Czarnostawiański Cirque

The Czarnostawiański Cirque (Czarnostawiański Kocioł) is a glacial cirque in the upper part of the Rybi Potok Valley in the Polish Tatras. On its floor lies Czarny Staw pod Rysami.

The shape of the cirque

The cirque is closed in to the south-west and south by the main ridge of the High Tatras from Rysy (2,499 m) to Mięguszowiecki Szczyt Wielki (2,438 m), to the east by the northern ridge of Rysy and Żabia Grań, and to the west by the wall of Kazalnica Mięguszowiecka and the scree slope of Bańdzioch. The surface of Czarny Staw lies at 1,583 m, and its depth reaches 76 m. The difference in height between the floor of the cirque and the surrounding peaks is 993 m, though it was greater in the past, because rock fragments from the walls and gullies have partly filled the floor.

The cirque has three upper levels: Kocioł pod Rysami, Wyżni Czarnostawiański Kocioł and Kocioł Kazalnicy. Several gullies run into it, among them Żleb Orłowskiego and Dziewiczy Żleb. Water from Czarny Staw flows down to Morskie Oko, forming the 190 m Czarnostawiańska Siklawa waterfall on the threshold.

Nature

In the cirque grow alpine bent grass, Saxifraga wahlenbergii and Carpathian Bellardiochloa, plants that in Poland occur only in the Tatras and at a few sites.

Practical information

• Location: upper part of the Rybi Potok Valley; about 1.4 km in a straight line from Morskie Oko.
• Check trail conditions before setting out on the national park's website.