POLICA

Polica (1369 m amsl) is the highest point of the whole Polica Range in Żywiec Beskids, and at the same time the fourth highest peak in the whole Polish Beskid Mountains. From here, you can see beautifully the Babia Góra and – in the background – the Slovakian peaks of Oravská Magura, the Chočské vrchy with the highest peak of Veľký Choč and the Tatra Mountains.

Forests growing on the highest parts of Polica are subject to reserve protection. On the northern side of the summit there is ‘Prof. Zenon Klemensiewicz Natural Reserve in Polica’, on the southern side there is a smaller reserve ‘Na Policy’. Both protect the natural upper alpine spruce forest, unfortunately, in recent years heavily depleted by windstorms. On the peak there is a cross dedicated to the memory of 53 victims of the air crash that took place not far from here on 2 April 1969, when a PLL LOT Polish Airlines plane flying from Warsaw to Cracow went off course for unknown reasons and hit the steep northern slope of Polica. One hundred metres from the peak, by the red trail towards the Krowiarki Pass, there is a monument to the victims of this crash, unveiled in 2005 in the shape of an aeroplane tailplane.