Rising directly above the town of Myślenice, Chełm (614 m a.s.l.) is the kind of summit that rewards you generously without demanding too much in return. A scenic observation tower, a chairlift running year-round, a ski area in winter and peaceful forest trails in summer — this peak truly has something for everyone.
Chełm forms part of the Lubomir and Łysina Ridge, a range whose regional classification has long puzzled geographers — it sits somewhere between the Beskid Wyspowy, Beskid Makowski and the recently defined Beskid Myślenicki. The slopes are mostly forested, though fields and the hamlet of Patykowo reach almost to the summit from the east, giving the landscape a charming rural edge. From the observation tower at the top, the panorama sweeps from Mogilany near Kraków, across Koton in the Beskid Makowski, all the way to the Ciecień range — on a clear spring or autumn day, it is genuinely breathtaking.
How to reach the summitThese hills have a colourful past — the notorious Beskid outlaw Józef Baczyński roamed the Chełm and Lanckorona area between 1730 and 1736, and a few decades later the same ridges saw skirmishes during the Bar Confederation uprising of 1768–1772.