Tatra atmospheres above the treeline

Itinerary

• From the train station we follow the K mark to the shore of Lake Csorba (Štrbské Pleso).
• At the lake shore we turn right, switching to the P mark, which we will follow almost all day to the Rázcestie pod Slavkovským Štítom junction, which is already located above Starý Smokovec (Ótátrafüred).
• At the junction we turn right and descend on the K mark to the train station of the settlement.

Detailed description of the route

Our hike can be divided into three distinct sections: the stage from Lake Csorba (Štrbské Pleso) to the Ostrva Saddle (Sedlo pod Ostrvou) focuses on the centre of the mountain range, while later we walk on the outer slopes of the High Tatras. The second section, winding to the Silesian House (Sliezsky dom), mostly rolls over barren stone seas, which are finally replaced by dwarf pines and romantic spruce forests until reaching Starý Smokovec (Ótátrafüred).

From moraine lake to mountain lake

The train station at Lake Csorba (Štrbské Pleso) is a busy hub for Tatra tourism. The history of the locality’s tourism dates back to the end of the 19th century, when the cog railway reached the mountain settlement formerly known for producing pine oil and visited by hunters – a good two decades after the opening of the main railway line running down to Košice. The Tatra Electric Railway (TEŽ) started operating one and a half decades later, and today the trains still carry crowds of hikers in the Tatra foothills. (The cog railway, whose importance declined, was discontinued in the 1930s but rebuilt for the ski world championship held in 1970.) Exiting the station building, we follow the K mark through the settlement’s houses. All the architectural styles of the past 130 years that reached the resort centre appear side by side, and although Csorba increasingly exudes a better atmosphere, some neglected parts from socialism and damage caused by the 2004 storm have yet to be completely hidden, and some later intrusive buildings remain.

The Grand Hotel Kempinski car park offers a view of the Poprad Basin and the Low Tatras. Going around the building, we reach the P mark, which we will follow to the right, but the shore of Lake Csorba (Štrbské pleso) keeps close – though the usual crowds do not keep one long. The perhaps best-known and most-photographed view on the Slovak side of the range unfolds here: the wooded slope above the lake, with a picturesque rocky world in the background, rising in the middle with the Patria massif. The moraine lake is the second largest in the High Tatras and was formed behind a moraine ridge pushed by a glacier that reached here at the last ice age after the ice melted. It has no significant surface inflow (feeder stream), so it is mainly filled by precipitation. In the 19th century it was almost drained to create pasture, but this was fortunately prevented by the then-owner of the area, József Szentiváni. Instead, he built a hunting lodge here (today part of Kempinski), which was soon made accessible to tourists; thus it is no wonder that the tourist house built in 1875 by the Hungarian Carpathian Association (MKE) was named József Refuge. Nowadays, the lake can be walked around comfortably and the panorama can also be admired while floating on the water using the boat rental service.

Leaving the lake promenade on the P mark, a short forest walk follows after crossing the main road, and then we enter the Tatra pine forest. The 2004 storm was relatively kind to the Menguszfalva Valley (Mengusovská dolina), so in this area the forest has remained wide and lush. As we will soon see: after a steep but short climb, reaching the Trigan (Bástya ridge) height, the path gains altitude on the Patria side and winds horizontally. The frost-shattered stone seas thin the pine forest on the mountainside and the panorama opens increasingly towards the Ostrva (Ostrva), the widening mouth of the Menguszfalva Valley (Mengusovská dolina) and the depths of the Omladek Valley (Zlomisková dolina).

Because of its ideal position and easy accessibility, the frequently visited tourist trail descends to cross the stream, then crosses the pine forest and arrives under the wooden-clad building of the Poprad Lake refuge (Horský Hotel Popradské Pleso). Despite its large capacity, the popular building is the base for hikes in the area and has a sizable restaurant. It opened in 1961, but it was not the first mountain shelter on the lakeshore: the historic-looking Majláth refuge (Majláthova chata), standing just a few meters away, was first built in 1879 thanks to the efforts of the MKE (named after a vice-president of the organisation who was one of the initiators of its construction). Passing in front of the mountain hotel (or dining on the terrace), we can also look out at the Poprad Lake (Popradské pleso): on its far side, in the gorge deepened by the glacier, the valley exit and the northern cliff of Ostrva, with the Magistrala serpentine and many hikers climbing upwards, are visible. The lake is not named after the nearby city but after the river officially beginning at the confluence of the stream emerging from the Menguszfalva Valley.

Alpine experiences at the foot of the mountains

The path marked P crosses the Omladek-Jeges stream (Ľadový potok) and starts the relentless switchbacks of the Ostrva Saddle (Sedlo pod Ostrvou) at the signpost. (Beforehand, it is worth taking a short detour of a few meters at the signpost along the lake shore for a picturesque view of the refuge and its surroundings.) The trail, traversing stone seas, dwarf pine patches and grassy slopes, zigzags back and forth and overcoming it is not as difficult as it may look from below. The straight sections between the sharp turns have moderate slopes, the trail is well maintained, and the panorama is dizzying. Only the lower segment provides a view into the alpine, jagged-ridged Omladek Valley (Zlomisková dolina), but ascending offers increasingly higher angled views of Poprad Lake, the two refuges, the dense pine forest, and the valley with cliffs and lush vegetation, a typically Tatra sight. The trail remains one of the famous landscapes of the Slovak side of the range even after about an hour of ascent to the pass, although in the opposite direction the Poprad Basin, the opposite mountains, and the area around Csorba are revealed below.

