- Distance: 20km
- Duration (with breaks): 10h
- Route type: to the peak and back
- Start/finish: Štrbske Pleso
- Highest point: Rysy (2,501m)
- Elevation gain/loss: 1240m/1240m
- Difficulty: Moderate to difficult (depending on fitness level)
- When to hike: mid June to October
Why this route? It was the second year that me and my friends, who also happened to love hiking, went on a hiking trip in Slovakia. As a proud Slovakian, Laco volunteered to show us the High Tatras, a mountain range shared by Slovakia and Poland. Plus we got to stay in his parent’s super cozy mountain hut, lucky us.
High Tatras mountains are very popular with the locals, while not yet flooded with tourists (like me). It’s a definite hidden gem with green valleys and mountain lakes, surrounded by peaks reaching up to ~2,500m.
We chose a hike the Rysy mountain, which lies at the border of Poland and Slovakia. It actually has three summits, the tallest being 2,501m. Rysy is the highest Tatras mountain that can be summited without a guide, so clearly, we were looking for a challenge. Did we get challenged? Oh yes.
How to get there?
From the Slovakian side, Štrbske Pleso village is a great starting point with numerous parking lots and proximity to the trail, which makes the hike doable in one day.
From the Polish side, head to Palenica car park from which you’ll hike to Morskie Oko and then to Rysy. A one-day trip is possible but longer and more exposed than from the Slovakian side
So how was it? We started very early, hitting the trail at 5:30 already. Apart from trying to beat the crowds (it’s a veeery popular hike, people), we wanted to avoid afternoon thunderstorms that love visiting the High Tatras too.
This hike was my first (and last) chance to test the newly bought hiking sticks before heading to TMB, so I was pretty clumsy at the beginning. For some weird reason, I also thought it’s a great idea to practice hiking with a huge backpack, so I put as much stuff in my day pack as fitted. Ended up carrying 2x 1.5l bottles of water. What was I thinking? I don’t know. I probably wanted to make this hike as difficult for myself as possible. And I succeeded.
The hike begins on a gradual forested route full of huge rocks. After reaching Popradske Pleso lake we got out of the forest and crossed several streams while the path turned steeper and steeper. I kept on looking back at the valley behind us not only because of its beauty but also for the weather conditions. The sky was overcast the whole morning with no signs of clearing, so we just hoped for the best and pushed forward.
After 2h of hiking, we reached two mountain lakes, still covered in snow. That’s also where the steepest parts of the trail started with occasional chains installed to help climbing. The views were just amazing with rouged mountain terrain all around us.
Remember about my quest to make this hike as difficult as possible for myself? From the beginning I lagged behind the guys, taking numerous picture and rest breaks. By the time we reached the lakes, I was simply exhausted. But then I got the best motivation to move forward and fast – it started raining.
We were quite close to the Chata pod Rysmi hut, which is the closest real shelter from bad weather, so we sped towards it. In case this rain turns into a proper storm, we want to be inside. Our final climb to the hut wasn’t as fast as we wanted thanks to a steep slope of knee-deep snow just below the hut. After a brutal fight with the snow, we won and made it to the hut. That’s also when the rain turned into showers, so we decided to wait for it to stop and then finish the hike.
While in the hut my condition did not improve. I was tired and in a lot of menstrual pain (jeey, good timing!), so I just rested and tried to compose myself for the final push.
Final push? Well, the weather and the mountain had other plans. While hiking to the hut we saw that the path to the peak is still covered in snow with people skidding up and down in a less than a reassuring way. The rain did not stop and even hid the peak in the cloud. After brewing at the hut for like 2 hours we saw that the weather conditions are not going to improve while we need to make a decision. As the way to the peak did not look inviting at all, we agreed to go down instead. Not an easy decision for sure, but we chose not to risk getting into a storm while on a very exposed top with zero views anyway.
Soon after we started descending, a distant rumble greeted us. Ok, we need to hike down, fast! We definitely wanted to leave the chain sections before the storm hits us. The whole path is very exposed with no shelters from the storm so all we could do is get as low as possible.
After ~1 h a true storm started and it was pouring rain with constant strikes of lighting in the area. Pretty scary at first, but then I got soooo soaking wet and miserable, that I just focused on going down.
You can only imagine how we all looked after a two-hour shower. We were all pretty cold and so it was awesome to come back to a warm mountain hut of Laco’s parents. This time it wasn’t meant to be, but we will come back, Rysy!
Fun fact. If this hike looks easy, you can grab a few bags of supplies that are placed next to the trail at the beginning and carry them to Chata pod Rysmi. A free drink and a great workout are promised.