Okrąglica (Polica Range)

Okrąglica (also Krupowa Hala) is a 1,239 m summit in the Polica Range in southern Lesser Poland. In Jerzy Kondracki's physico-geographical regionalisation the range belongs to the Żywiec Beskids, in the newer 2018 regionalisation to the Żywiec-Orava Beskids; the Krowiarki pass separates it from neighbouring Babia Góra. The summit lies on the main ridge of the range between the Kucałowa Pass (1,148 m) and an unnamed 1,137 m top. The boundary between the villages of Skawica (northern slope, Zawoja commune) and Sidzina (southern slope, Bystra-Sidzina commune) in Sucha County runs over it. Its prominence, according to Polish Wikipedia, is 91 m.

From the summit a side ridge runs south-east to the Ciśniawa valley between the Zakulawka and Kamycki Potok valleys; about halfway down stands Kordelka (1,025 m), and in its upper part lies the large Hala Krupowa pasture. The headwaters of the Skawica Sołtysia flow from the northern slopes. Near the summit there are crevices and small caves that give the area a wild look.

How to get there / trails

No marked trail crosses the summit itself. The nearest is the red Main Beskid Trail east of the Kucałowa Pass, which traverses the southern slope; from it a forest track leads up to a small clearing with a chapel and a transmitter. The section Jordanów – Bystra Podhalańska – Drobny Wierch – Judaszka – Malinowe pass – Naroże – Soska – Krupówka – Urwanica – Okrąglica – Kucałowa Pass involves 830 m of ascent and takes about 5 h (4 h 15 min back).

The other trails to the Kucałowa Pass run lower down on the northern and southern slopes. The green trail from the "Sidzina Dom Dziecka" bus stop via Hala Krupowa reaches the Kucałowa Pass in 3 h 30 min (2 h 45 min down). On the pass, on the Sidzińskie Pasionki pasture, stands the PTTK hut "Na Hali Krupowej".

What you can see from the summit

The best view is not from the wooded top but from Hala Krupowa on the south-eastern ridge. The panorama takes in the Gorce, the Tatras, the Choč Mountains and the Orava Basin with Orava Lake, and below them the hills of the Orava-Podhale Beskids, among which Bukowiński Dział with its TV mast stands out.

Nature and history

Hala Krupowa, also called Hala Sidzińska, was grazed until the 1980s; a shepherd's hut still stands in its lower part. Since grazing stopped, natural secondary succession has begun — the clearing is first being overgrown with bilberry. Trail signs and sometimes guidebooks wrongly give the name Hala Krupowa to two other pastures on the Kucałowa Pass — Hala Kucałowa and Sidzińskie Pasionki.

Just below the summit, reached by an unmarked path, stand the chapel of Our Lady, Protector of Tourists, and a telecommunications mast. The chapel, shaped like a shepherd's hut, was built secretly in May 1987, and for a long time the path to it was known only to the initiated. Inside are epitaphs commemorating deceased mountain people; every year on the first Sunday of October a mass is held here for participants of a hikers' rally of the Kraków branch of PTTK.

Safety, season and rules

Okrąglica can be visited all year and has no difficult sections, but the summit is reached by an unmarked path, so it is easy to go astray in fog and in winter. There are crevices near the top — stay on the path. In winter deep snow covers the pastures. The neighbouring Babia Góra National Park begins west of the Krowiarki pass and has its own rules; Okrąglica lies outside it. Mountain rescue in the Beskids is provided by GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300, plus the general emergency number 112.

Photos: Rafał Kozubek, 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; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rafał Kozubek, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.