Soszów Wielki

Soszów Wielki (Czech Velký Sošov) is an 886 m summit in the Stożek–Czantoria range of the Silesian Beskids. The Polish–Czech border runs along the ridge over the top. The mountain lies between Cieślar to the south and Mały Soszów to the north. Its summit plateau is flattened and elongated to the west. The western slopes are fairly steep and cut by small stream valleys running down to the Hluchová valley on the Czech side; to the north-east, and lower down to the north, a long ridge with the Cupel hillock separates the Jawornik stream from its tributary. The Polish slopes belong to the town of Wisła, the Czech ones to Nýdek. Jawornik (part of Wisła) is about 4 km away, Nýdek and the centre of Wisła about 4.5 km, Jablunkov 6.5 km.

How to get there / trails

• The red Main Beskid Trail: from Czantoria Wielka via the Beskidek pass 1 h 15 min (back 2 h), from Stożek 1 h 15 min (back 1 h 30 min).
• The blue trail from Wisła Uzdrowisko to the hut — 2 h 15 min (down 1 h 45 min); a green trail comes from Wisła centre.
• On the Czech side a yellow trail climbs from Nýdek through the Hluchová valley, and a blue ridge trail follows the Czech side of the border.

About 500 m north of the summit stands the private Soszów Wielki mountain hut, by which trails to Czantoria, Stożek and Wisła-Jawornik meet. Slightly further north on the border ridge is the «Zagroda Lepiarzówka» mountain guesthouse.

The view from the top

Soszów Wielki is a viewpoint. The panorama covers a large part of the Moravian-Silesian Beskids: Stożek Wielki, the western Malá Fatra, the Javorníky ridge, Velký and Malý Polom, the deep cut of the Lomná valley, the summits of Kalužný, Kozubová, Ostrý, Javorový with its TV relay tower and Lysá hora (1323 m) with its TV mast.

History

The Soszów area was part of the mountain lands of Nýdek and the Hluchová valley: sources from 1801–1838 mention a sheepfold called Gross Schaschow, i.e. Great Soszów. After the partition of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920 the Czechoslovak–Polish border was drawn along the ridge. Tourism arrived in the 1930s: in 1932 Paweł Polok built a private hikers' hut on the Polish slope, also known as «U Szwarnej Hanki». During the war it was run by the German Beskidenverein, from 1947 by the Polish Tatra Society, and since 1979 it has been privately owned again and still welcomes hikers. On the Czech slope, just below the summit, the 120-bed Lomosík hut was built in 1932–1934 — one of the largest huts in the Beskids of the time; it was abandoned after the war and disappeared in 1951.

Safety, season and rules

The Soszów ski area on the north-eastern slope has a chairlift, surface lifts and almost 6 km of pistes — in winter do not walk on the runs. Rescue: on the Polish side GOPR (985 or +48 601 100 300), on the Czech side the Horská služba (1210); emergency number 112.

Photos: Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0; Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0; Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0; Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0; Pudelek, CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons.