Szczeliniec Wielki () is the highest peak of the Stoà Âowe Mountains (Table Mountains) in south-western Poland, within the Stoà Âowe Mountains National Park (). It rises above the villages of Karà Âów and Pasterka, close to the Czech border, and is one of the best-known sandstone table mountains of the Sudetes.
The summit plateau is a sandstone massif dissected by fissures, corridors and rock labyrinths with named formations and viewing terraces. Depending on the reference, the height is also given as 922 m in some publications, while the national parkâÂÂs tourist information commonly gives 919 m.
The highest point is a rock called Fotel Pradziada (âÂÂArmchair of Great GrandfatherâÂÂ).
The historic German name GroÃÂe Heuscheuer refers to the mountainâÂÂs haystack/barn-like silhouette. The present Polish name is interpreted as âÂÂthe great fissured/cleft mountainâ (szczelina = fissure).
Szczeliniec Wielki is built mainly of Upper Cretaceous sandstone, shaped by long-term weathering and erosion into isolated rock towers, narrow crevices and âÂÂrock cityâ passages. Parts of the plateau include deep, shaded fissures with a cold and humid microclimate; in some years snow patches can persist late into the season.
The mountain lies inside Stoà Âowe Mountains National Park, established in 1993 to protect the sandstone table-mountain landscapes and associated habitats. The park regulates access to the main tourist routes, including entry rules for the Szczeliniec Wielki circuit in peak periods.
Szczeliniec Wielki is most commonly reached from Karà Âów via a stone stairway (park materials describe around 680 stone steps) leading to the plateau. A marked one-way circuit route on the summit passes through rock labyrinths, narrow passages and viewpoints.
A mountain shelter, Schronisko PTTK âÂÂNa Szczelià ÂcuâÂÂ, stands on the plateau near the tourist circuit and is historically associated with the development of tourism in the Sudetes region.
Tourism on the GroÃÂe Heuscheuer is linked to late-18th-century travel in the Kà Âodzko/Glatz region. Franz (Franciszek) Pabel, a local guide from Karà Âów (then Karlsberg), is credited in historical accounts with opening and marking an ascent route around 1790 and is discussed in research on early guiding and tourism in the area.
An important German-language printed source for the region is Johann Friedrich ZöllnerâÂÂs travel letters Briefe über Schlesien ⦠und die Grafschaft Glatz (1793), available in digitised form via the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the wider region in 1790 during his Silesian journey and recorded impressions in his diaries/notebooks; digitised editions include references to the Heuscheuer excursion context.