Martwiec, known in Czech as Mrtvý vrch (668 m a.s.l.), is a quiet border peak tucked into the Zawory range of the Central Sudetes, right on the Polish-Czech boundary. It may not be the most dramatic summit around, but it rewards visitors with peaceful forest trails and the unique thrill of standing on an international border ridge.
The summit itself is shaped like a flat table — a gently raised plateau that blends almost imperceptibly into the slopes of its neighbours. The western flank is the most striking, dropping steeply and hiding clusters of sandstone rocks that form small vertical walls several metres high. To the east, the terrain slopes gently down toward the Czech town of Adrspach. Dense spruce forest covers the summit and its slopes throughout the year, while meadows and farmland stretch along the foot of the hill on both sides of the border. In winter the forest takes on a calm, almost magical quality; in summer it provides welcome shade on the trail.
How to reach the summitThe hill is built from Upper Cretaceous sandstone — the very same rock that forms the famous needle-like formations in the nearby Czech Adrspach-Teplice Rocks, giving this modest summit an unexpectedly grand geological connection.