Top 10 of the High Tatras

Marcel Šoltis

The best Tatras

• The alpine-shaped mountains called Tatras consists of the highest and the northest part of the 1200 km long massif mountain-range - Karpaty. It is attractive for the tourists from all around the world by the precious concentration of natural beauties on a small area. It is divided into Western and Eastern Tatras. The eastern part, consisting of two separate geo-morphological parts, is the most visited. The eastern part consists of the granite High Tatras (with a large number of tourist paths as well as traffic facilities) and the Belianske Tatras (not easily accessible for the tourists).

The peak of the Tatras peak

• In the middle of a huge number of the Tatras peaks stands the highest - Gerlachovský Peak (2654,4 m). It is not situated in the line of the main mountain range, but it is one of the five out-standing peaks joining the main comb from the south. It is not open for the tourists. It is possible to climb there only under the leadership of a skilled mountain guide. You can hire one in Sliezky dom (Sliezky House). The hike up to the Gerlachovský Peak- with a typical basin in its southern slope- starts in Velická Valley, passing the sc. Velická Próba. From the peak you descend through the Batizovská Próba down to the Batizovská Valley. The fact that it is really the highest peak of the High Tatras was proved in 1838 by the barometric measures of Ľudovít Greler (a gamekeeper of Jelšava). Before that time, three of the peaks had been supposed to be the possible highest (Lomnický Peak, Ľadový Peak and Kriváň).

The best of mountain lakes

• The most glittering decoration of the Tatras valleys are mountain lakes. The most suitable nickname for them would be "sea eyes". They all have a glacier origin. The largest and at the same time the deepest in the slovak part of the High Tatras is Veľké Hincovo pleso (Great Hinc Mountain Lake) with the area of 200 800 m2 and the depth 53,7 m. You can find and admire it at the end of the Mongusovská Valley. The largest mountain lake of the whole High Tatras is Morskie Oko (Sea Eye) - situated on the polish side of the mountains (349 000 m2 large and 51 m deep). The mountain lake with the highest elevation (2192 m above the sea) is Modré pleso (Blue Mountain Lake). You can find it bellow the mountain saddle Sedielko - recently open to public - right at the place, where Malá Studená dolina (Small Cold Valley) joins the Javorová dolina(Javorová Valley).

The top danger in the High Tatras

•The biggest danger for the tourists visiting the alpine area in the High Tatras is not the rocky terrain but the sudden change of weather. It is typical for the Tatras especially in the summer (the most visited) season. Significant fall of temperature in the middle of a hot day is often connected with a storm, hail or even with snow. In that case, a romantic walk can easily become the fight for surviving. This can happen only if you underrated one of the safety rules listed in every tourist guide.

CHOPOK

•     The Chopok peak is the second highest peak in the Low Tatras (2024 m). It is situated between the hills of Dereše and Konské. Its northern slopes consist of very steep broken walls that in the north-eastern side steeply fall down to the Lukova dolina (Lukova Valley). The valley has a lot of glacier moraines, a lake and granite blocks in the south.     Chopok is accessible from the above-mentioned Lukova Valley by following the blue marked tourist trail (1 h there and 45 min back). To the Lukova Valley you can take an elevated wire-way from the Demänovská dolina (Demänovská Valley), chalet Koliesko, or you can walk from the hotel Kosodrevina (Knee Timber), following the yellow trail (2 h there and 1,5 h back). You can also take an elevated wire-way from the Bystrá dolina (Swift Valley) at the hotel Srdiečko, in order to get to the hotel Kosodrevina.     On the top of the Chopok peak, there is a sc. Kamenná Chata (Stony Chalet), as well as a TV and meteorological station. From the top you would have breathtaking view at the surroundings.

Donovaly•     It is a mountain recreational village (850 m) situated in the western part of the Nízke Tatry

(Low Tatras), spread out on a large saddle on the main road from the city of Banská Bystrica to Ružomberok. It lies in the protected zone of NAPANT (National Park Low Tatras), near national park Veľká Fatra (High Fatra) and is an important centre for summer and winter recreation.     Small villages were arising in the region already in the 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century the village Donovaly was founded on the territory belonging to the mining administration of Banská Bystrica. It became an administrative centre of mining village (the first written reference about the village is from the year 1710) and its dwellers worked in the forests and at the railways of Horehronie. During the Second World War, it was a centre of partisans and refugees. From there out, they were going eastwards, on the crest of Low Tatras.     You can find here a church built in the classical style originating from 1825 with original inner arrangement, and many rustic houses with glassed verandas. The verandas were equalised to the level of the terrain with the cellars.     The village successively became very attractive for tourists seeking for winter and summer sports. We can find here 11 km of downhill ski tracks, 25 km of jogging tracks, chair lifts and a lot of facilities for hiking and recreation.

Štrbske pleso•     Štrbské Mountain-Lake (1346 m) is the most famous and the most visited lake in the High

Tatras. It is called Štrbské because it is situated in the Štrba district.     The first notice about the lake is from Dávid Frölich (1644) in Bibliotheca seu Cynosura Peregrinantium. Juraj Buchholtz senior speaks about process of destilation of limba´s and knee timber´s oils by the lake. Before tourists it was known among miners, hunters, wood-cutters and herbs. In 1860 the locals attempted to drain the lake in order to gain new pastures instead of priceless pool. Till 1901 the lake was a property of the Szentivány family. Then it was bought by the Ungarian state.     Fishes had been regularly added into the lake since the end of the 19-th century. The ice because of its excellent quality was broadly used (it was even exported to Budapest, Berlin and Vienna).     The oldest painting of the lake was painted by Ján Jakub Müller from Levoča in 1825. Its depth was measured seriously for the first time in 1875 by Dionýz Dezső.

Kriváň•     Kriváň (2494 m) is characteristic peak in the western part of the High Tatras. It is situated at the end of the long

comb of the Krivánska crotch joining the main comb of the High Tatras from Čubrina.     Several combs join the top of the peak. The southern and south-western one are the only ones interesting for tourists. The south comb goes through the Daxner saddle and Small Kriváň, then it forks into several combs and ends at Nad Pavlovou.     The south-western comb falls through Vyššia and Nižšia Priehyba down to well forested Grúnik, a memorial of the Tatras guerrillas which fought in this area. In the southern as well as south-western slopes of Kriváň you can still see the remains of miners´ houses who mined in this area in the 15-th and the 18-th century. The first ones who ascended up to the top of the peak were certainly unknown miners. The ascent of an evangelic preacher and a natural scientist A. Czirbesz with friends is only the first documented. Others famous ones were for example: the English traveller Robert Townson (1793), the French natural-scientist Belsazar Hacquet (1794), the Polish geologian Stanislaw Staszic (1805) or the Swedish botanic Göran Wahlenberg (1813). The first winter ascent was done by Theodor Wundt and J. Horvay in 1884.     To remember the ascent of the king Fridrich August II. (1840) an obelisk was built on the top of the peak. The obelisk was destroyed by the Slovak patriots shortly after, participants of sc.

Skalné pleso• Formerly it was called Lomnické Mountain-Lake. It is situated in Skalnatá dolina

(Skalnatá Valley) under southern slopes of the Lomnický Peak.     The local climate as well as the human activity (mainly by building the buildings) eroded its banks and caused the slow process of disappearance of the lake.

    The attempts to stop this process (from 1937 and 1957) remained unsuccessful.

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