Mt Zhandarm

A cross stands on the summit of the First Zhandarm, raised for climbers who did not come back from these mountains. The summit is 1,763 m. The Second Zhandarm, further along the same crest, is higher — about 1,780 m — because the numbers follow the order you meet the rock steps along the ridge, not their height, and it catches people out.

There are three of them, broken outcrops on the Urdu-Flavantuch crest at the eastern end of Svydovets, the Third dropping back to about 1,710 m. Maps do not call the first one Zhandarm at all: on the map it is Drahobrat, the same name as the resort under it, from a word for a clearing cut out of forest.

Rock standing out of pasture

Mixed conifer and beech forest covers the mountain to somewhere near 1,400 m; above that it opens into polonyna, with the outcrops rising out of the grass. The western and eastern flanks are steep, the northern and southern sides gentler, and that is where the paths run. Part of the northern slope belongs to Drahobrat’s ski area, which gives one mountain two separate constituencies.

The ledges, and what is no longer on them

On 24 July 2025 botanists from the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve worked along the rock shelves of the Zhandarms and did not find a single edelweiss. Their survey of the Svydovets high country recorded several rare species falling back, and named uncontrolled picking as the driver.

Edelweiss still holds on Blyznytsia’s cliffs two kilometres south, where the ledges are harder to reach and thirty hectares have been protected since 1975. If someone offers you one at a stall in Yasinia, it came out of a Red Data Book population and you would be paying for the next gap in it.

Snow, and the two crowds it brings

Snow is the local advantage: the horseshoe of ridges around the resort traps it on the north-eastern slope into May, which gives the lifts below the longest season in the country and brings the off-piste skiers up here. The Second Zhandarm’s slopes are steeper than anything on the marked runs and are treated as expert ground; going onto them without avalanche kit and somebody who knows the aspect is how people get hurt. December to March is the reliable window.

Summer sells something else. From the top station above Drahobrat the summit is 35 to 60 minutes on foot, which makes this the cheapest sunrise on Svydovets and the reason people book a night at the resort in June. April and May are green, quiet and cheaper, but there is old snow in the hollows and crampons earn their weight.

Walking up from Yasinia

The full route is about 15 km one way with roughly 1,200 m of ascent, six to eight hours depending on weather and legs. Green waymarks take you to the resort; from there the path passes the lift and climbs to Peremychka, a saddle at about 1,560 m, where it joins the red-waymarked Transcarpathian Tourist Route. Peremychka to the Second Zhandarm is another 1.7 km.

Drahobrat in the middle is what makes the day work: beds enough to break the walk and start the summit fresh. Add an hour or two and carry on to Blyznytsia, under two kilometres further and the high point of the massif.

The twins, the gendarmes and the flower

The Hutsul account of the names is a grim one. Twin brothers staying near Petros both fell for the daughter of the house, and she said she would marry whichever brought her a living edelweiss. A shepherd showed them the cliffs and warned them the mountain spirits give the flower only to a man willing to stay in the mountains for good. One brother had his hand on it when they were called to stay; both refused, the rock moved, and he fell and took his brother with him. The joined summits above the place became the Twins, Blyznytsi, and the three stone steps below them are the gendarmes who came to investigate the deaths and froze where they stood.

A drier explanation runs alongside it: from the resort the outcrops stand over the ridge like sentries, and the name may be no more than that.

Getting there, and what to carry

Yasinia is the start: trains from Kyiv and Lviv, buses up from Ivano-Frankivsk, Rakhiv and Uzhhorod, and for drivers the Nadvirna–Yaremche road. The last 9 km to Drahobrat defeats an ordinary car, so local drivers run four-wheel-drive transfers and that is simply how everyone gets up.

For a short summer outing from the resort, boots, water and something to eat cover it. For several days on the ridge: tent, bag, food and a stove. Take a shell whatever the forecast says, because the crest changes its mind in twenty minutes — and in winter, do not go above the pistes without avalanche gear.