Region: Śnieżnik Massif

Śnieżnik Massif – the second highest mountain range in the Polish Sudetes, located on both sides of the Polish-Czech border, south-east of Kłodzko. The Śnieżnik Massif is located in the Eastern Sudetes and is the highest part of the Kłodzko Land. The highest peak is Śnieżnik (1426 m a.s.l.).

From the west, the Massif is limited by the Upper Nysa ditch and the Międzyleska Pass from the Bystrzyckie Mountains. From the north and north-east, Biała Lądecka separates the Śnieżnik Massif from the Golden Mountains, and from the east Morawka from the Bialskie Mountains. On the Czech side, the range borders on Hanušovická vrchovina.

The massif has the form of a vast ravine with a meridional span of about 20 km and a latitudinal span of about 30 km. Its keystone is the centrally located Śnieżnik, from which six broad, flattened arms extend, separated by clearly outlined, deep erosion valleys. To the south-west, there is the highest ridge with peaks: Mały Śnieżnik (1326 m), Puchacz (1175 m) and Trójmorski Wierch (1145 m). The southern ridge of Sušina and Podbělka, located entirely in the Czech Republic, is the longest arm in the massif and at the same time the historical border between Bohemia and Moravia. To the east, there is a short ridge ending at the Płoszczyna Pass (Czech Kladské sedlo), behind which the Bialskie Mountains stretch. Another short ridge, entirely located in Poland, runs northwards and culminates in Stroma (1167 m). The most branched is the longest north-western ridge of Czarna Góra. From there, the ridge descends to the Puchaczówka Pass and continues as Krowiarki to the Nysa Kłodzka valley near Krosnowice and Żelazno. The shortest arm is the western ridge of Średniak (1210 m).

It is mostly made of gneisses (Śnieżnik gneisses and Gierałtów gneisses) and mica schists of the Stroń series. They were formed from sediments of the seabed that existed here in the upper Proterozoic and Cambrian periods, i.e. about 650-550 million years ago. Their present image is the result of subsequent multiple transformations and subsequent foldings. In Krowiarki and the vicinity of Kletno, there are metamorphosed carbonate rocks – lenses of calcite and dolomite marbles. Among the mica slates there are also inserts of mica slates with garnets, graphite slates, quartzites, amphibolites and amphibolite slates, and others, while gneiss – eclogites.

The plant and animal world of Śnieżnik is the richest in the whole Sudetes, because there are borders of the ranges of many species – Sudeten, Carpathian, Alpine and even Mediterranean. The layered arrangement of vegetation is clearly marked: up to 500 m above sea level. – agricultural land, usually meadows; 500–1000 m above sea level – lower montane zone in the form of spruce forests or mixed spruce and beech forests; 1000–1250 m above sea level – upper montane zone – spruce forest, blueberry and cowberry occur in the undergrowth, above 1250 m above sea level – mountain meadows. The latter occur practically only on the top of Śnieżnik. They have the greatest natural value. There are numerous species of rare and protected plants and artificially introduced mountain pine. In the crevices of the rocks you can meet the only glowing moss in Poland – the firefly.

The animal world also abounds in valuable species: grouse, capercaillie, gray grouse. Amphibians include fire salamander and alpine newt, reptiles include grass snake and adder. There are numerous rodents: forest dormouse, dormouse, dormouse, pine martens, stoats. There are also badgers and endemic species of beetles, wasps, flies and arachnids. Since the end of the 19th century, chamois, which came from the Czech Republic, live in the area of Średniak. Their herd is the only one in Poland outside the Tatra Mountains.

Hikes in the Śnieżnik Massif: