Gutâi Pass

The Gutâi Pass, also called the Gutin, Paltinu or Pintea Pass, lies at 987 m on the DN18 Baia Mare-Sighetu Marmației road, on the stretch between the town of Baia Sprie to the south-west and the village of Mara to the north-east. The pass sits between the Paltinu ridge below Coasta Crișului peak (1,162 m) to the west and the Gutâi terrace below Coveți (1,121 m) and Măgura Poienii (1,126 m) peaks to the east. From the south-west the road climbs along the Săsar and Valea Crișului valleys, and from the north-east along the Râușor, a tributary of the Mara, and the Izvorul Alb. The pass marks the boundary between the Igniș and Gutâi mountains, both volcanic in origin and treated as sub-units of the Gutâi massif, although some sources describe it as crossing the Gutâi Mountains. In October 1914, two battalions of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the Polish Legions, led by Colonel Zygmunt Zieliński, made a forced march through the pass from Baia Sprie to the Mara valley to attack Sighetu Marmației from the south-east, then occupied by Cossack troops of the Russian army. The red-stripe ridge trail of the Gutâi Mountains starts at the pass, crosses Poiana Boului and the old Drumul Măriuții road (which linked Baia Sprie and Ocna Șugatag and was used in the eighteenth century by imperial carriages in the time of Maria Theresa), reaches Masa Domnilor and continues through the Creasta Cocoșului reserve to Gutâi Peak (1,443 m) and the Neteda Pass (1,058 m). The Pintea Viteazul inn stands at the pass, and a wooden roadside cross was raised in 2015 at 996 m. Nearby are the grave or cenotaph of the outlaw Pintea Viteazul, the Mogoșa resort and the Șuior complex, the Mlaștinile Vlășinescu reserve, the Izvoare tourist area and Igniș Peak.