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Gruň ridge

Gruň is a long mountain ridge in the Zadní hory area of the Moravian-Silesian Beskids. Its ends are taken to be the Kotoščina area near Bílý kříž and the summit of Příslop. The hamlet of Gruň, part of Staré Hamry, lies on the ridge between the summits of Janikula and Kozlena.

The name Gruň comes from the Wallachian word of the same name for a deforested mountain ridge turned into pasture, the so-called Wallachian meadows. In the wider area you will find other, less prominent gruně, for example Mazácký grúnik on Lysá hora.

Sheep farming on mountain pastures used to be the main livelihood of the local people, and scattered wooden cottages, originally shepherds’ huts, survive along the whole ridge to this day. The hamlet had the most inhabitants during the wartime Protectorate; later many people moved away to the depopulated Sudetenland, some of the meadows were reforested and some of the huts became hikers’ chalets, such as Švarná Hanka or Charbulák. Sheep are still kept on Gruň today, and a special feature is the breeding of the rare Wallachian sheep.

The upper parts and the southern slope of the ridge are grassy and offer fine views of the Zadní hory, that is the ridge between Bumbálka and Bílý kříž, also known as the Klokočov Highlands, where the Beskids meet the Slovak Kysuce Protected Landscape Area. The path along the ridge is easy going without big climbs, which makes it popular with hikers and cyclists alike. In winter the untouched slopes invite walkers and cross-country skiers to roam the snowy landscape.

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Wooden church on Gruň

A few dozen metres from St Joseph’s House stands the wooden church of Our Lady Help of Christians. It is a log-built church of the Carpathian type, built by the local hill farmers and following the traditions of local folk architecture. From 1773 its site was marked by a stone statue of Our Lady of Frýdek, put up here by the hill farmer Šimon Tomeček. In 1847 a wooden chapel was built over it and pilgrimages began. The present church, dedicated to Our Lady Help of Christians, was built from 1887, completed in 1890 and consecrated in 1891.

The single-nave wooden building has its chancel facing east and shows the typical features of the late wooden churches of the Beskids. A spacious porch is separated from the equally spacious rectangular nave, which has a flat ceiling. The original shingle roof has been replaced with sheet metal, and above the entrance there is an inconspicuous sanctus turret. The church is 17 metres long and 10 metres wide, and its tower is 20 metres high.

Besides the well-preserved interior decoration, a moving detail is the household crosses hung near the altar: when the Šance reservoir was being built in Staré Hamry, people who had to leave the area to be flooded carried crosses and crucifixes from their cottages up the hill to the church and left them here, perhaps asking for protection in their new home, perhaps in thanks for the time they had spent in the Beskid mountains.

On 8 October 2002 the church was declared a cultural monument. Mass is celebrated here from time to time; the space lends itself to quiet reflection, and thanks to the good acoustics of the wooden nave and the two-stop organ it is also a rewarding venue for concerts and choral singing. On the Sunday before the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians (24 May) a pilgrimage takes place here, revived by our association Most a Cesta.

Beskydy Dark Sky Park

Gruň lies at the heart of the Beskydy Dark Sky Park, declared in 2013. The Dark Sky Beskydy observatory is the only place in the Czech Republic where, in good weather, you can look into space through large astronomical telescopes every evening, far from the disturbing lights of towns. You will find it just a few minutes’ walk from the lodge, on the Gruň ridge at an altitude of just under 900 metres.

On moonless evenings this is the darkest place in the Moravian-Silesian Region. Thanks to the altitude, the dark sky and the large telescopes, it is also the place in the Czech Republic where you can see the most stars. Tours of the night sky are led by experienced astronomers and guides. Book in advance at darkskybeskydy.cz.

Lysá hora

Lysá hora is the highest peak of the Moravian-Silesian Beskids and lies directly north of the Gruň ridge, between the villages of Krásná, Malenovice, Ostravice and Staré Hamry. The summit itself is nicknamed Gigula. Four spurs run out from it: Malchor, Zimný (Zimní Polana), Kobylanka (Velký Kobylík) and Lukšinec. The summit is an important junction of hiking trails.

The mountain and the whole of the Beskids inspired the Czech poet Petr Bezruč to write his collections of poems. The oldest hiking event in Europe, the so-called Bezručův výplaz, is also named after him. Maryčka Magdónová, known from his poem, is a literary character: according to tradition, a woman whose fate is said to have inspired the poet is buried in the cemetery in Pražmo.

Several nature reserves have been established in the Lysá hora massif: Mazák and Mazácký grúnik, Malenovický kotel, Vodopády Satiny, Koryto řeky Ostravice, Ondrášovy díry (Ondrašovy ďury in the local Lach dialect) and other, smaller ones on the edges of the massif. They protect spruce forests mixed with fir and beech, and areas of slope landslides.

Ondrašovy ďury has pseudokarst caves and crevices, which are also common in other parts of the mountain. Smaller rock formations have formed around the Mazák and Řehucí streams, and the Satina stream is known for its waterfalls. In the past the summit of Lysá hora was badly damaged by industrial logging.

