Poland · PL

Przełęcz Pod Chłopkiem

Perched at about 2,307 m on the main Polish–Slovak ridge of the High Tatras, Przełęcz pod Chłopkiem (Mięguszowiecka Przełęcz pod Chłopkiem) is the highest notch in the Polish mountains that most people can actually reach on foot—second only to neighbouring Rysy. For those willing to earn it, this narrow saddle between two of the Mięguszowieckie peaks rewards a full day's effort with some of the most dramatic high-alpine scenery in the range. This is not a casual viewpoint but a true mountaineering-style traverse, and that is exactly what makes it magnetic to experienced hikers. The green-marked trail climbs from the Czarny Staw tarn past the towering Kazalnica wall and along the Galeryjka, a knife-edge ledge famously fitted with no chains at all. What you get in return is a vertiginous panorama that pours away in both directions—down to the lakes of Morskie Oko on the Polish side and to the deep tarns of the Slovak Hincova valley on the other.