Babia Góra (in Polish), or Babia hora (in Slovak), literally Old Wives' or Witches' Mountain, is a

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

situated on the border between Poland and Slovakia in the Western Beskid Mountains. The name is also applied to the culmination of the massif, Diablak ("Devil's Peak"), which is also the highest peak of this part of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

, at above sea level.

History

Babia Góra was first mentioned in the 15th century chronicle of

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...

. It was first plotted on a map in 1558. Until the end of the 17th century most of the available information on the mountain came from folklore. According to folk tales, the mountain was the location of the

witches' sabbath A Witches' Sabbath is a purported gathering of those believed to practice witchcraft and other rituals. The phrase became popular in the 20th century. Origins In 1668, Johannes Praetorius published his literary work "Blockes-Berges Verrichtu ...

. The first known ascent was made in 1782 by the court astronomer of King Stanislaus Augustus, Jowin Fryderyk Alojzy Bystrzycki, Bończa coat of arms. The period of scientific investigations began in the second half of the 19th century.

Nature

Gentle from the south, steep from the north, Babia Góra is home to

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the No ...

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, ...

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and other species; as well as

alpine flora Alpine flora may refer to: * Alpine tundra, a community of plants that live at high altitude * Alpine plants that live within that community * Flora of the Alps __NOTOC__ The Alps are one of the great mountain range systems of Europe stretching ap ...

endemic at this altitude. The first attempts to protect the area were made in the 1930s. In 1933 the Nature Reserve of Babia Góra was established on the Polish side. Later, in 1954, the

Babia Góra National Park Babia Góra National Park ( pl, Babiogórski Park Narodowy) is one of the 23 national parks in Poland, located in the southern part of the country, in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, on the border with Slovakia. The park has its headquarters in the vill ...

(''Babiogórski Park Narodowy'') was established with an area of 17.04 km². In 1976 it became one of the first

Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

s in the world. For a long time Babia Góra National Park was the smallest of the Polish national parks. In 1997 it was enlarged to 33.92 km² and a buffer zone was created of 84.37 km². Within the park, 10.62 km² is under strict protection. There are calls for strengthening of cross-border cooperation with

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

to better protect the fragile environment of the mountain.

Climate

Babia Góra is sometimes

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d Matka Niepogód (Mother of Bad

Weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the ...

). Located far from any other mountains of similar height that would provide a natural barrier, it is very susceptible to weather changes.

Snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...

can remain on the northern slopes and in narrow gorges until summer. In May 2016, a climber was killed by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

while attempting to descend the mountain when a

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

approached.

Tourism

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

in the region of Babia Góra is quite a recent phenomenon. The first tourists in the 19th century were mainly intellectuals from nearby Cracow. Since then the village of

Zawoja Zawoja is a village in southern Poland located close to Maków Podhalański. It is situated in Sucha County ( Lesser Poland Voivodeship). With neighbouring village of Skawica it constitutes a rural Zawoja Commune. It has 6,200 inhabitants (20 ...

has developed into an important mountain resort. However, skiing facilities are very restricted due to the protected status of the area. Although generally relatively easy to climb, Babia Góra can be reached by a more difficult yellow route called Perć Akademików (Academics' Path). It was marked out by university scholars to examine the mountain's unique

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

. Today, despite (or perhaps because of) steep climbs, chains and metal steps fixed to the rocks along sections of the trail, it is very popular with tourists.

Gallery

File:Witches Mountain from Mogilany.jpg, Witches Mountain from Mogilany File:20200606 Widok z Trzech Koron w kierunku Babiej Góry 1236 0211 DxO.jpg, View of Babia Góra from

Trzy Korony Trzy Korony ( en, Three Crowns, sk, Tri Koruny) is the summit of the Three Crowns Massif, an independent portion of a range called Pieniny Mountains in the south of Poland. Trzy Korony forms the central part of a compact group of connected mount ...

File:Babia2.jpg, Babia Góra File:Babia Gora.jpg, Babia Góra massif File:8maja2006 babiagora 018.jpg,

Lichen A lichen ( , ) is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria living among filaments of multiple fungi species in a mutualistic relationship.Alpine pasqueflower

References