Shpytsi (1,863 m) is one of the most distinctive and least crowded peaks in the Ukrainian Carpathians — a mountain that impresses not with a busy summit panorama, but with something far rarer: dramatic rows of rock spires wrapping around its eastern slopes. If you are looking for something genuinely off the beaten track in the Chornohora range, this is the place.

The eastern flanks of Shpytsi are encircled by up to 15 rows of sandstone cliffs, each 20–50 metres tall, formed from Oligocene Magura sandstone and shaped by Quaternary glaciation — and the mountain takes its name directly from these 'spires'. On the southern slopes lies the glacial cirque of Hadzhyna, a grand rocky amphitheatre enclosed by the walls of Shpytsi and the neighbouring peak Rebra. Tourists rarely make it here; in summer the cirque is more likely to be grazed by sheep, horses and cattle from the nearby village of Bystretsia. The mountain is blanketed in alpine meadows rich with blueberries and lingonberries, and home to rare plants including alpine edelweiss, Linnaea borealis and the protected Soldanella carpatica.

• Shpytsi lies in the central Chornohora massif, a few kilometres northeast of the main ridge, connected to it by a gentle saddle. For current trail details, consult up-to-date maps or a local guide — the area falls within the Carpathian National Nature Park.

• The peak is within the Carpathian National Nature Park — check current entry regulations before your visit.
• Rock climbers occasionally visit the cliff bands, though far less frequently than at more popular sites such as Dovbush Rocks near Bubnyshche.
• In 1878 the first tourist shelter in the Ukrainian Carpathians was built in the Hadzhyna cirque, named after Jan Gregorowicz, a co-founder of the Tatra Society in Kolomyia.

Local legend holds that Oleksa Dovbush — the legendary Carpathian outlaw and champion of the poor — is buried somewhere in the Hadzhyna cirque. The first trail signpost to Shpytsi was erected as early as 1884, giving this quiet, undervisited peak a surprisingly rich history.