Mount Yablunytsia. A three-hour walk over a mountain summit with lunch in a kolyba

                                                                  And from the Carpathian summer floats the voice of the trembita

Mount Yablunytsia is one of the eleven peaks that shape the landscape of the high-mountain resort of the same name — Yablunytsia, in the Nadvirna district of the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

 

Mount Yablunytsia near the Yablunytsia Pass, in the village of Yablunytsia

The name of this picturesque height gave rise to the toponym, to a hydronym, and to the second name of the Tatar (Yablunytsia) Pass, which lies at the foot of the mountain on the border of the Ivano-Frankivsk and Zakarpattia regions.

 

Mount Yablunytsia

A pair of bay horses at the foot of Mount Yablunytsia

Yablunytsia rises 1,008 metres above sea level and lies in the western part of the Carpathian National Nature Park.

 

A hike up its slopes is more like a sightseeing tour, with views of the surroundings and a panorama of the neighbouring sister-heights — Mykulynka, Horishkiv, Vysokyi Grun and Serednii Grun — in whose valley the village stretches for 12 kilometres. Here the local name for such a chain of summits is hruni.

Mount Yablunytsia. A view of the neighbouring mountains

A short distance, just 15-17 kilometres, lets you see the venerable heads of the Chornohora ridge and Hoverla and Petros, snow-capped until the beginning of June.

 

Mount Yablunytsia. A view of Hoverla and Petros

However many chapels you come across in the Carpathian villages, you are always struck by the sincerity and generosity of the people who built these religious sites and care for them.

 

A chapel on Mount Yablunytsia

The popularity of this tourist area has spurred the building of guesthouses, hotels and hospitable homesteads that have sown Yablunytsia on every side, right up to the very top. The "Naftovyk" holiday base, with its triangular little houses shaped like shepherds' huts, has served workers of the oil and gas industry since Soviet times, and it may well be called a native of the mountain.

 

Mount Yablunytsia. The "Naftovyk" holiday base

Most of the hotels have sprung up like mushrooms after rain over the past decade, and offer a heightened level of comfort.

 

Mount Yablunytsia. Cottages

The name of the "Kvitucha Hora" ("Blossoming Mountain") cottage matches the many colours of Yablunytsia. In a kolyba with a colourful interior you can satisfy your hunger with national Hutsul and traditional Ukrainian dishes before the climb to the summit.

 

The café-kolyba

The café-kolyba on Mount Yablunytsia

The mountain's slopes are partly covered with mixed forest, in which spruces predominate.

 

Mount Yablunytsia

The stony road is cut through with clayey ruts, and only seven-sinewed horsepower can cope with the spring runoff along the potholes.

 

Mount Yablunytsia

The highest point is crowned by a TV and radio tower, which also serves as a ground landmark for go-anywhere hikers.

The radio tower on Mount Yablunytsia

Yablunytsia does not drown in apple orchards; the high-mountain climate does not favour the growth of fruit trees. Yet the odd specimen of the garden's queen adorns the village yards scattered like grain across the hillsides.

A blossoming apple tree on Mount Yablunytsia

The loamy descent is bounded by a fence, beyond which spread meadows of mixed grasses.

Mount Yablunytsia

A meadow of narcissi on the western side of Yablunytsia lends it a fairy-tale, sanctuary-like quality.

 

Narcissi on the slopes of Mount Yablunytsia

The flowering meadows make colourful pictures and serve as pasture for the cows, which watch the unfamiliar traveller and his progress with curiosity.

An encounter with cows on Mount Yablunytsia

Sometimes you also have to get past other barrier-gates that stop the horned milkmaids from wandering off.

 

Mount Yablunytsia. A barrier on the road

On the northern slope, one of the tributaries of the Yablunytsia River rises and flows into it at the foot of the mountain massif.

 

Mount Yablunytsia. A mountain stream

By this stream, running parallel to which is the H09 Mukachevo-Ivano-Frankivsk-Lviv highway, the 3-hour walk comes to an end, with a sea of pleasure and a wave of emotion.

Mount Yablunytsia. A small chapel

Coordinates of Mount Yablunytsia: 48°17'49"N 24°27'39"E