The High Tatras - A Walker's Guidebook

Guidebook to walking in the High Tatras mountains on the Poland-Slovakia border, and the neighbouring White and Western Tatras ranges. Describes the network of waymarked routes throughout the ranges and suggests walking itineraries. Full background information on walking in the Tatras. Stunning scenery and wildlife.

SECTION 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE TATRAS

Approaching from the plain of the Poprad river in Slovakia, the sight of the craggy peaks of the High Tatras mountains is unforgettable, beautiful and dramatic. Soaring abruptly skywards, they are like a phalanx of gigantic sentries barring the way to and from the north. With a dusting of snow and a swirl of mist, they assume the ghostly appearance of a phantom army.

Travelling by road or rail from Bratislava, you approach through the narrow, pretty valley of the River Vah, with castles balanced precariously on high cliffs above. As you progress eastwards, the Western Tatras seem quite impressive, but your first sight of broad-shouldered Kriváň in the High Tatras will take your breath away – no wonder this is the national symbol of Slovakia!

On the Polish side, approaching from Kraków, your first sight of the High Tatras comes as you pass the town of Nowy Targ. They are preceded by several ranges of low hills, so the impact is not quite so impressive as in Slovakia, yet even here these awesome mountains stamp their authority as a force to be reckoned with.

From either side, the mountain faces are forbidding and steep, the ridges narrow and turreted. Yet as you close in, reaching the small towns and villages that line the slopes at around 1000m above sea level, you discern the valleys that separate the peaks, and realise that there are ways of overcoming and surmounting these resolute watchmen.

This is easier than may at first seem possible, because a network of well-engineered, waymarked paths links the resorts with peaks, lakes and mountain chalets. On some paths a good head for heights is needed, as there is scrambling, exposure and the use of fixed wires. (If these terms are strange to you, all is revealed in Paths and Waymarking, page 00.) Other routes lead gently through meadows and forests, yet still within sight of the fearsome summits above.

To find the High Tatras on a physical map of Europe, first imagine the Alps in the form of an antique pistol. Its butt lies near the Mediterranean Sea, the handle curves through France into Switzerland, and the barrel stretches on into Austria. The pistol is fired at Vienna, point blank; the bullet leaves the gun and passes over the city and across the Danube, but after travelling just half the barrel’s length, it strikes a range of mountains beyond. They are the High Tatras, straddling the border between Slovakia and Poland.

For over 120 years, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century, these mountains were much visited by royalty and nobility from Austria–Hungary and other nearby states, and by discerning travellers from all over Europe, but their custom fell away during the political upheavals and wars of the 20th century. During the communist era, these peaks became very well known to Central and Eastern Europeans, because this was the only accessible region of high mountains for those who lived behind the Iron Curtain. Then, in 1991, Count Otto von Habsburg, the senior surviving member of the famous Austro–Hungarian ruling dynasty, revived the earlier tradition with a visit to the Tatras, accompanied by his family, as recorded in the visitors’ book at the National Park Museum in Tatranská Lomnica.

People from the western side of the former Iron Curtain have only recently been reintroduced to these mountains, but now that they can visit the Tatras with a minimum of fuss, we hope that this book will encourage them to fully explore. To visit either Poland or Slovakia, most English-speaking visitors do not require a visa for a visit of less than 90 days.

The High Tatras are the highest and most northerly part of the Carpathian Mountains, a sickle-shaped range, 1200km long, which starts near Bratislava, then passes through Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and on into Romania, to finish at the Kazan Gorge on the Danube. In general, the Carpathians are not very high as mountains go – over half the peaks fail to reach 1000m. But the High Tatras are a notable exception – nearly 100 of their more than 500 rocky summits surpass 2000m, 10 come very close to or exceed 2500m, and the highest reaches 2655m. With so many walking routes surrounding the summits, you can view most of them from many different angles – even set yourself ‘name that peak’ competitions.

A miscellany of delights is provided by this compact microcosm of alpine scenery, which has been designated a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. This designation gives strict protection to a wide variety of natural habitats and an immense diversity of wildlife, through the existence of neighbouring national parks in Slovakia and Poland, which together cover all of the High Tatras, as well as the adjoining White Tatras and most of the Western Tatras.

The High Tatras were one of the few parts of the Carpathians to be glaciated during the last ice age, and in an area just 27km by 10km there is much evidence of this. Small glaciers formed dozens of valleys containing more than a hundred lakes and tarns, and left moraines and moulded corries, ravines and basins.

The erosion of many different types of rock – granite, gneiss, sandstone, limestone and schists – has resulted in a wide variety of beautiful scenery, recalling that of the Alps, yet in a much smaller area. In just one day you may see needlepoint summits, toothy ridges, massive cliffs, deep valleys, mirror-surfaced tarns, tinkling streams and splashing waterfalls. Other areas recall English landscapes on a grand scale – graceful, grey, rounded domes with grass-covered shoulders, shallow valleys and dry streambeds.

Though most of the villages are purpose-built mountain resorts, some date from the late 18th century, and several distinct traditional styles of architecture are on display. Many of the buildings are full of character, with much use of wood. Blending well with the pine trees, the colours chosen to decorate walls, beams, balconies and window frames offer a soothing mixture of mustard, custard, chocolate and cream, while rust-red dominates the roofs.

Every upside must have its downside though, and to appreciate the picturesque you will sometimes have to tolerate the grotesque – the architecture of the 1970s and 1980s did no favours for the Slovak Tatras. Now, because of the fragile ecology, and in realisation of the mistakes of the past, there is a ban on major new developments in the national park areas. (An ‘ill wind’, the Tatranská Bora – see page 00 – while opening up some splendid views, also exposed some of the concrete horrors that had previously been hidden by trees.)

Zakopane and its surrounding villages, in Poland, have retained their attractive and very distinctive styles of architecture, but some walkers may find the popularity of parts of this side of the Tatras rather off-putting, as a large proportion of Poland’s 38 million population makes its way to these gorgeous mountains for holidays and weekends. Fortunately, they tend to congregate in half a dozen honeypots, leaving most of the footpath network relatively uncrowded.

For the urban-dwelling visitor, the air of the High Tatras seems incredibly pure, enhanced by the altitude, the scent of pine and the low level of motorised traffic, which is banned from the mountain valleys, even where there are roads. This is an ideal location for a mountain holiday, and especially for the adventurous walker. It is an area that offers enough variety to fill a fortnight, yet small enough to provide the satisfaction of being able to explore it reasonably thoroughly in the same period.

The walking in the area covered by this book falls fairly distinctly into the Slovak and Polish sectors, so it is convenient to place the route descriptions in a separate section for each country. In Slovakia, as the Western Tatras is quite difficult to reach from the main resorts, nearly all the walking covered by this book is in the High Tatras, plus a small amount in the White Tatras. In Poland, much of the Western Tatras is easily accessible from the main resort of Zakopane, so these as well as the Polish High Tatras are included. We start, though, with an overview of general topics common to both countries.