Kominiarski Wierch, Tatra National Park

Kominiarski Wierch, formerly known as Kominami Tylkowe - a prominent mountain massif in the Polish Western Tatras, between the Chochołowska and Kościeliska Valleys. Its peak has an altitude of 1829 m. It is flat and vast, has an area of over 4 ha. The relative height of the massif is 800 m. By the highland shepherds it was called Pusta Równia.

From the southern side is separated from Ornak by the Iwacka Pass. In the east direction stretches from it separated by Smytnia Valley two parallel ridge. The bigger one, having about 2 km of length, in the final part passes Raptawicka Ridge ending with Raptawicka Turnia towering over Polana Pisana. It departs from it in the upper part to the north-east ridge of Stołów, then through Przysłop Kominiarski connecting to the massif of Kościeliskich Kopek. The smaller one ends with Smytniański Turni. In the north it adjoins through a small ridge called Kufa with the coniferous hill - the Great Burned Peak.

The whole massif is built of Triassic limestone and covered with rich flora of limestone-loving plants, including the eight-petalled oak, edelweiss, carnation, and numerous gentian species. In the rocks there are about 140 known caves, the biggest of which is Kominiarski Peak. Kominiarski Peak rises above the Kościeliska Valley, Dolinka Iwanowska, Dolina Iwaniacka, Chochołowska, Dudowa and Lejowa.

In the surroundings of Kominiarskie Wierch there were 5 mountain pastures, which used to be grazed up to the peak: Hala Stoły, Hala Kominy Tylkowe, Hala Kominy Dudowe, Hala Iwanówka, Hala Smytnia. Currently, after the grazing has stopped, they are gradually overgrown with forest. Relatively well preserved is still Niżnia Polana Kominiarska, located on the northern slopes of the main peak. On the slopes of Kominiarskie Wierch iron ore was mined. Even around 1840 several adits were active, one of them was reached by a ladder several meters long attached to the rocks.

In 1892 Mieczyslaw Karlowicz marked on his own, at the age of 16, the no longer existing path to Kominiarski Peak from the north, from under the Kraszewski Gate and through the Hala Stoli, about which he wrote in the Zakopane Courier, but this feat was ignored by the Tatra Society. In 1901 a new tourist trail was marked from Ivansk Saddle to the top. It was very popular, visited also by numerous guided school excursions. On August 1, 1988 the management of Tatra National Park closed the trail justifying it by the need of nature protection.

The area of Kominiarski Wierch is characterized by a relatively rich flora. Among others, grow here: Hoppe's edelweiss, the orange old man, the flattened oxycete, the unstalked mountain ash, Haller's spurge, the alpine bentgrass, the Hungarian admixture, and the Carpathian stonecrop - very rare plants, found in Poland only in the Tatra Mountains and only in a few places.