Rabsztyn

Rabsztyn (Slovak Rabštín) is an 847 m summit in the Little Pieniny crossed by the Polish–Slovak border. The Polish slopes belong to the village of Szlachtowa (Szczawnica municipality, Nowy Targ County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship), the Slovak ones to the village of Lesnica in the Stará Ľubovňa district. Both villages lie about 2.4 km from the summit; the spa town of Szczawnica is 3.9 km to the north-west.

Rabsztyn is a distinctly isolated, wooded and rocky limestone summit. It tops a short spur branching off the main ridge of the Little Pieniny below Wysoki Wierch and rises opposite Jarmuta, south of it, above the valley of the Leśnicki Potok. On the west the summit ends in a steep rock wall about 50 m high.

Getting there / trails

There is no marked trail to the summit itself. The nearest trails pass close by:

• blue — the ridge trail along the Little Pieniny (from Tarnów to Wielki Rogacz) crosses the glades between Rabsztyn and the hump of Huściawa (818 m), north of the summit. It can be reached from Szczawnica or from the Durbaszka hut (about 2.3 km from the summit per OpenStreetMap);
• yellow — on the Slovak side from the Lesnické sedlo saddle to the Šľachovky – Huściawa junction on the blue ridge trail.

According to Polish Wikipedia, the summit can be climbed without major difficulty, though fairly steeply, from the south-east, off marked paths. About 500 m east of Rabsztyn, between it and Wysoki Wierch, there used to be a tourist border crossing Szlachtowa – Veľký Lipník at 865 m.

What you can see from the top

The summit area is mostly covered by continuous forest, so the view is limited. According to Slovak Wikipedia, the rocky top still lets you see the surrounding Pieniny summits, the Tatras and the neighbouring Spišská Magura, and to the north the border hills of Poland. Good views of the Three Crowns, the Tatras and the Sądecki Beskids open from the glades on the blue trail below the summit.

Nature and history

Rabsztyn lies in the Dunajec basin: the Leśnicki Potok drains the southern slopes and tributaries of the Grajcarek the northern ones. Neighbouring summits include Jarmuta (794 m) and Huściawa to the north, Šľachovky (900 m) to the east and Lužná skala (773 m) to the west. The mountain is home to a plant rare and protected in Poland, the European bugbane (Cimicifuga europaea). Below the summit on the Polish side lie large glades where traditional cultural sheep grazing still takes place; about 0.8 km from the summit OpenStreetMap marks a shepherds' hut.

The name of the mountain, in forms such as Rabenstein or Rabstin, appears already in the writings of the famous Brother Cyprian of Červený Kláštor in Slovakia, who gathered herbs here. The summit has long been visited by tourists; it was painted and described by, among others, Maciej Bogusz Stęczyński. In 1860 it was written that even ladies taking the waters in Szczawnica made the walk here with a highlander guide. Some, including Maria Konopnicka, believed that a castle once stood on the summit, but this is not true. There were also stories of tunnels linking it with Jarmuta and of mine adits in the mountain. According to unconfirmed information, until 1914 the last griffon vulture in the Pieniny — a bird extremely rare in Poland — nested here.

Safety, season and rules

The ridge trail near Rabsztyn is easy and can be walked all year round. The summit itself lies off marked paths: the western wall, about 50 m high, is dangerous and the limestone is slippery after rain, so approach only from the south-east and in dry weather. The Polish slopes are outside the Pieniny National Park, while the southern, Slovak slopes lie in the Slovak Pieniny National Park (PIENAP) — follow its rules and do not leave marked paths where this is prohibited. In winter the glades can hold deep snow. On the Polish side mountain rescue is provided by GOPR (985 or +48 601 100 300), on the Slovak side by the Mountain Rescue Service HZS (18 300, from a foreign number +421 18 300); the general emergency number is 112.

Interesting facts

• The German form of the name, Rabenstein, was already used by Brother Cyprian of Červený Kláštor.
• Despite a popular legend, supported even by Maria Konopnicka, there was never a castle on the summit.
• A tourist border crossing Szlachtowa – Veľký Lipník once operated next to the summit.

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