Polica

Polica (formerly Police) is a 1,369 m summit, the highest of the Polica range north-east of Krowiarki Pass. The range belongs to the Babia Góra Range; in Jerzy Kondracki's classic regionalisation it is part of the Żywiec Beskids, and in the newer 2018 scheme part of the Żywiec-Orava Beskids. In the local highland dialect the old name Police meant the shelves on which cheese was stored in a shepherd's hut. The boundaries of three villages and two counties meet on the summit — Skawica and Sidzina (Sucha County) and Zubrzyca Górna (Nowy Targ County); the nearest larger villages, Zawoja and Skawica, are about 6 km away.

Polica is a ridge junction: to the south-east runs the slightly lower Czernice (Czyrniec) ridge, which falls to Zubrzycka Pass (877 m), where the Polica range joins the Orava-Podhale Beskids. The main European watershed between the Baltic and Black Sea basins runs over Polica, Krowiarki Pass and on along the Babia Góra Range. The north-western slopes fall to the Skawica valley, cut by the deep valley of the Skawica Górna stream.

How to get there / routes

• The red Main Beskid Trail (GSB) crosses the summit: from Krowiarki Pass via Syhlec, Głowniak, Piekielnicka, Brożki, Pólko and Kiczorka to Polica, then via Cupel, Jasna Grapa and Kocia Łapa to Kucałowa Pass. According to Polish Wikipedia this section involves 520 m of ascent and takes about 2 h 45 min (2 h 30 min in the opposite direction).
• A blue trail climbs to the summit from Zubrzycka Pass (in OSM: Polica – Stare Wierchy).
• The summit also lies on the memorial route "Cardinal Karol Wojtyła's last hike" (Skawica – Krowiarki Pass); the yellow trail from Skawica via the hamlet of Skawica-Sucha Góra to Hala Krupowa is known as the Papal Trail.

What you can see from the summit

The Polica massif is mostly forested, and the sources do not describe wide views from the top itself. Polica is best seen from elsewhere — from the Kucałowa meadow, from the northern ridge of Babia Góra and from the Babia Góra Foothills, from where the range rises above Zawoja.

Nature and history

Among plants rare in Poland, the alpine snowbell grows here. In 1972 the Professor Zenon Klemensiewicz nature reserve (about 59 ha) was created on Polica. At the foot of the mountain lies the longest and deepest cave of the whole Żywiec Beskids — Jaskinia Oblica (416 m of passages, 21 m deep).

Until 1918 the ridge from Babia Góra via Krowiarki to Polica and on along the Czernice ridge carried the Galician–Hungarian border, and in 1918–1920 the Polish–Czechoslovak border; a smugglers' path called the Tobacco Trail ran along it. During the Second World War the ridge separated Slovakia from the General Government, and the massif sheltered Home Army partisans, who had a bunker in the Głębocki stream valley.

On 2 April 1969 a LOT Polish Airlines Antonov An-24 (Flight 165) crashed on the northern slope of Polica. All 53 people on board died, including the noted linguist Professor Zenon Klemensiewicz. The most likely cause was a navigation error due to inadequate equipment at Kraków airport. A cross marks the crash site, and on 20 August 2009 a monument to the victims was unveiled on the summit. In September 1978 Karol Wojtyła made his last mountain hike before becoming pope in the Polica range.

Safety, season and rules

Polica is accessible all year, but the forested ridge is long and has little water; snow lies long in winter, and in fog it is easy to take the wrong branch at junctions. Stay on marked trails in the reserve. In an emergency call GOPR mountain rescue on 985 or +48 601 100 300, or 112.

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