Caves of the Little Beskids (Beskid Mały)

In 1704 the Żywiec mayor and chronicler Andrzej Komoniecki wrote that under a great rock above the village of Las there was a hole so spacious that a hundred head of cattle could be driven into it. Today it is Komoniecki Cave – the most accessible of the Little Beskids' caves. Around 50 have been described across the range. They are not karst caves with dripstone, though: they formed in thick-bedded Carpathian flysch sandstone, mainly through landslides and tectonic movement, so they take the form of fissures, clefts and rock shelters.

Komoniecki Cave

The cave lies at about 700 m, in the headwaters of the Dusica stream on the western slopes of Pośredni Groń – administratively in the village of Las, Ślemień municipality. You enter through an opening about 16 m wide and 2 m high, partly blocked by a boulder that fell from the roof. Inside is a single chamber of 115 m², reaching 11 m into the rock; it is low, mostly 1–1.5 m, and lit almost to the back, so no torch is needed. Above the entrance a trickle falls from a rock slab, forming ice shapes in winter.

Research in 1986–1992 found traces of a large hearth, pottery from the first half of the 17th century and, in front of the entrance, a flake of quartzitic sandstone that may point to people staying here at the end of the Ice Age. According to local accounts, in January 1945 farmers from Targoszów hid about 50 horses here from the occupiers. The cave was described for tourists in 1983 and has been a natural monument since 1993. About 50 m below it on the Dusica falls the Dusiołek waterfall – 4 m wide and 5 m high, the largest in the Little Beskids.

Czarne Działy and Wietrzna Dziura

On the southern slopes of Czarne Działy, within a large landslide at 750–800 m, lies a group of caves and rock shelters reached by a marked trail. Locals had long known them, but cavers from Bielsko-Biała only described them in the 1970s. The Czarne Działy First and Second caves are each about 55 m long (the entrance to the Second is a narrow shaft); for the Third, sources differ: 64 or 120 m. Wietrzna Dziura (Windy Hole) on Magurka Wilkowicka, about 0.8 km from the mountain hut, is a 20 m fissure passage already mentioned by Komoniecki in 1704. The two largest Czarne Działy caves, Wietrzna Dziura and Komoniecki Cave are protected natural monuments.

Tripto tip

The easiest approach to Komoniecki Cave is the side road from the Żywiec – Sucha Beskidzka highway along the Dusica stream, about 1.5 hours on foot; a yellow trail runs nearby. The cave is safe and needs no equipment, but the approach can be slippery after rain. The other caves are a different matter: exploring them alone is dangerous – there is a risk of falling rocks, getting stuck in tight squeezes and falling into vertical shafts. Go inside only with experienced cavers, and otherwise admire them from outside. Do not damage the rock or disturb wildlife – greater mouse-eared bats are among the species found in Wietrzna Dziura.