Hiking and Walking in the Tatra Mountains of Slovakia

AMBLING & SCRAMBLING IN THE TANAP

By Jane C Gill

Brought to you by Atypus Tours

In July/August 1999, I had a most enjoyable holiday in the Tatra Mountains. However, on returning and talking to other walkers (including LDWA members) about this area, I was surprised to find how few people know where it is.

This beautiful range of mountains, part of the Carpathians, lies largely in Slovakia which since 1/1/93 has been a country in its own right. Poland lies to the north of Slovakia and in places the border runs along the high mountain ridges. They are protected by being in a National Park (TANAP) and walking is restricted to marked footpaths to protect landscape, flora and fauna. It was noticeable that people accepted this and did keep to the paths. This had the positive effect that the rest of the area had a wonderful untrodden feel to it, flora and fauna being able to flourish with relatively little interference from humans. Those people who have heard of the Tatras, are usually thinking of the Vysoke or High Tatras - more of these later, but there are other areas which are as interesting and certainly less busy and possibly offer better walking.

We started our trip in the Mala Fatra - a limestone area to the west of the Vysoke Tatry. The tops here are lower but the scenery is still spectacular with interesting limestone outcrops and towers, good ridge walking and some superb gorge walking. This latter is probably this area's speciality - on two separate days walks up gorges were incorporated into our day - these involved walkways, ladders and occasional chains to enable us to enjoy deep, shady limestone gorges complete with river running through. 

On another day we had a steep climb through pine forests and then grassland complete with a wide variety of flowers, onto a fine ridge eventually ascending to the top of the highest peak in the area, Velky Krivan, 1709m. We were fortunate to see a pair of lesser spotted eagles but did not see any of the European bears which still live in this area. The day was completed by an interesting walk and occasional scramble along an undulating narrow ridge with a final steep and muddy descent (although nowhere near as bad as some LDWA events!) 

Our third and final day in the Mala Fatra started with a gorge walk followed by a tricky scramble with the assistance of fixed chains to the rocky limestone summit of Maly Rozsutec (1343m). Then a traverse of the big one - Velky Rozsutec (1610m) with some airy ridges and a little more scrambling with chains. This gave us the opportunity to survey the area and look at the ridges we had walked. 

We then transferred to another area that is little known outside Slovakia. This is the Western or Zapadne Tatry. We had moved from the limestone with its varied flora and slippery rock to granite where the rock is better for scrambling especially if wet. Here the tops are slightly higher - over 2000m, but are still quite steep sided, have interesting ridges, rocky tops and wooded valleys. 

We were also near the Polish border so on our first day here were instructed to carry our passports as we walked over the border onto the summit of Lucna (1652m). I think the most memorable aspects of this were the distant views - both near and far of the Tatry in both Slovakia and Poland. The mountains seemed to get spikier as they get higher! We continued along the border along the ridge to reach 2000m for the first time on this trip on Volovec (2063m). Unfortunately time did not allow us to continue over the next two rocky summits - maybe we'll return to complete the ridge?

I think the following day was one of the highlights of the holiday - unfortunately the weather deteriorated and we were in cloud and rain for much of the time. We climbed up, on a path, through a lovely corrie, back onto the ridge but further along this time. We traversed the "Three Heads" - rocky bumps on an exposed ridge with chains to help in places where hand and foot holds were limited. It has been compared with parts of the Cuillin ridge on Skye. It was a day of sustained scrambling but quite exhilarating - nicely finished off by the ascent of Banikov (2178m), one of the higher peaks in the area. At one point, as the cloud lifted, we were rewarded by the sight of an eagle hunting - viewed from above. On our descent through another beautiful corrie, we saw marmots, at least one of which was just sitting on a rock. 

We had another day walking the ridges here but there are also slightly more gentle walks including visiting the Rohace lakes or visiting the Orava open air museum where traditional wooden buildings have been re-sited. 

One of the problems in these first two areas is accommodation - we were fortunate in having an experienced young Czech guide - Borek, who had solved this for us. In the Mala Fatra we stayed in a new, modern hotel in Terchova (apparently the alternative was increasingly being used as a money laundering facility by the Russian mafia). In the Zapadne Tatry we stayed at the Hotel Tatra West which seemed to be a relic from the communist days, with its ageing furniture, meals at fixed times, communal showers in the basement and lights and extractor fans that didn't work. However we still managed to be comfortable. 

It is near to Zuberec - an interesting village with its own assortment of traditional (wooden) and more modern houses. The drinks were cheap, (beer about 50p), they made excellent "Viennese coffees" and we were introduced to Demoniovka - a pleasant Slovakian alcoholic drink that comes either as a drier aperitif version or a slightly sweeter liqueur. 

In addition to being an excellent leader with a wide knowledge of the area and its wildlife, Borek was vital from a language point of view - Czech and Slovak are very similar but difficult to learn and the Slovaks' second language tends to be German, so it was very useful to be accompanied by someone who spoke good English and could communicate with the locals. From here we moved to the Vysoke or High Tatry where accommodation and other visitors are plentiful. These mountains are different again - they have no foothills on the Slovakian side - they just rise steeply from the valley to their very rocky, jagged summits. Many of the peaks are accessible only to rock climbers and then only with special permission. The highest point, Gerlachovsky (2655m) can only be ascended with the services of a guide and involves the use of ropes and harnesses. Unfortunately the weather prevented an ascent on the day the guides were booked. 

The most accessible peak is Rysy (2499m) which is also the highest peak in Poland - again we were told to take passports although the summit is only about 1m on the Polish side of the border, again no-one asked to see them! Although this ascent involves a lot of climbing, sometimes steeply and with one short section of chains, it was very busy with people of all ages and sizes reaching the summit. It does, however, offer views of some of the surrounding rocky mountains and ridges. 

Most of the walks in this area from a resort base involve a considerable amount of ascent (and descent) on rocky paths, albeit amongst spectacular scenery. However there are mountain huts (or "chata") which accommodate people if you are prepared to carry overnight things and enable you to stay high. 

The remaining area to mention is the Belianske or Eastern Tatry. This is another limestone area, adjacent to the Vysoke Tatry, that was closed to visitors until 1993. Even now, only one path is open during the summer months in order to protect the wildlife. In addition to the wonderful display of wildflowers, bears and wolves live here - Borek had seen a wolf footprint on a previous visit. 

To reach the area we took the public bus to Zdair, which was an experience in itself. We then walked up a sometimes steep limestone valley to be rewarded at the saddle by superb views of the High Tatras drifting in and out of the cloud. We also had clearer views of the limestone ridge that is closed to the public, and also views into Poland - all quite magnificent. 

After lunch, taking all this in, we descended back into the granite area to a "chata" by a clear green lake with a wonderful backdrop of steep rocky mountains including Lomnicky Slit, the 2nd highest in the range, the top of which can be reached by cable car. A walk down to the road to catch the bus - bus drivers in Slovakia don't worry about the bus being full, they stop anyway, take your money and let you squeeze in somehow - in this case wedged on the steps with rucksacks on the dashboard, watching him swing out to the middle of the road on blind bends and then go almost off the road to get round a corner. Still we survived to tell the tale! A memorable end to a fascinating holiday - we were sent off by a violent thunderstorm as we caught the local train to Poprad for the sleeper back to Prague.

We travelled with High Places but Borek has his own company, Atypus, who will arrange walking holidays (and also bear watching and bird watching) for private groups and individuals. If anyone is interested they can contact Borek Seehak at Atypus, PO Box 190, 60100 Brno, Czech Republic e-mail: atypus(at)sky.cz