Mały Staw (,

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

for ''The Small Pond'', ''Kleiner Teich'' in german) is a natural

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

origin in the

Krkonoše The Giant Mountains, Krkonoše, or Karkonosze (Czech: , , ), are a mountain range located in the north of the Czech Republic and the south-west of Poland, part of the Sudetes mountain system (part of the Bohemian Massif). The Czech–Polish bor ...

mountains in western

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. It is situated in the Polish

Karkonosze National Park Giant Mountains National Park () is a National Park in the Giant Mountains in the Sudetes in southwestern Poland, along the border with the Czech Republic. The national park is located in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in the highest part of the Sud ...

at the bottom of the

cirque A (; from the Latin word ) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by Glacier#Erosion, glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from , meaning a pot or cauldron) and ; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform a ...

, on the southern slope of the

Smogornia Smogornia (, , , ) is a peak in the Giant Mountains, on the Czech-Polish border. It is situated in the eastern part of the main range. The peak is not accessible; the Main Sudetes Trail and Polish–Czech Friendship Trail traverse the mountain ...

mountain, 1 km south of

Wielki Staw Wielki Staw (, Polish for ''The Big Pond'', ''Grosser Teich'' in German) - post glacial natural lake in the Krkonoše mountains, in western Poland. It is situated in the Karkonosze National Park at the bottom of the cirque, on the southern slope ...

. With its area of 2.8 hectares, it is the second biggest glacial lake in the whole range. Its depth reaches 7 m. The place is accessible from the

Polish-Czech Friendship Trail The Polish minority in the Czech Republic is a Polish national minority living mainly in the Trans-Olza region of western Cieszyn Silesia. The Polish community is the only national (or ethnic) minority in the Czech Republic that is linked to a sp ...

(red marks) and a blue marked short distance trail from

Równia pod Śnieżką The Równia pod Śnieżką (, , ; ) is a subalpine plateau in the Giant Mountains of Poland and the Czech Republic. The plateau is situated west from the peak of Sněžka, between the mountains of Smogornia and Sněžka at 1,390–1,446 m above s ...

. A mountain hut ''Samotnia'' is situated on the north shore.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maly Staw Lakes of Poland Sudetes Lakes of Lower Silesian Voivodeship