Przysłop Witowski

Przysłop Witowski (Slovak: Príslop) is a wooded 1,164 m summit on the Polish–Slovak border, just north-west of the Western Tatras. It belongs to the Orawicko-Witowskie Wierchy, part of the Skoruša Foothills (in the Slovak division, the Skorušinské vrchy); after Magura Witowska (1,232 m) it is the second-highest top of this small range. The Polish slopes belong to the village of Witów in Tatra County, Lesser Poland (about 3.5 km to the north-east), the Slovak slopes to Vitanová in Tvrdošín District, and below to the west lies the spa settlement of Oravice, about 19 km east of Tvrdošín. The state border runs about 50 m south-west of the summit (border post II/265).

Przysłop is the southernmost summit on the main ridge of the Orawicko-Witowskie Wierchy. The broad Brama Orawska pass (about 950–962 m) separates it from the Siwiańskie Turnie (1,065 m), which already belong to the Tatras, and a saddle to the west separates it from Magura Witowska. A side ridge, Hurchoci Wierch (1,056 m), runs north down to the Czarny Dunajec valley. The European watershed follows the ridge — not exactly along the border but slightly east of it: the southern slopes drain via the Oravica and Cicha Woda Orawska to the Black Sea, the northern and eastern ones via the Czarny Dunajec to the Baltic. As a result, near the Brama Orawska water from Polish springs flows into Slovakia, and the uppermost scrap of the Cicha valley lies in Poland.

How to get there / trails

• Blue trail from Witów via Mnichówka and Hurchoci Wierch to Przysłop and on to Magura Witowska — about 2 h up (1 h 25 min down).
• From Slovakia — the yellow trail from Oravice or from Suchá Hora to the Vyšné diely junction, from where the blue trail leads to the summit.

The summit is easily reached from all surrounding villages; the mountain lies outside the Tatra National Park.

The view from the top

The summit is covered by patchy forest, so the view from it is very limited. It is much better from the large clearings on the Polish slopes: from there you can see the neighbouring Skoruša hills, the nearby Tatras — including the Regle range — part of the Orava Beskids and, to the north, a wide view over Poland.

Nature and history

The Orawicko-Witowskie Wierchy are built of Carpathian flysch, the so-called Podhale flysch. The mountain is mostly wooded, but on the Polish side it has many large clearings with shepherds' huts that are still in use: Przysłop, Koszarzyska (Kosarzyska), Cicha Polana, Zdychałówka, Krzystkówka, Szczurówka, Mnichówka and Urchoci Wierch. Polish hikers from Zakopane once walked or rode carts across the neighbouring Molkówka clearing and along a good road down the Cicha valley to Oravice and Osobitá; after the Second World War the new border closed this route.

Safety, season and rules

This is a quiet wooded mountain without crags, accessible all year. Near the border keep to the marked trails; sheep guarded by dogs may graze on the clearings. In winter the paths are snowbound. Mountain rescue: on the Polish side 985 or +48 601 100 300, on the Slovak side HZS 18 300 (+421 18 300); 112 works everywhere.

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