Wielka Rycerzowa

Wielka Rycerzowa (Slovak Rycierova hora) is a 1226 m summit in the Wielka Racza group on the Polish–Slovak border. On the Polish side it is counted as part of the Żywiec-Kysuce Beskids, on the Slovak side of the Kysuce Beskids. The state border and the Great European Watershed between the Baltic and Black Sea basins run over the summit. Older guidebooks, including Kazimierz Sosnowski's, called the mountain Bukowina.

The summit lies on the main ridge between Majcherowa (1105 m) and the Przysłop pass (940 m). A winding side ridge runs north-east from it over Mała Rycerzowa (1207 m), Wiertalówka, Kotarz and Muńczoł down to the Soła valley at Ujsoły, entirely in Poland. Between Wielka and Mała Rycerzowa lies the grassy Przełęcz pod Rycerzową (Przełęcz Halna, 1165 m). The Polish part of the mountain belongs to the village of Soblówka in the Ujsoły municipality of Żywiec County, Silesian Voivodeship; the Slovak part to the cadastre of Nová Bystrica in Čadca District.

How to get there / trails

Most trails meet at the PTTK «Bacówka na Rycerzowej» hut on the meadow below the summit (average times from Polish Wikipedia):

• red from Rycerka via Młada Hora – about 4 h;
• black or yellow from Soblówka – about 1.5 h;
• green from Soblówka via the Przysłop pass, then yellow – about 2.5 h;
• green from Ujsoły via Muńczoł – about 3 h;
• green from Kolonia (Rycerka Górna) via the Przegibek pass, then blue or red – about 3 h;
• yellow from Glinka – about 2.5 h;
• red along the ridge from Zwardoń via Wielka Racza – about 10 h.

From the Slovak side the summit is reached by the green trail from Vychylovka via the Príslop saddle and the blue trail from the Talapkov Beskyd junction, while the red border ridge trail comes from Veľká Rača via the Przegibek pass.

The view from the top

A trig point stands on the summit. The top itself is partly wooded, so the views are only partial: Wielka Racza, the Przegibek pass with the hamlet of Kolonia and some peaks of the Malá Fatra, such as Veľký Rozsutec. The best views open from the Hala Rycerzowa meadow on the saddle between Wielka and Mała Rycerzowa: from there you see the Silesian Beskids, the Lipowska and Pilsko range and, further away, the Babia Góra massif. Slovak sources mention far-reaching views from partly treeless spots towards the Kriváň Fatra, the Orava Beskids, the Orava Magura and the Tatras. A rock outcrop on the western slope is another good viewpoint.

Nature and history

The slopes fall into three valleys, those of the Cicha, Dziobaki and Májovský streams. The northern part of the massif drains to tributaries of the Soła, the southern part via the Vychylovka stream to the Bystrica. On the southern, Slovak slopes lies the natural monument «Vychylovské skálie» with a landslide. The Slovak part of the mountain is in the Kysuce Protected Landscape Area, and the hut below the summit is in the Żywiec Landscape Park.

The name comes from the villages of Rycerka Dolna and Rycerka Górna, which probably once belonged to knights (Polish rycerz); they are mentioned by Andrzej Komoniecki in the «Żywiec Chronicle». The «Bacówka na Rycerzowej» hut opened on 14 September 1975 to a design by Stanisław Karpiel; it was the first of a series of small wooden «bacówki» that PTTK later built in other mountains as well.

Safety, season and rules

Wielka Rycerzowa can be visited all year round. In winter the snow on the ridge is deep, and in fog it is easy to get lost on the open meadows, so follow the waymarks. When walking the ridge, remember that some trails run on the Slovak side. In the Polish Beskids help comes from GOPR: 985 or +48 601 100 300; in Slovakia from the mountain rescue service HZS: 18 300 (+421 18 300); general emergency number 112.

Photos: The original uploader was Jurbox at Polish Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 2.5; Hulek, CC BY-SA 3.0; Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0; j, CC BY-SA 4.0; Pudelek at Polish Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons.