Potrójna

Potrójna is a twin-topped mountain in the Andrychów Beskids, the eastern part of the Little Beskids (Beskid Mały). The lower, southern top (883 m) lies on the main ridge of the Little Beskids above the Kocierka valley; from it a short ridge runs north to the higher, northern top (887 m), which branches into two ridges — the north-western Jawornica ridge and the north-eastern Czarny Groń ridge. Both tops are junctions of three ridges, and the mountain rises above the valleys of three streams: the Kocierka, the Bolęcinka and the headwaters of the Wieprzówka. Three villages meet on the summit — Kocierz Rychwałdzki and Ślemień (Silesian Voivodeship) and Targanice (Lesser Poland). Kocierz, Rzyki and Targanice are about 4.5 km away, Andrychów almost 9 km.

How to get there / trails

Four marked trails cross on the tops of Potrójna:

• the red Little Beskid Trail: Kocierska pass – Potrójna – Zakocierska pass – Łamana Skała – Smrekowica – Leskowiec – Krzeszów;
• the yellow trail: Targanice – Jawornica – Potrójna – Zakocierska pass – Chatka pod Potrójną – Łamana Skała – Anula – Rzyki-Pracica;
• the black trail from the «Czarny Groń» ski centre in Rzyki-Praciaki via Czarny Groń;
• a short green link to the private hikers' hut «Chatka na Potrójnej», just below the summit on the slope towards the Wieprzówka valley.

The view from the top

Both tops and the whole ridge are treeless, covered with broad pastures and meadows, and the views are among the widest in the entire Little Beskids. The panorama takes in the Silesian Foothills, the Bliźniaki range, the Rzyki valley, the main ridge of the Little Beskids, the Gorce, the Polica range, Babia Góra, the Jałowiec range, Pilsko, the Żywiec Basin, the Lipowski Wierch and Romanka group, the Wielka Racza range and the Silesian Beskids from Glinne to Skrzyczne. Two boards describing the panorama stand on the higher top.

Nature and the name

Local people always called the mountain Czarny Groń («Black Hill»). The name Potrójna results from a mistake by Austrian cartographers in the 1880s: part of the hamlet of Hatale, belonging to the Potrójna settlement in Rzyki, lies on the summit glade, and the settlement's name was transferred to the mountain. Austrian maps called it Potrójno (884 m); later Polish maps corrected this to Potrójna, adding «Czarny Groń» underneath. On the Geoportal map the higher northern top is named Praciaki, while the name Czarny Groń is given to its north-eastern ridge.

An old shepherds' chapel with a figure of the Virgin Mary stands on the lower top — a reminder of the days when herders used the summit pastures.

Safety, season and rules

The open ridge is windswept in bad weather, and in fog it is easy to lose the path on the treeless pastures. There is a paragliding launch on the north-eastern slope — pilots use both ridge lift and valley thermals — so keep clear of the launch area. Mountain rescue is GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300; emergency number 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 — Wikimedia Commons.