Chair lift up the Czantoria Wielka mountain in Poland

This film shows the chair lift up the Czantoria Wielka mountain - speeded up eight times!

The Czantoria Wielka mountain straddles the border of Poland and the Czech Republic reaching a height of 995 meters. It is the highest mountain in the Czech Beskids - there are higher peaks on the Polish side. One can walk up it although it is quite steep on the east and west sides with easiest access being from Ustron. Those not up to the three hour or so hike, can take the chair lift up.

I arrived at the base by bicycle having left my van on site in Ustron. However there is a large car park immediately below the chair lift.

The chairlift was completed in 1967 and is today run by the town of Ustron. The journey up the mountain is six minutes. The mountain can be hiked from both sides of the border, though the Polish side offers easier access to the summit from Ustroń. Here one can visit a collection of birds of prey or have a go on the bobsleigh. The bobslieigh is not as fast as it may appear - I managed to film it. Indeed the one thing where one has an unusual sensation is at the end where the sleigh is picked up by a pole and pulled back up the slope!

From the chairlift to the summit is another twenty to thrity minutes hike uphill and if one is still feeling a need for more height, there is a 29 metre high lookout tower on the Czech side of the mountain which costs CZK35 (about EUR1.50). The trails are well marked and clear, one can descend on foot which would take around two to three hours. For those who did not bring their own food, there are a number of places where one can eat both Czech and Polish food as well as beers from the two countries!

The mountain hut was constructed in 1904 by the German tourist association Beskidenverein, and was named Erzherzogin Isabella Schutzhaus in honor of Archduchess Isabella of Austria. (The mountain was then within the territory of the Austro Hungarian Empire.) Following the break up of the Austro Hungarian Empire at the end of WW1, the new border between Poland and Czechoslovakia was established running across the mountain.

As can be seen in the photographs, mostly coniferous trees grow on its slopes. Parts of the mountain forest have been protected since 1998, particularly those parts with fir-beech and spruce-beech forest. Trees within this region include silver firs, beech, yew, sycamore and Norway spruce. Some of these trees are more than 200 years old.

Plant life includes the broad bucklerfern, male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas), hard shield fern, lady fern and oak fern. There are also snowdrops, martagon lily and willow gentian.

A large population of the blue slug lives on the mountain. The stag beetle can still be found here and the purple emporer flies over the open forest areas at lower elevations.

Vertebrates include the fire salamander, viviparous lizard and adder. Birds include honey buzzards, raven, nightjar and nutcracker. The black woodpecker and many other woodpeckers nest in hollows in the old trees. Mammals include the Alpine shrew, northern birch mouse, fat dormouse and forest dormouse. Wolves and lynx can be found and according to information available on the site, bears can appear - although I do not understand where they are coming from!