lies the Polish town of Zakopane) and the Sub-Tatras Basin (the broad valleys of the rivers Poprad and Vah) to the south.
Next in size come ZÁPADNÉ TATRY (Slovak) or ZACHODNIE TATRY (Polish), meaning Western Tatras; VYSOKÉ TATRY (Slovak) or WYSOKIE TATRY (Polish), meaning High Tatras; and BELIANSKE TATRY (Slovakia) or BIELSKIE TATRY (Polish), meaning White Tatras. On some maps you may see Východné or Wschodnie Tatry (Eastern Tatras), but this term is rarely used.
Surrounding the mountain ranges are the low-lying regions of Podtatranská Kotlina (Sub-Tatras Basin), Liptov and Spiš in Slovakia, and Podhale (Below the Mountain Meadows) and Rów Podtatrzański (Sub-Tatras Trench) in Poland. These do not concern us much, except that you will frequently be overlooking them from the mountains.
Some maps may show neighbouring, lower ranges of hills or mountains. To the north, Pasmo Gubałówskie (Gubałówka Range) features in the walking from Zakopane as described in this book, but most of them will only be seen in the distance from high vantage points in the Tatras: in Slovakia – Skorušinské Vrchy (Front Hills), Chočské Vrchy, Nízke Tatry (Low Tatras), Kozie Chrbty (Goat Ridge), Levočské Vrchy (Lion Hills) and Spišská Magura; in Poland – Zamagurze Spiskie and Pieniny.
The High Tatras extend for 27km in the form of a shallow, upside-down arch, and consist mostly of granite and gneiss rock. With six peaks exceeding 2600m (culminating in Gerlachovský Štít at 2654m), this range lays claim to several ‘highest’ titles – in the Tatras, in Slovakia and in the whole Carpathian chain.
There are many short lateral spurs, most of which descend northward into Poland. A much longer spur extends southwestward into Slovakia for 7km, from near the bottom of the huge crook in the border with Poland to the valley of Kôprová Dolina. Another of 9km reaches north to Lysá Poľana.
The official dividing point between the High and White Tatras is Kopské Sedlo, due north of Starý Smokovec. The dividing point between the High and Western Tatras, depending on whose authority you follow, is one or other of two neighbouring saddles on the Slovak–Polish border northwest of Štrbské Pleso. For Slovakia, it is Ľaliové Sedlo (Liliowe in Polish); for Poland, it is Sucha Przełęcz (Suché Sedlo in Slovak). This dichotomy results in the intervening summit, Beskyd (Slovak) or Beskid (Polish), not knowing whether it belongs to the High or Western Tatras. The valley called Tichá Dolina, which runs southwestwards from Ľaliové Sedlo, is generally considered to be in the High Tatras, although on the maps it appears to lie in the Western Tatras. This may seem nitpicking, but for local people it is a matter of some importance.
Approaching Vyšné Kopské Sedlo in the White Tatras (Red 0930X, Slovakia) (photo: R Turnbull)
The Western Tatras form the second highest mountain range in the Carpathians, with some 20 summits above 2000m, the highest being Bystrá (2248m). While the slate peaks of the Western Tatras are generally lower and less spectacular than those of the High Tatras, there are some fine ridge walks. These are longer, more numerous and more accessible to walkers without a guide than in the High Tatras.
The range includes several sub-groups, including Czerwone Wierchy (Polish) or Červené Vrchy (Slovak), both meaning Red Hills, Osobitá, Roháče, Liptovské Tatry and Liptovské Kopy.
Two particularly worthwhile waymarked ridge walks in the Western Tatras follow separate sections of the border between Slovakia and Poland. However, because of difficulty with access, the westernmost of these requires a two-day expedition, with a long descent into a valley for overnight accommodation. The tourist infrastructure on the Slovak side of the Western Tatras is less developed than in the High Tatras, but is slowly improving.
There is not enough space in this book to describe the Western Tatras in Slovakia, which in any case are not easy to reach from the High Tatras resorts, although you may see them from some vantage points. From Zakopane in Poland, however, some fine routes in the Western Tatras are easily accessible, and so are included in this book.
The White Tatras are a distinctive, 13km long range of pale-grey, limestone peaks rising from grassy slopes. They adjoin the High Tatras transversely, like a hammerhead, at Kopské Sedlo, and have six summits over 2000m, the highest being Havran (Raven, 2152m).
In 1978 the whole of the White Tatras was closed to tourists, apart from two short, low-level walking routes. This was because the routes to the summits and along the ridge had become very badly eroded, and the delicate ecology was under threat. In 1993 the whole range was handed over to the Urbariat (Association of Historical Landowners) of the village of Ždiar, who decided to reopen one route across the range to link up with the High Tatras network. Although initially separate from the rest of the network, it was once part of the ‘Tatranská Magistrala’ (see page 93) and has now been reassimilated into this long route. However, even after three decades of closure, other parts of the White Tatras, once the location of high-level walking routes, had still not recovered enough to be reopened, and they are likely to remain closed for the foreseeable future.
The White Tatras from Veľké Biele Pleso (Blue 2911A, Slovakia) (photo: R Turnbull)
If you do not manage to get into the White Tatras range itself, you can still admire its graceful beauty from several points in the eastern High Tatras, such as Jahňací Štít and Kopské Sedlo, or from the top of the cable-car at Lomnický Štít, or even from the main road at Ždiar to the east.
Adjoining the Tatras, and just creeping onto some maps, are the lesser ranges of Skorušinské Vrchy to the west and Spišská Magura to the east, in Slovakia, but as these are not parts of the main Tatras ranges, they are not covered in this book. Neither are the completely separate Pieniny to the northeast in Poland, nor the Nízke Tatry (Low Tatras) to the south in Slovakia. They are, nevertheless, very attractive areas for walkers, and good walking maps of all these other ranges are available in bookshops and tourist offices in the Tatras and in specialist bookshops abroad.
Altitudes
As altitudes (heights above mean sea level) feature prominently in this book, it is important to point out that you may see different figures quoted, depending on the source of your information, especially where summits are concerned. This is partly because they have been measured by various authorities from three reference points – the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and satellites – and partly because some references round up while others round down. Sea level varies from the mean in different parts of the world, and large bodies of water that are almost detached from the oceans, such as the Baltic and the Mediterranean, may vary more than most.
Traditionally, and naturally, Poland has taken the Baltic as its reference, while Slovakia has used the Adriatic. However, as the technology used for measurement improves, altitudes are being corrected from time to time. Satellite technology has only recently begun to be used for this purpose, and in due course it seems likely that this will allow such details to settle down to a standard figure. In this book, we have as far as possible used the altitudes accepted by our principal local sources of information.
Early history
The origin of the word ‘Tatra’ and its variants is not certain, but it seems likely that it comes from the Old Slavonic word trtra, meaning high cliff – of which there are certainly plenty in these rugged mountains. The first record of the name so far discovered, in the form ‘Tritri’, is dated 1086 and comes from the archives of the archbishopric of Prague. The first instance of the present spelling, Tatry, was used in a handwritten document dated 1255, and in print in 1545.
Much of the rock that forms
