Śnieżnica

Śnieżnica is a 1007 m mountain in the Island Beskids (Beskid Wyspowy) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It rises above the villages of Kasina Wielka, Gruszowiec, Dobra, Porąbka and Wola Skrzydlańska and is separated from neighbouring Ćwilin by the deep Gruszowiec Pass (660 m). The mountain has three tops of almost equal height and little prominence: the main one, called Na Budaszowie, and to the east of it Wierchy and Nad Stambrukiem. The last name comes from a quarry (German Steinbruch) where stone for the nearby railway was extracted in the early 1880s. The highest top drops steeply to the north on a slope rising about 500 m above the valley.

The watershed between the Raba and the Dunajec runs over Śnieżnica and the Gruszowiec Pass: the streams from the mountain feed the Kasinianka and Stradomka (Raba basin) or the Łososina and its tributaries Porąbka and Łososinka (Dunajec basin).

How to get there / trails

• The blue trail from Kasina Wielka over Śnieżnica (about 1 h 45 min), the Gruszowiec Pass and Ćwilin to Jurków.
• The green trail from the Gruszowiec Pass past the youth retreat centre on Śnieżnica, traversing the mountain to join the blue trail; another green trail comes up from Dobra.
• The black Skrzydlna Robbers' Trail from Skrzydlna via the Pieninki Skrzydlańskie and Porąbka, one of the steepest and hardest trails in the Island Beskids, with about 680 m of total ascent, the most in this range.

The new Main Trail of the Island Beskids also crosses the summit. On the north-western slopes, in Kasina Wielka, the «Śnieżnica» ski station operates a chairlift; nearby is the former Kasina Wielka railway station, now a halt.

The view from the top

The mountain is forested, so limited views open only from the Płoszczycowie and Płoszczyca glades and from around the upper chairlift station. A paragliding launch site near the summit looks out over the Ciecień massif. Śnieżnica itself, together with Ćwilin, is well seen from Łopień, Paproć and other nearby hills.

Nature and history

Below the highest top, on the north side, there is a hollow where snow lies much longer than on neighbouring summits of similar height, hence the name (Polish śnieg, snow). It was originally called Śnieżna Góra; the oldest record, as Snesna, is in a document from 1254. The present name became established in the 14th–15th centuries. Locals also call it Widlata Góra or Widłak because of its three tops. A boundary stone from 1789 with an inscription referring to Stanisław Małachowski stands on the main summit.

In 1968 the Śnieżnica forest reserve was created on the upper northern slopes to protect Carpathian beech forest with trees up to 150 years old. Between the world wars a wooden triangulation tower stood on the then treeless summit. According to folk tradition, the Bar Confederates camped below the summit, and during the partitions men hid in its forests from forced conscription into the Austro-Hungarian army. On the northern slopes there is a rock outcrop and a half-buried cave called Piwnica, linked to a legend of a tunnel leading all the way to Grodzisko hill. In 1813 the traveller Jan Nepomucen Rostworowski compared Śnieżnica to the rose, the most beautiful of flowers.

Safety, season and rules

Śnieżnica can be visited all year round; in winter ski runs operate on the northern slopes, so walkers should keep off the pistes. The black trail from Skrzydlna is very steep and slippery when wet or icy. Do not leave the marked paths in the reserve. In the Beskids help comes from GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300, or the general emergency number 112.

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