Hala Miziowa

Hala Miziowa is a wide, gently sloping meadow on the northern side of Pilsko, at about 1,230–1,310 m. A large PTTK mountain hut stands on it, and from the front you look out over the ridges of the Żywiec Beskids and the outline of Babia Góra. For most hikers from Korbielów it is the natural stop on the way to the summit, but getting here is a worthwhile walk in itself.

How the meadow came about

"Hala" here does not mean an alpine vegetation zone but an old pasture – sheep grazed on Pilsko's slopes for centuries. In 1930 the meadow belonged to 30 farmers from Korbielów and took its name from one of them, Mizia. The ground is an old landslide, reshaped in the Ice Age by snow patches. The landslide blocked drainage and a raised bog formed, about 100 metres long and over 3 metres deep. Cranberries, cotton grass and sphagnum mosses grow there, and by the springs Siberian chives and moorland grass – a plant community found in the Polish Carpathians only on the Pilsko massif.

A hut with a fifty-year gap

The first hut of the Polish Tatra Society opened on 20 July 1930 – a wooden two-storey building in highland style with a glazed veranda. The timber was donated by Archduke Karl Stephan of Habsburg, owner of the Żywiec estates. By 1936 it had a water turbine, showers and a telephone. During the occupation the tenant ran it under the German Beskidenverein, and a small army unit fighting partisans was stationed inside; the hut survived the war, though some of its equipment was looted after the Germans left. On 19 March 1953 it burned down. For half a century hikers slept in converted farm buildings, until the present stone hut opened on 12 October 2003 with about 90 beds, a restaurant and a conference room.

What to see

• The view of Babia Góra and the Żywiec Beskids from in front of the hut.
• The bog and springs with rare plants – view them from the trail.
• The mountain rescue (GOPR) post and the IMGW weather station.
• A trail junction: the Main Beskid Trail from Glinne Pass to Hala Rysianka, the trail from Sopotnia Wielka and the climb to Góra Pięciu Kopców.

Tripto tip

From Korbielów the climb takes about 2 hours. Trails continue from the meadow up to Góra Pięciu Kopców on Pilsko's dome – in good weather it is worth going higher. In winter ski lifts run here and snow often lasts into spring. A quarter of an hour from the hut, on the trail to Korbielów, there is a student tent camp on Hala Górowa.