snowball (1602 m n.p.m.), it also bore names: Mons Giganteus, giant head, Riesenberg, Sněžka, Pahrbek Sneżny, Snow White, Snezka, Giant Mountain, Śnieżna Kopa – it is not only the highest peak of the Karkonosze range, but also the entire Sudetes. The height is due to the geological structure: it is made of hornfels, metamorphic (transformed) igneous rocks, which are resistant to deterioration by external factors. The top part of the mountain rises 200 m over the so-called. Plain under Śnieżka- flat and wide surface. At the top, covered with rock debris, three ridges of the Karkonosze converge: Black Ridge to the east, to the west, Równia under Śnieżka, from the south Rużovś hora. The slopes of the mountain are very steep, covered with barren forests and descending towards the post-glacial cauldrons.
The climate of Śnieżka is very harsh – the average annual air temperature is only 0.4 ° C, and the winds on the summit blow at hurricane speed. I will name the mountain, which comes from the term Śnieżna Góra, explains the fact, that snow is close here 200 days during the year.
The harsh climatic conditions prevailing in the subalpine layer led to the development of a specific set of vegetation. The rocks are covered with lichen with yellow spots – the geographical pattern and various species of mosses. On rock debris (with rubble wreaths) the rush of the crumple is growing, low fescue, rock moss and club moss. Spring colors are given by flowering meadows, among others: alpine pasque-flower, mountain curlew, Norwegian Edelweiss and Alpine Hawk.
The mountain was a favorite destination for tourist expeditions as early as the 17th century. – at that time, she had no equals in Europe. The first building on the top was the chapel of St.. Lawrence (erected sheds 1665-1681). To this day, it is the highest sacred building in our country. W 1850 r. a tourist shelter was built.
The owner of the shelter, Fryderyk Somer, issued 1873 r. a postcard with a view of Śnieżka. It was the world's first postcard with a mountain landscape!
W 1868 r. a chalet was built on the Czech side (undressed). Then in 1900 r. a meteorological observatory was established (constant meteorological observations were conducted from 1880 r.), and seventy-six years later "flying saucers” – controversial style buildings, which houses the meteorological observatory, a restaurant and a small museum with an exhibition of historic weather observation equipment.
Catastrophe in March 2009 r. The observatory on Śnieżka is the only one in Poland (outside Kasprowy Wierch) meteorological observatory included in the global system of high mountain observatories. Uninterrupted observations and measurements of meteorology have been carried out in it for over a hundred years. In March 2009 r. strong wind, blowing at speed 140 km / h, damaged the structure of the station building. As a result, there was a construction disaster – The upper disk has broken.
Śnieżka is a great vantage point. In good weather, the views extend to Wrocław in the north, and in the east to the Śnieżnik Massif and the Bialskie Mountains. On a clear night, the lights of Prague are said to be visible far on the southern horizon.
You can climb up the red trail from the pass under Śnieżka. The northern slopes of Śnieżka are traversed by the Jubilee Road built on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of RGV (1904-1905), along which the blue trail to the Okraj Pass was marked out (it is sometimes closed due to falling stones).
Czechs in 1949 r. built a two-section cableway to the top from Pec pod Sneźkou. The yellow trail runs along the railway route (from Rużohorka).
From under the Pod Śnieżką” the trail descends to the left along a rocky path down the Łomniczki Cauldron (Caution, in winter the trail is closed). After 10 min we pass the Symbolic Mountain Victims Cemetery – a monument dedicated to everyone, who died in the Western Sudetes, and this, who came from here, and they died in other mountains. Going steeply down we reach the Łomniczki waterfall and along the stream we reach the shelter "Nad Łomniczką"”.