.

Safety, season and rules

The trails to Groń Jana Pawła II are easy forest and meadow paths that can be walked all year round, and "Białe Serduszka" was laid out specifically as a gentle family route. In winter a ski lift runs on the northern slopes — do not walk on the piste. In fog it is easy to take the wrong branch where several trails meet, so watch the waymark colours. The summit is not in a national park; please keep quiet at the sanctuary, especially during services. Mountain rescue in the Little Beskids is provided by GOPR: call 985 or +48 601 100 300; the general emergency number is 112.

Interesting facts

• The summit's former name is Jaworzyna; it was renamed in honour of John Paul II in the early 1980s.
• The altar in the chapel bears the inscription "There are three of us: God, the mountains and I".
• The John Paul II monument on the summit is described as the highest-situated monument to him.

Photos: Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Ukasiu, CC BY-SA 4.0; Vlah, CC0 — Wikimedia Commons.