In 1880 the Albrecht Habsburg refuge was built on the summit. In 1935 it was joined by a Czech Tourist Club chalet named after Petr Bezruč, even though Bezruč himself only ever visited the so-called German one and refused to attend the opening of the Czech one. In 1948 both were nationalised (the Albrecht Habsburg chalet was renamed Slezská chata), later merged, and in 1972 and 1978 both burned to the ground.

The summit was then left without a hikers’ chalet for many years, and visitors had only a makeshift snack bar called Šantán. Today’s Bezručova chata is a replica of the original: it opened in 2015 and is run by the Czech Tourist Club. Different in character are Horská chata Lysá hora, originally a hostel for forestry workers, and the Kameňák hikers’ hostel with room for up to 30 people.

The summit also has a mountain rescue station, open at weekends and on public holidays. Weather observations have been made here since 1897 (since 1954 in a new building of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute), and since 1980 a 78-metre radio and telecommunications transmitter has stood here, forming the distinctive, if controversial, landmark of the summit.

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Smrk

Smrk is the second highest mountain of the Moravian-Silesian Beskids. Together with Malý Smrk and other outlying peaks it forms a typical massif north-west of Gruň.

The Smrk Nature Reserve covers the summit and slopes. Lighting fires, camping overnight, picking plants and fruit and leaving the paths are prohibited; take your rubbish with you and keep quiet. Half a kilometre south of the summit stands the Klinská hunting lodge, and about 2 km along the marked trail towards Podolánky there is a spring by the Hubertka hunting lodge.

The view from the summit is limited, but views open up on the way up (from Ostravice). There is no chalet or restaurant on the summit, so Smrk is not among the most visited mountains. Even so, many people come here, because it is one of the most beautiful places in the Beskids. Below the summit there is a small memorial to John Lennon, and a little further on one to Jan Palach.

Šance reservoir

The reservoir, completed in 1969, supplies drinking water to the Ostrava region, so it cannot be used for swimming or other sports. It shares its name with Šance hill south of the dam, where fortifications once stood against raids from the Hungarian side. The Masarykovo údolí nature trail runs near the reservoir.

Talk of a dam began in the early 1950s: on 26 August 1952 the government decided to flood the village, and the design of the dam was settled between 1952 and 1954. Neither protests nor petitions from residents helped. By the end of the 1950s, when electrification of Staré Hamry had only just been completed, the fate of the village was already sealed. Everything the people of Hamry had achieved and the modernisation of the thriving village disappeared under the water, including a new bridge, a sports ground, an extension to the fire station, a community room, a converted health centre, a gym, a sheepfold and a renovated cowshed.

The railway era ended too: trains had taken locals to work and brought tourists to Hamry and Bílá from all over the Ostrava region and from Prague, and the last train ran from Ostravice to Bílá on 11 January 1965. Remarkably, because of the threat of the dam, no collective farm was ever set up in the valley at Staré Hamry, so old trades survived here: the wheelwright, the blacksmith and the saddler.

Construction began in spring 1964 and deeply shook what had been a working, self-sufficient village: shops and buildings were demolished, but the promised replacement never came. Demolitions and the forced relocation of residents continued. Šance was put into operation in December 1969. The benefit of the reservoir for the Ostrava region and its people is undeniable, but it was bought at the price of a human tragedy and the insensitive destruction of a village that has not recovered from its wounds to this day.

Basic technical data: catchment area 146.4 km², dam crest length 342 m, maximum dam height 65 m, total reservoir volume 61.8 million m³, length of the reservoir 7.6 km, width of the reservoir 0.6 km, flooded area 337 ha, guaranteed outflow 2.3 m³/s.

Bílý kříž

An important junction of hiking trails and a holiday area in a saddle of the border ridge with Slovakia. A large cross by the forest path recalls old clashes between smugglers and the customs guard.

Bílý kříž and Gruň are well-known names in the Beskids, and artists looking for rest and inspiration liked to come here often. On the left side of the path to Gruň you will see a large wooden cross painted white, which gave the whole area its name (Bílý kříž means White Cross). It recalls clashes between local smugglers (šverci) and customs officers (financi or abšauři), and a local legend tells how it came to be. Towards Gruň you will also come across an experimental ecological research station studying the effects of climate change on forests, recognisable by its giant greenhouses, the so-called spheres.

The saddle lies on the old border between Moravia and Silesia, and smugglers’ paths once led through here, mainly for salt and tobacco. Today Bílý kříž is one of the main junctions of the ridge trails: from Gruň you can walk here along the yellow trail (5 km) and continue to Konečná, Bobek or Sulov.

Read the legend linked to this place

Radhošť

The summit of Radhošť lies 4 km from the Pustevny mountain saddle. It is bare and offers one of the most beautiful views of the Beskid panorama, the Vsetínské vrchy hills, the Javorníky, the Malá Fatra and the Western Tatras.

On the summit you will find the chapel of St Cyril and St Methodius, a statue of the two missionary saints, a cross and a television transmitter. On the way along the deforested ridge of Radhošť towards Pustevny you pass the famous statue of Radegast. The Radhošť massif is riddled with pseudokarst caves and is very popular with hikers: many trails lead over it and up to it.