High alpine zone

Located between the altitudes of 1,450 and 1,602 m (0.7 % of the total area of the mountains), this zone only exists among the highest peaks of the mountains, which are isolated from each other – Sněžka, Studniční hora and Luční hora, Smogornia and Vysoké Kolo. Both the undulation of the landscape and vegetation is, in the highest mountain locations, significantly affected by recurrent freezing and thawing of the permanently wet and hypothermic soil, the formation of soil ice, solifluction and the formation of various stone hillocks, grooves and garlands, these closely resembling the northern tundra. Local vegetation is defined through small bushes, grasses, mosses and lichens.