“The child's safety fell into the background”, “extreme irresponsibility” – this is how employees of the Karkonosze National Park and GOPR rescuers describe the behavior of a tourist who climbed Śnieżka with a small child off the trail. The route she took led up a very steep slope. The trip could have ended in tragedy.
The dangerous situation that occurred in the Karkonosze Mountains was recorded on Sunday by one of the tourists. The video shows a woman with a small child climbing a steep slope and over stones to the highest peak of the range – Śnieżka (1,603 m above sea level).
“Extremely irresponsible” behavior of a tourist with a child
In the recordings provided to us, you can see the great effort with which the child tries to get to the top, constantly sliding down the falling stones. His mother helps him. They move very slowly.
A tourist with a child climbed Śnieżka off the trailTV Gniezno
Witnesses of the tourist's scandalous “exploitation” reported the matter to the employees of the Karkonosze National Park, who located the woman. The mother was fined PLN 500. – She took up the challenge, she wanted to test herself. In all this, the child's safety took a back seat, and we are talking about moving in the steepest part of Śnieżka. The slope there is 60-70 percent, explained Przemysław Tołoknow, deputy director of the Karkonosze National Park, in an interview with TVN24.
– Moving on huge blocks of rock and loose material is dangerous. Fortunately, no tragedy occurred, but the tourists themselves who were in the vicinity of Śnieżka at that moment paid attention because it was shocking, Tołoknow emphasized.
A tourist with a child climbed Śnieżka off the trailTV Gniezno
The head of the Karkonosze GOPR group, Adam Tkocz, said the tourist's behavior was “extreme irresponsibility”. – It is not only a danger for the tourist who strays from the trail, but also for others. This slope of Śnieżka is a very fragile area, with a lot of loose stones which, sliding, fell onto the road where there were tourists who moved according to the rules – emphasized Tkocz.
Two trails to Śnieżka
There are two ways to climb Śnieżka: the so-called the turns lead with stones, but there is a designated route secured with chains. It is a narrow red trail, so you can only use it to go to the top.
The descent from the peak, as well as the ascent, is possible via the blue trail – the Jubilee Road.
Main photo source: TV Gniezno