The mountain shelter on Lubań (49°29'17.0"N 20°20'28.1"E / 49.488056, 20.341139) — or, more precisely, a small PTTK mountain shelter known in Polish as a bacówka — has remained in my memory primarily because it was newly built at the time, very cozy, and staffed by exceptionally friendly and hospitable people. We were also given a very private double room on the first floor, something that was not particularly common in Polish mountain shelters.
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| Mountain Shelter on Lubań |
The shelter itself was rather small and offered only a limited number of beds. However, we never expected luxury. On many occasions, we stayed in dormitory-style rooms equipped with bunk beds and shared them with numerous other hikers. Indeed, this was an integral part of the atmosphere of traditional Polish mountain shelters: evening conversations, singing hiking songs together, and exchanging stories about mountain adventures often became lifelong memories.
Although we never personally experienced a situation in which all the beds in a mountain shelter were occupied, I know from numerous accounts that mountain shelters virtually never turned hikers away. Even when every bed had been taken, the staff would usually find some solution — sometimes this meant spending the night on the floor, on a mattress, or even on a bench in the dining room.
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| Mountain Shelter on Lubań, 1974 Source: Wikimedia Commons. Author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pl:user:Wp |
To this day, I remember how much comfort and privacy we enjoyed in this modest little shelter.
Sadly, not long afterward, we learned that the entire building had been completely destroyed by a fire in early 1978. The shelter had been in operation for only two years.
The present-day PTTK mountain shelter on Lubań was subsequently rebuilt and continues to serve hikers exploring the beautiful Gorce Mountains.
For readers unfamiliar with Poland, PTTK (Polskie Towarzystwo Turystyczno-Krajoznawcze, or the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society) has operated an extensive network of mountain shelters for many decades. These establishments traditionally offered inexpensive accommodation, hot meals, and a welcoming atmosphere for generations of Polish hikers and mountaineers.
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This entry is part of a broader collection of personal research and historical documentation across multiple blogs:
👉 Travel and nature archive/blog/: https://ontario-nature.blogspot.com/
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