Skřítek, Mountain saddle in Sobotín, Czech Republic

Skřítek is a mountain saddle situated at approximately 860 meters elevation, connecting the Hrubý Jeseník mountains with the lowlands to the south. The pass spans across a broad terrain where several marked hiking trails intersect.

The road over the saddle was built in 1836–42 by the Klein brothers' firm as part of an imperial highway, to supply the Sobotín ironworks with wood. By the mid-19th century the Berggeist inn served carters and their horses; from 1885 it added lodging and meals, and from 1896 the mountain club MSSGV owned and enlarged it. The inn burned down at the end of World War II and reopened as a motorest in 1966.

The pass takes its name from the krasnal Skřítek, a figure carved in stone by Czech artist Jiří Jílek and placed at the entrance and exit of the parking area by the restaurant. A wooden statue of Praděd, the legendary ruler of the Hrubý Jeseník mountains, stands nearby, and a stylised stone sphere rests on a plinth south of the Skřítek figure.

The saddle is not a viewpoint: the pass and its surroundings are covered by spruce forest. A large car park and the Restaurace Skřítek stand by the road, with a bus stop linking Šumperk and Rýmařov and a mountain rescue station nearby. The national nature reserve on the southern slope is not meant for deeper exploration.

This location features a protected peat bog with rare plant species that represent the ecological richness of the Jeseníky region. The bog harbors specialized flora found only in these high-elevation wetlands.