Development of tourist infrastructure on Babia Góra Mt. ( Western Carpathians) in conditions where there is risk due to slope processes

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to evaluate the sustainability of the location of all elements of tourist infrastructure on the slopes of Babia Góra Mt. in the Western Beskidy Mountains taking into account local relief and a range of geomorphologic processes. For more than 130 years, local tourist facilities remained unthreatened by slope processes with the exception of very limited sections of the northern slope. A deep-seated landslide reactivated in the mid 19th century affected a small section of that slope that is outside of regular tourist traffic while another landslide, a shallow one that remains active, has been damaging a single marked tourist trail. Debris flows observed locally on the northern slope are not typical of contemporary relief dynamics across Babia Góra Mt. and therefore cannot be regarded as a universal threat to local tourist infrastructure. In addition, snow avalanches that reach short stretches of tourist trails on the northern slope have not damaged them. The current hazard status of the tourist infrastructure on Babia Góra Mt. is clearly better than it would have been if certain heavy development plans had been carried out in geomorphologically ulnerable areas.