Śnieżnik

Śnieżnik is the highest border peak on the Polish side in the Eastern Sudetes and in the Śnieżnik Massif, reaching 1425 m above sea level. It used to be called Śnieżnik Kłodzki or Kładzka Śnieżka. The summit lies on the border of Kłodzko County and the Czech municipality of Dolní Morava, and the border running through here coincides with the European watershed between the Baltic and Black Seas. By height, Śnieżnik ranks seventeenth among the peaks of the whole Sudetes.

Geological structure and the summit

The massif is built of metamorphic rocks: gneisses, mica schists and marble lenses. On the very summit stands a triangulation point and border marker number V/69/10. About 200 metres from the summit is the source of the Morava river.

Observation tower and viewpoints

On Śnieżnik stands an observation tower, put into use on 26 September 2022. It replaced the previous structure from 1895 to 1899, which was blown up on 11 October 1973. In good visibility, the viewpoint offers a view of the Rax-Schneeberg range of the Austrian Alps, 281 to 292 kilometres away, as confirmed by observations carried out in 2020 and 2021. On the Czech side of the massif, a stone sculpture of an elephant from 1932 has survived.

Trails to the summit

A green Polish trail leads to Śnieżnik from the mountain hostel via Przełęcz Płoszczyna to Bielice. On the Czech side of the massif, a yellow trail from Velká Morava and a red trail between Králíky and Ramzová are marked out. In the 1990s and until 2007, a border crossing for pedestrians operated on the summit.

Reserves and nature of the massif

Several forms of nature protection have been established around the summit. The Śnieżnik Kłodzki nature reserve was established in 1938 and renewed in 1965, covering 192 hectares of terrain above 1150 metres. Lower in the massif lies the Bear Cave nature reserve from 1977, and the whole area is surrounded by the Śnieżnik Landscape Park, created in 1981. The vegetation is arranged in zones: up to 500 metres meadows and farmland predominate, between 500 and 1000 metres spruce forests and mixed beech-spruce woods, from 1000 to 1250 metres spruce forest with blueberries, and above 1250 metres these give way to mountain meadows. The massif is home to mouflons, black grouse and capercaillie, and among amphibians the fire salamander and the alpine newt. Endemic species of beetles, Hymenoptera, flies and arachnids also occur here.

Practical information

• The summit lies on the border of Kłodzko County with the Czech Dolní Morava, in the Śnieżnik Massif.
• Access is via the green trail from the PTTK mountain hostel Na Śnieżniku, built in 1871.
• The summit belongs to the Crown of Polish Mountains and the Crown of Lower Silesian Mountains.
• Nearby it is worth including Mały Śnieżnik and the Bear Cave.