Wysoka Kopa

The highest peak of the Izera Mountains has neither a tower nor a mountain hut — instead it has a gentle, treeless dome covered in meadows, which shows clearly what happened to the forests of the Sudetes in the 1980s. Wysoka Kopa (1,126 m, with newer surveys giving 1,127.6 m) rises on the High Ridge, about 2.6 km south-west of the Rozdroże Izerskie pass. It is a goal for those who want to tick off a peak of the Crown of Polish Mountains without the crowds.

A summit after an ecological disaster

The dome is made of granite, gneiss and schist. The forest that once covered it disappeared in the ecological disaster of the 1980s, when air pollution killed spruce woods across the Western Sudetes. Today the summit is covered with subalpine meadows with interesting plants, including garden angelica, Haller's rockcress and narcissus-flowered anemone. The top is very often in cloud, and snow usually lies here until early May. Headwater streams of the Kwisa river rise on the north-eastern slope.

What to look for

• The "Stanisław" quartz quarry on Izerskie Garby — a former mine passed by the red trail; quarrying has ceased.
• Sine Skałki (1,120 m) — a group of rocks on the ridge considered the best viewpoint in the area.
• The panorama — on a clear day you can see the Izera Mountains, the Karkonosze, the Rudawy Janowickie and the Kaczawskie Mountains.

Tripto tip

A popular loop starts at Rozdroże Izerskie, where there is a large free car park: up the green trail (the first 1.5 km is fairly steep), along the red Main Sudetes Trail past the "Stanisław" quarry and on over Sine Skałki, then back down on the yellow trail. The loop is about 15 km and takes 4.5–5 hours. The summit itself lies a few minutes off the marked trail along a well-trodden path, but check any nature-protection signs on site and do not enter if the area is closed. Bring a windproof jacket even in summer, and do not set off in fog without a map on your phone.