The Ostrva Saddle (Sedlo pod Ostrvou) is the last "summit experience" of the hike, as from here we cross the slopes of mountain blocks. First, we head towards the Blunt Mountain (Tupá), then the towering Koncsiszta (Končista) over 2500 m beyond it across huge stone seas. Legend has it that long ago a giant was bothered by the size of the mountains and started to destroy them. Unable to crush the Blunt Mountain and the peaks of the Ostrva, he placed them on his anvil, the rock of Koncsiszta’s summit, to crush them with his hammer. This is why these two peaks are low and rounded, and their crushed stones lie in the Omladek valley. In reality, the giant was the last ice age, its hammer the frost, and the "missing" peaks are scattered as huge stone seas on the mild southern slopes. Thus follows the most alpine, barren but exciting section of the hike. The path ascends gently, leaving the dwarf pines and alpine meadows, eventually reaching the endless stone sea. Progress is easy thanks to the grey granodiorite blocks being well "stitched together" – mainly by hand using rods when connecting the previously existing but separate paths in the 1930s to create the "Magistrala". Bypassing the Klin (Klin), we turn into the shallow Stóla Valley (Štôlska dolina) where the landscape softens somewhat as grassy dwarf pine patches reappear.

A short climb bypasses the steep block of Koncsiszta (Končista); the narrow trail descends after a sharp left turn, then starts ascending again. We arrive among rounded, smooth rock blocks bending southwards: the Batizfalva Valley (Batizovská dolina) had a short glacier tongue here that scratched and polished these rock slabs with debris. It also deepened the terrain below it, leaving a small basin filled now by the Batizfalva Lake (Batizovské pleso). The basin is framed by high peaks and the lake’s outlet is found at its southeastern tip, where the hiking path also crosses.

In an extensive dwarf pine forest, we slowly descend along the side of the highest block of the Carpathians and the High Tatras, the Gerlach Peak (Gerlachovský štít), above us showing its characteristic "crater." At the mountain slope’s high-altitude hollow, ice began to accumulate in the ice age, carving the basin but only a smaller glacier emerged from it. The ice surrounding the mountain ridge did not reach the summit region, so there is no higher peak north of the Alps in Europe. The 2655-meter peak was not regarded as the highest when a five-person team led by János Still, a teacher from Alsóerdőfalva, first reached it in 1834. Our path, broken by a relatively even section, turns into the Velická Valley (Velická dolina) under the eastern cliff of Gerlach, first offering a view of the opposite waterfall, then reaching the Silesian House (Sliezsky dom). Built on a nearby meadow to replace the Hunfalvy shelter, the MKE established it in 1895 and it went through several expansions until it burned down in 1962, so today’s hotel building is a modern successor built six years later. It represents two categories at once: a tourist hostel and a hotel, as well as their restaurants being separated inside. The Velické Lake (Velické pleso) is immediately beside the building, at the foot of a waterfall-decorated cliff.

The greenest section

Turning our back on the nicely situated valley and house, we head for the eastern wall. At its base, surrounded by dwarf pines, we approach the rocky world, which flashes as the most distinctive form of the route in a sharp bend: we circumvent a vertical rock outcrop on a narrow ledge, then descend on a small terrain step. Here, we can still look back at the triangular block of Gerlach Peak with the hotel below, while further on we turn towards the Low Tatras and its eastern neighbors. Looking back, we can identify the silhouette of the highest peak of the opposite range, Gyömbér (Ďumbier). Opposite, the Király Mountain (Kráľova hoľa) peatboge ridge with its radio tower is recognizable, and looking eastwards forested mid-mountains dominate the view. Below, the considerable forest of the Tatra foothills is recovering again by the early 2020s. Until 2004, the slopes of the High Tatras were covered by continuous spruce forest, but then a huge storm swept the forest. The monoculture spruce stand at this altitude is a human creation, as before the 19th century plantation, other species (beech, hornbeam, ash) also added variety to the forest. The shallow, spreading root system of spruce does not cling strongly to the soil, so strong winds can relatively easily topple it. After brutal forest decline, learning from past mistakes, mainly mixed forests were planted in the Tatra foothills, whose composition makes them more resistant to storms and pests – although they grow slower than spruce.

Our horizontal path approaches the tiny Szalóki Lakes (Slavkovské plieska), whose mirrors are partly hidden by dwarf pines (one of which has already been filled). Above them, the rounded Nagyszalóki Peak (Slavkovský štít) rises, with talus streams flowing down like paint on its sides. From 1878 for a few years there was a shelter here (thanks to MKE), until an avalanche swept it away. The trail "unwraps" the stone sea from under the vegetation here, gradually descending to reach the pine forest zone. For a while, the path of the pine forest evokes the romantic image of Tatra foothills before the storm damage, but then the devastated, torn forest replaces it. On this stretch we arrive at the Rázcestie pod Slavkovským Štítom junction, where we turn right to the K mark. (Those who stay on the P mark can walk into Tarajka/Hrebienok in about 20-30 minutes.) The trail offers little else of note until it reaches Starý Smokovec (Ótátrafüred). Today it is the tourist and administrative centre of the Slovak side of the High Tatras, with many buildings preserving the patinated Swiss style common at the end of the 19th century. Leaving the funicular station, 21st century buildings also appear, adding a modern layer fitting the environment. Restaurants and accommodations can be found in virtually all directions. The mark leads to the train station, where our hike ends.