Turbacz is the highest peak of the

Gorce Mountains The Gorce Mountains ( pl, Gorce ) are part of the Western Beskids mountain range spreading across southernmost Poland. They are situated in Małopolska Province, at the western tip of the long Carpathian range extending east beyond the Dunajec ...

, a mountain range located in southern

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

. It lies in the middle of the range, and according to most sources, it is 1310 meters high. The peak itself is surrounded by dense pine forest, which makes it impossible view the surrounding area. In the past, however, no trees were present there, and according to the 1832 sources, it was possible to see the city of

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

with a

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

. On the top there is a stone obelisk with an iron cross. Turbacz belongs to the Crown of Polish Mountains. Turbacz is popular among tourists, with a junction of several trails located in front of a local

PTTK ''Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze'', PTTK (Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society) is a Polish non-governmental tourist organization with 312 branches across the country. The PTTK is one of the oldest tourist societies in Europe. ...

shelter. The shelter itself, located at the height of 1283 meters, provides views of the

Tatras The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the high ...

and the

Pieniny The Pieniny (sometimes also the PieninsSzafer, Władysław. 2013. ''The Vegetation of Poland: International Series of Monographs in Pure and Applied Biology''. Warsaw: Pergamon Press, pp. 156, 388. or the Pienin Mountains,Griffiths, Graham C. D. ...

mountains. Turbacz shelter is a large stone building, with two wings. It was opened in 1958, and has 100 beds. Next to the shelter there is a PTTK Museum of Mountain Culture and Tourism, opened in 1980. Every second Sunday of August a Celebration of Mountains takes place next to the so-called Papal Chapel, on the Wisielakowka clearing. It attracts a number of tourists, and in the same spot, a traditional service was led by Reverend

Józef Tischner Józef Stanisław Tischner (12 March 1931 – 28 June 2000) was a Polish priest and philosopher. The first chaplain of the trade union, " Solidarity" (Polish ''Solidarność''). Life Tischner was born in Stary Sącz to a Góral family and gr ...

. On August 12, 2012, a monument dedicated to Polish soldiers was opened on the Wisielakówka clearing. Every summer, a mountain bike race takes place from Rabka Zdrój to Turbacz and back. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and in the second half of the 1940s, numerous anti-Nazi and anti-Soviet partisan units operated in the area of Turbacz. One personality closely associated with the peak is Józef Kuraś, nom de guerre Ogień, a controversial Polish cursed soldier, who fought both Nazi and Soviet occupiers. In the past, the mountain was known by local people as Kluczki. In 1790, Habsburg cartographers, working on the map of Galicia, made a mistake, placing the village of Niedzwiedz in the location of the peak, which resulted in naming confusion throughout the 19th century. The word Turbacz itself probably is of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...

n origin, coming from the

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

word ''turbă'', which means "

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficient ...

". The summit of Turbacz has a subarctic climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dfc'') due to its elevation. The average temperatures are comparable with those found in places in far Northern Europe, such as

Alta, Norway ( se, Áltá ; fkv, Alattio; fi, Alattio) is the most populated municipality in Finnmark in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Alta. Some of the main villages in the municipality in ...

, however, the high annual precipitation in combination with the low temperatures places it firmly within the Subalpine Rainforest zone according to Holdridge. {{Weather box , location = Turbacz, Poland (1310 m) , metric first = Yes , single line = Yes , Jan high C = -4.0 , Feb high C = -2.0 , Mar high C = 0.5 , Apr high C = 6.5 , May high C = 13.5 , Jun high C = 16.0 , Jul high C = 18.0 , Aug high C = 17.5 , Sep high C = 12.0 , Oct high C = 7.5 , Nov high C = 1.5 , Dec high C = -2.0 , year high C = 7.1 , Jan mean C = -7.1 , Feb mean C = -5.3 , Mar mean C = -2.5 , Apr mean C = 2.6 , May mean C = 7.8 , Jun mean C = 10.7 , Jul mean C = 12.2 , Aug mean C = 12.1 , Sep mean C = 8.0 , Oct mean C = 3.7 , Nov mean C = -2.0 , Dec mean C = -5.5 , year mean C = 2.9 , Jan low C = -10.5 , Feb low C = -9.0 , Mar low C = -6.0 , Apr low C = -2.0 , May low C = 2.5 , Jun low C = 5.5 , Jul low C = 6.5 , Aug low C = 6.5 , Sep low C = 3.5 , Oct low C = 0.0 , Nov low C = -5.5 , Dec low C = -9.0 , year low C = -1.5 , Jan precipitation mm = 78 , Feb precipitation mm = 74 , Mar precipitation mm = 83 , Apr precipitation mm = 109 , May precipitation mm = 142 , Jun precipitation mm = 181 , Jul precipitation mm = 206 , Aug precipitation mm = 163 , Sep precipitation mm = 132 , Oct precipitation mm = 101 , Nov precipitation mm = 87 , Dec precipitation mm = 79 , year precipitation mm = 1435 , Jan sun = 84 , Feb sun = 95 , Mar sun = 115 , Apr sun = 135 , May sun = 177 , Jun sun = 161 , Jul sun = 167 , Aug sun = 148 , Sep sun = 127 , Oct sun = 123 , Nov sun = 83 , Dec sun = 70 , year sun = 1485 , source = IMGW

Sources

External links

A map of tourist trails in the area of Turbacz
Mountains of Poland Mountains of the Western Carpathians

See also

Sources

External links