Hey travelers!
Sometimes I feel like a I’ve lost my mind and what we did the weekend is proof of that. On Friday evening after we both finished our trainings and I got home with ants in my pants. It was supposed to be a beautiful weekend so I started to think about where we could go. For quite some time we had wanted to go to High Tatras and so we decided to pack our backs in about an hour and leave for Slovakia at about 10 pm. We only had little information about the trip and the hike to Krivan, which we really planned mostly by seeing pictures on Instagram.
We reached Štrbské pleso at about 8 o’clock since we stopped for about two hours to rest. The original plan was to grab a tent and sleeping bags and stay overnight somewhere below the top. When we had packed backpacks, Vojta discovered (more like confirmed) that camping is, of course, prohibited in the NP, and moreover, there have been way too many bears in the High Tatras lately. We were startled at this so we decided to leave the tent in the car and packed “light”. Even so, my little backpack was about 15 kg!
After about an hour we reached the fork where the pathway to Krivan branched off rapidly, but there was a little catch. Across the road was laid a giant log with a sign: “Tourist route is closed from November 1 to June 15 due to safety and environmental protection.” It could have crossed our minds… Well, anyways, we did not travel seven hours there and seven back to take a roundtrip around Štrbské Pleso. We ducked under a log and began our ascent. Along the way I kept tripping over because I was looking for bears and we talked for an hour about what to do when encountering a bear.
As soon as we walked out of the woods and tall trees were replaced by thick scrub, I became more calm. There was more and more snow and it started to be colder. After merely three hours, we were about half way through. Path disappearing under a blanket of snow, we sometimes did not know which way to go. We walked along the contour of one of the hills with the thought that if we slip, we descend down into the valley in 10 seconds, so we were very careful. It should be noted that throughout the time we’d met only one woman.
Finally we arrived at the foot of Little Krivan, he loomed last signpost that proclaimed Krivan – 1:15 pm. We were at an altitude of 2,120 m.n.m. Time we waned because we went with fifteen kilos on his back slower than signposts counted. He waited for the worst section, which consisted in krpál, which seemed to be directly perpendicular, and most were covered with snow. We put on crampons and hiking poles cleaned up because we needed a hand. We literally crawled up the slippery rocks and legs we Shoved over the snow.
That’s how we managed to climb about 20 meters (there were still about 500), but we had an idea how to actually get down. We looked around and saw the fallen rocks and avalanches and we realized that this was probably really is beyond our powers. Additionally, over Krivan started to retract and before we went up there, it would be about five-thirty in the afternoon. Headlights Although we have had, but I did not like the idea altogether descent in the dark forest, inhabited by several hundred bears.
So we have about 300 vertical meters before the turn and slowly we was sliding down the rocks. It really those 20 meters took about three-quarters of an hour.
Bear fortunately we met and none to the car we crawled almost four to seven in the evening. How would Jara Cimrman said: “North Pole (not) been captured.”
We had no where to sleep, so we could think of nothing better than to sit in the car and odfrčet back to Prague. We arrived at about half past three in the morning and I must say that in life, I quickly fell asleep: D
The funniest thing of all though was that Kriváò pictures that we saw on the internet ever meet this Krivan, since the Slovak Kriváò about four. Photos by which we judged that the output can handle, were in Fatra Krivan, which measures just 1709 m.
And thus ended our hike to the famous Krivan. I laugh at our stupidity even now. We bought a Slovak vignette for 10 days, so we think that we returned there this weekend and try a hike on features, but with thorough preparation. Was anyone on features? :))) Thanks for any tips!
Have a great Monday!
E.
