Szyndzielnia

Szyndzielnia (German Kamitzer Platte) is a 1,028 m summit in the Silesian Beskids, in the Klimczok and Szyndzielnia Range, just north of Klimczok. It is the "home mountain" of the city of Bielsko-Biała: the boundary between the city and the village of Bystra in Bielsko County, Silesian Voivodeship, runs along its ridge. The summit stands on a side branch of the range between Klimczok and Kołowrót and has an elongated ridge: the western slope drops to the Barbara stream (a tributary of the Wapienica), the eastern slope to the Białka (a tributary of the Biała).

Szyndzielnia is best known for the first mountain hut in the Silesian Beskids — and in all the Polish Beskids — which stands just below the top, and for the gondola lift that has run up from Olszówka since 1953.

How to get there / trails

The PTTK hut below the summit is a hub of marked trails leading to Wapienica, Olszówka, Bystra, Szczyrk, Brenna and Jaworze, as well as to Klimczok, Błatnia and Kozia Góra. The main approaches (times from the Compass map quoted by Polish Wikipedia):

• red — from Cygański Las in Bielsko-Biała via Dębowiec and Cyberniok, about 2.5 h;
• yellow — from Bielsko-Biała via Kozia Góra, about 2.5 h;
• green — from Olszówka Górna via Dębowiec, about 2 h;
• yellow — from Wapienica, about 1.5 h;
• red — from Klimczok, about 45 min.

The easiest way up is the "Szyndzielnia" gondola from Olszówka: built in 1953, it was thoroughly modernised in 1994–1995 and 2017. In winter, marked ski-touring trails run down the slopes.

What you can see from the summit

An 18 m steel observation tower opened next to the upper lift station on 14 August 2015. The summit is visible from many places in Bielsko-Biała — together with Klimczok, Kołowrót and Kozia Góra it forms the characteristic skyline above the city — and from the Polana Kamienicka clearing the city lights to the north can be seen in the evening.

Nature and history

The massif is covered with beech forest mixed with spruce and fir, and larches grow on the slope of the so-called Mały Groń. The ridge descending gently north from the summit was once occupied by the Hala Kamienicka pasture, and the Diable Młyny rocks hide in the forest on the western slope. The mountain lies within the Silesian Beskids Landscape Park.

The mountain used to be called Szyndzielny Groń; in the early 18th century Andrzej Komoniecki wrote of "Szędzielny Groń by the Bielsko forest". The name comes from "szyndzioł", the local highlanders' word for a wooden shingle: the people of Kamienica and Olszówka Górna made shingles for the town of Bielsko from timber cut on its slopes. Old highlanders from Szczyrk called it Gaciok, after "gacie", the white woollen trousers worn by those who worked on its slopes. The German name Kamitzer Platte ("Kamienica Plate") refers to the flat area below the summit, at whose northern edge the upper lift station now stands.

The hut, at 1,001 m, was built in 1897 by the Beskidenverein and enlarged in 1954–1957. Below it lies an alpine garden of about 400 m², founded in 1905 on the initiative of the Beskidenverein president Wilhelm Schlesinger by the Bielsko museum curator and naturalist Eduard Schnack, with plants of the Beskids and the Eastern Alps. The garden later fell into neglect and was closed in 2010, but it was restored in 2011 (at a cost of about 40,000 złoty) and reopened on 13 October 2011; it is now part of a nature trail.

Safety, season and rules

Szyndzielnia can be visited all year round and its trails have no difficult sections, although some approaches from the city are fairly steep. In winter there is snow on the slopes and ski runs cross parts of the mountain, so walkers should keep to the marked trails. In fog it is easy to take a wrong turn on the broad ridge with its many junctions. Mountain rescue in the Silesian Beskids is provided by GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300, plus the general emergency number 112.

Photos: Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0; Muffi, CC BY-SA 4.0; Krzysztof Kozłowski, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jacek Proszyk, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jarosław Baranowski, CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons.