adventure & travel

Road Trip To Tatra | Part 1

The underestimated challenge

by Jan Imberi • 12/03/2017

The Tatras - an underrated mountain range. At least according to our author Jan Imberi, who drove east with a friend in a VW bus on bad roads in March - to garlic soup and amazingly steep gullies.

It was a stormy day when we set off. A day that was exemplary of the unstable weather that had accompanied us throughout the winter: persistent stormy westerly weather conditions with excessively mild temperatures and little precipitation.

This is why we had already postponed our trip to the world's smallest folded mountain range once - but we didn't want to give it up. We had been thinking about this destination for too long. The prospect of traveling to the mountain complex at the northern end of the Carpathian Arc had become too firmly established in our minds.

It was the beginning of March when Falko Leukhardt and I loaded up the VW bus and headed east. A weather window had opened up and fresh snow was forecast. We had taken a week off work. However, it was uncertain what the weather would be like over the course of the week. We accepted the uncertainty - no risk, no fun.

In addition, how you perceive the weather depends on your position. Am I standing behind the window pane and looking out or am I in the middle of it and feeling the force of the winds roaring around me? Nowhere else do I feel so alive.

From Berlin, we drove southeast to Poland, towards Wroclaw. Immediately after the border, we were amazed by the perfectly asphalted new lane heading west and the concrete slab pothole road heading east. There are two possible tactics for the 90 kilometers: either slow down so that the bumps are absorbed as gently as possible, or drive so fast that you "fly" over the potholes.

We had planned a short detour to Karpacz, the Polish winter sports center in the Giant Mountains below the Schneekoppe. It had snowed and we wanted to do a few runs - as a quick fix to get in the mood.

Karpacz

From afar, we could see the snow-covered and cloud-covered ridges of the Giant Mountains. The question was how much it had snowed and at what altitude.

At the parking lot, we were disillusioned by five centimetres of snow. Nevertheless, we packed our things and went to the lift, because that alone is an attraction here.

15 minutes for 400 vertical meters - that's how long the single chairlift takes, in which you have to transport your skis on your lap. Nevertheless, the north-eastern side of the Giant Mountains, where Karpacz is located, does offer some freeriding opportunities. At least in theory. On this day, the snow conditions were far from a big powder day. That's why we chose a low-risk option, which we walked down rather than skied. We turned our backs on Karpacz and headed towards our actual destination - Rohacská Dolina in the Western Tatras.

Slovakia - Rohacská Dolina

Rohacská Dolina is one of the most scenic valleys in the Western Tatras. Its peaks up to 2178 meters high (Barnikov) frame the valley, which opens up to the west. In Rohacská Dolina there is a small, fairly modern ski area with a six-seater chairlift that takes visitors from around 1000 meters up to 1430 meters. The lift provides easy access to Salatin, a 2048 meter high mountain on the main ridge of the Western Tatras. On its northern side, there are several gullies that lead into a basin.

We arrived at the parking lot of the valley station late at night. As on our road trips in previous years, we camped in the VW bus in ski-bum style: without auxiliary heating and running water.

On our first morning, the valley was shrouded in thick clouds and it was snowing lightly. Due to the poor visibility, we decided to buy a lift pass and explore the basin on the north side of the Salatin. Although it brightened up from time to time, the sun was unable to break through. We were able to cope with this because the weather forecast predicted an improvement in the coming days.

The tree line in the Tatras is much lower than in the Alps, at around 1500 meters. That's why you quickly find yourself in alpine terrain. Although the western Tatras with their peaks Bystrá (2248 meters) and Jakubina (2194 meters) are considerably lower than the High Tatras to the east, the steep northern slopes and flanks are impressive, varied and definitely worth taking seriously.

The Tatra Mountains have national park status in their core zone. Freeriding is prohibited here - with a few exceptions such as in the Salatin Dolina valley. This is also accessible with a lift, so there are many ski tourers and freeriders here. The same applies to the adjacent valley 'iarska Dolina, which opens up to the south.

In general, the legal situation for alpine winter sports in the Tatras is contradictory. Strictly speaking, ski touring and freeriding are only permitted in the valleys approved for this purpose. Outside these valleys it is forbidden. However, mountaineering and winter mountaineering are possible in all areas of the Tatras - but without skis. In addition, for a few destinations such as the Gerlachovský štít (2655 meters), the highest mountain in the Tatras, you have to take a guide.

The reality is different, however. Many mountain guides offer guided ski tours in the Tatras. The restrictive policy of the national park administration poses an economic problem for them. That is why there are valleys in the Slovakian Tatras with a tolerance. In the western Slovak Tatras, these valleys are Rohacská Dolina and Žiarska Dolina. In the Slovakian part of the High Tatras, these are the valleys of Mlynická Dolina, up to the Vodopád Skok waterfall and Mengukowská Dolina as well as the tributary valleys of Zlomiská and Zabia Dolina. Further east, there is a tolerance in the Vel'ká Studená Dolina and Malá Studená Dolina valleys.

As I knew about the more difficult legal situation, I had contacted a Slovakian mountain guide and steep face skier while still in Berlin: Miroslav Pet'o. He had already given me a few valuable tips in advance and arranged to meet up with us for one of the next few days.

Tri Kopy

The following day, the sun was shining in the Rohacská Valley. We had a spectacular panoramic view.

That's why we set off early and followed the course of the valley to the south-east. Our goal was to ski down the north side of the Tri kopy - a descent of around 950 vertical meters. The access is via a gully through a rocky face that opens up to a large snow field.

At the end of the valley is the hut Ťatliakova chata, which is closed in winter. A sign indicated that the path to the Smutné sedlo pass (1968 meters) is closed in winter. We ignored this and followed a track that continued up the valley. On the way, we saw two ice climbers scaling a waterfall.

The snow was loose and light, so we continued on towards the pass. It lies on the main ridge of the western Tatras and connects the two valleys of Rohacská and Žiarska Dolina. When we got there and looked south, the weather had changed completely: A bright blue sky an hour ago, it was now a race against time. Clouds were already approaching threateningly close from the south, endangering our plans. We lost no time and continued to climb along the ridge. But we had no chance. The weather deteriorated too quickly. Once we reached the first peak of the Tri kopy (2136 meters), the world around us disappeared in thick fog.

The access to the north side seemed too risky. We didn't know it, had no visibility and would most likely make the first tracks. A shame, as the day had started so promisingly. Wistfully, we decided to descend along the familiar ascent route. We rejected another option of descending to Žiarska Dolina to the south and spending the night at Žiarska Chata. New plan: continue on to the High Tatras.

Back in the valley and after enjoying a traditional garlic soup in a rustic inn, we called the mountain guide Miro Pet'o. I was impressed by the extremely detailed descriptions of his steep wall descents. Miro Pet'o wanted to meet us spontaneously. We set off around the western foothills of the Tatra Mountains on the southern side of the mountain range towards Poprad.

Poprad is home to around 50,000 people. The city is located in the plain Podtatranská kotlina, the Lower Tatra basin between the High and Low Tatras at an altitude of 670 meters. Popgrad consists of prefabricated buildings grouped around a picturesque old town center. The peaks of the High Tatras rise behind it.

Poprad is an important transport hub in Slovakia. The narrow-gauge Tatra Railway also departs from here to the alpine centers Starý Smokovec, Štrbské Pleso and Tatranská Lomnica .

We met Miro Pet'o in a quaint restaurant for dinner.

Miro recommended the Slovakian national dish Bryndzové halušky, or Brimsen dumplings, which are served with a ricotta-like sheep's cheese. After three days of pasta with pesto, this was a welcome change and the dumplings tasted delicious. Meanwhile, Miro told us about himself and his life as a mountain guide and alpinist in the High Tatras, the problem with the strict national park regulations and the spectacular descents that make the Slovakian Tatras so special. Until then, we hadn't realized just how rugged and steep the High Tatras really are. The rugged rocky peaks rise up to 2655 meters from the sometimes deeply dug trough valleys. Many gullies run through rocky faces - some with a 45 degree gradient.

After the Brimsen Nocken, we ordered Makové šúľance, poppy seed noodles for dessert. Miro explained which valleys were off-limits for freeriding, in which we could expect to be tolerated and showed us various tour options.

The weather forecast for the next day was good. We arranged to meet in Štrbské Pleso, a spa and winter sports resort on Štrbské Lake at an altitude of 1346 m. The Nordic World Championships were held here in 1970. The architecture of the town is still influenced by this period and some of the sports facilities have been preserved in their original condition.

The meeting point was the parking lot in front of the dam in Menguskovská Dolina (1246 meters) at 6 am. Our destination: the Satanov zlab, Satan's Coulouir, a steep gully that leads 600 vertical meters from the shoulder of the 2422-meter-high Satan peak into the valley.

Menguskovská Dolina

Waking up in the morning after another cold night in the bus, we looked out onto a fantastic panorama, with a cloudless sky. The two-humped peak of Vysoká at 2547 meters towered over the valley.

The ascent to Menguskovská Dolina runs along a road that leads up to Majláthova and Popradské Pleso Chata at 1500 meters. The valley is quite flat in this area and so the ascent takes a good hour and a half to the junction at the hut.

From there, we followed a narrow path into a labyrinth of mountain pines. There was still hardly a cloud in the sky. We walked on quickly. The snow was firm and grippy. After another bend, the view of the Menguskovská Dolina opened up to us. An imposing, jagged rock face rose up to our left. Satan's Couloir had to be somewhere in this wall.

The wind had blown the snow in the valley. Boulders appeared on many scree slopes, so I thought that the Rohacská Dolina in the western Tatras had been snowier than the Menguskovská Dolina opening up to the south.

We crossed the valley floor and turned towards the rock face rising up in front of us. A large cone of scree piled up at the foot of a gully. The gully above led steeply upwards and disappeared behind a rock face: Satan's Couloir. We climbed up the snow field of the cone in hairpin bends towards the rock face.

The top layer of snow was loose, underneath it was solid. A fairly solid connection, it seemed to me, which had formed not least due to the exposure to the east and the sheltered location. The terrain became increasingly steeper. We strapped the skis onto our backpacks and climbed on with crampons. Miro said that the couloir had only been skied a few days ago. Nevertheless, we saw no tracks.

Ascent Satan's Couloir — Rise of Satan's Couloir

Jan

We climbed on and were soon surrounded by high rock faces. Sometimes we had to break through the snow cover with firm footholds. This worried me, as we were putting the stability of the snowpack to the test.

The Satan's Couloir has a gradient of around 40-45 degrees in the middle section. The entrance to the couloir through a narrow chimney at the upper end of the gully is even steeper at around 48 degrees.

We climbed through the key section and reached the exit on the summit ridge. Under a large boulder, we climbed through a window through which you can see the western side of the mountain range and the neighboring valley, Mlynická Dolina.

We had a snack while sitting on our "balcony" and enjoying the sun. What a rewarding destination.

Afterwards, there were two options for accessing the chimney: Either shoulder the skis and descend on foot to below the crux or ski down. However, the chimney had a narrow passage that we couldn't fit through with our 180-centimetre-long skis. This meant we had to slide, then jump over in the fall line and swing down after the passage, which took a lot of effort.

Miro skied ahead and waited for us after the key section. Then we descended in small turns - one at a time, initially still cramped by the imposing rock faces on both sides. At each turn, the top layer of snow broke open and shot down into the valley in free fall. Loose snow had accumulated on the sides of the couloir and it was a pleasure to ski the entire width of the gully in large turns. In the middle section, the couloir opened up and the rugged rock faces receded, so that you increasingly felt like you were in a tube whose walls you could attack like a banked slalom.

Then the couloir opened up and we shot down into the valley with big turns. Our pulse raced, our lungs pumped. Behind us was one of the most spectacular descents in the High Tatras. We would have loved to go up again straight away, but it was clear that a second descent would not have been able to top this run. Although the snow conditions were not ideal, it was still an incomparable experience.

As we couldn't get enough, we decided to walk further up to the saddle in the neighboring valley: Nyzné Kôprovské sedlo at 2094 meters. From there we had a magnificent view of one of the longest and loneliest valleys in the High Tatras, Kôprová Dolina. In the background rose the western Tatras with their striking folded ridges and untouched valleys.

The sun was now low. Satan and its neighboring peaks cast long shadows over the valley. We drove off. Past our access point to Satan's Couloir, the ride then continued along the forest path like a ski cross through tight bends and over narrow bridges, always trying to overtake the person in front.

Inspired, we stopped at the Popradské Pleso Chata to toast this fantastic day with a beer. Miro was visibly surprised that two Berliners were serious skiers.

We decided to stay another day in Menguskovská Dolina. Although the weather forecast for tomorrow was unstable, we had seen many interesting and potentially rewarding routes on our tour. So we said goodbye to Miro and planned the next tour: Vysoka.

A brief explanation: What are the Tatras?

A mountain complex at the northern end of the Carpathian Arc - two thirds belong to Slovakia, one third to Poland. The highest mountain is the Gerlachovský štít at 2654 meters. It is also the highest peak in the Carpathians. The Tatras consist of the Western Tatras (Západné Tatry) and the High Tatras (Vysoké Tatry) in the east. Both sides of the Tatras - Polish and Slovakian - are national parks (TANAP). The Tatras are one of the wettest and coldest regions in Slovakia. However, the wind usually blows from the west or northwest. A rift valley formed 15 million years ago separates the High Tatras from the Low Tatras (Nízke Tatry). Interestingly, the Tatras have no foothills on the southern side.

Maps

Tatra Plan 2501, The West Tatras, 1:25 000

Tatra Plan 2502, The High Tatras, 1:25 000

Harmanec VKU, 112, Západné Tatry, 1:50 000

Harmanec VKU, 113, Vysoké Tatry, 1:50 000

Useful addresses

Avalanche Situation Report

Slovak Mountain Rescue and Avalanche Situation Report.

Polish mountain rescue and avalanche situation report.

Emergency calls

General emergency call / police:112/158

Fire brigade:150

Accident rescue:155

Photo gallery

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

Show original (German)

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