First of all, I have to apologize for another post in English, mainly for those who prefer using our mother tongue, however, when I was thinking about writing about what happened during my few-day holiday in Slovakia, I naturally started to think in English – maybe it’s also a bit because the main experience (or let’s say ‘adventure’) is not supposed to be made generally public as it involves some other people and breaching some ‘rules’ or ‘policies’. Yet that’s just what makes it even more memorable, as usual.
Well, there was a lot of stress involved in the very beginning, sooooo typical for my travels anywhere. I was trying to post an ‘8-kilo parcel’ to Australia for my flatmate who’d left for Brasil, however, half an hour before I was supposed to leave the flat to catch the train (not mentioning the story with almost not travelling at all because of work overload and complications concerning re-booking the ticket), when I had come to the post office wondering
why the hell am I not able to carry a stupid big 8-kilo box for a few metres without several resting stops, I got to know that the box weighs over 21kg and the post can take in only parcels up to 20kg. So another torture carrying the box back to the house, up to the 3rd floor, throwing the main items into Mr. Pieps and hurrying to get on a train where I was supposed to spent almost 8hrs with very limited leg space, but happy to be sitting and travelling far away from it all. For 4 full days, yay!!!
I got to PP on Thursday evening, got to my bro’s and enjoyed a short chat with the family, who’s part was supposed to leave the following morning, arranging a meet-up with our cousin P. (actually my sister-in-law’s cousin) Friday morning for a short hike in the mountains. Just for you to know, most of the upper mountains paths (above the cottages), all the peaks and passes are closed for the season until mid-June, so you cannot do much hiking unless you’re a climber with a valid license or you hire a mountain guide and pay pretty thick sum of money for your ‘off-season adventure’.
My Friday trip started at 8AM when I got the train at DS, having realized that P., who was supposed to be already on it from the previous stop, was not there. Got a phone call that he’d missed the train and that we’d meet at Hrebienok after he would catch the first lift and I’d have come there on foot from SS. Fair enough, I started walking on my own, sweating like a pig already in the first half an hour of the trip. I take a rest at a snack bar at the top lift station, watching an middle-age man getting ready for his today’s hike (reminds me so much of my dad just a few years ago, just thinner and a bit better equipped) and two ladies joining him and setting off just a few moments before P. finally arrives and we set off, too.
Studeny potokWe meet the trio twice more on our way walking up Velka Studena dolina. The path towards Zbojnicka chata, our today’s target, is covered with snow from almost the very beginning, which I hadn’t actually thought we’d experience at this time of the year, given the sunny weather. There are rocky parts, but we’re enjoying the white beauty around us most of the time, especially when having a rest at Vareskove pleso, which is emerald green and the where the blocks of ice are cracked in some places, somewhere you can see only a thin layer of ice, the lake is soooo beautiful and calm that we spend almost 20minutes taking pictures, sunbathing and admiring the beauty. Not mentioning the gloriole around the sun that’s been guiding us since the beginning of our trip.
Vareskove plesoShort time after that we got to the mountain cottage. I changed the socks, enjoyed the sun, P. got a soup and we were just chatting when the older guy from the trio told us to go further with them to one of the peaks –
I saw you walking the path. I can say you are good hikers. You’d have no problem coming with us. But P.’s afraid. The paths are officially closed and if anybody caught us, we’d have to pay a fine. And besides, he’s got to be back in DS around 4PM. It’s 12AM soon and it will take at least two hours to get up on the peak... The guy tries to convince us a bit, but he says
OK, as you want, we’re having lunch and rest here now, if you’d like to come with us, just let me know. It’s a very tempting offer. Especially for me as I don’t have so much chance to enjoy such a gorgeous sunny weather while being in Tatry. And last year I was there in November, so no summits reached either, it was already off-season. But I’m afraid of the closed path, too, of course...
Mountains with an apparently experience guide (he’s said they’re locals, hiking all around the mountains all year long, enjoying skimo every weekend during winter, having reached the highest peaks several times over the years, but no boasting, giving the impression of a pretty normal and even modest guy that knows a lot, but can respect the mountains, as well, which I find as one of the vital characteristics of a good guide...) – that’s a temptation I cannot resist. So I decide to go with them for at least a while and P. agrees to enjoy the sun at the cottage, maybe to have a nap and wait for an hour and if I’m not back by then, he’d go back alone. Sweet friend he is, not getting angry when I leave him on our trip, prioritizing my own temptation to climb up a mountain over our “easy” arrangement.
So, just a few minutes after the noon, I accompany the trio walking up the snowfield in one of the valleys that go from the cottage towards the ridges in the background. We proceed very easily, having a rest from time to time, the ladies being a bit slower, me following the ‘guide’ in front. I love that he doesn't talk a lot, but he’s been showing me around, where he’s been ski mountaineering, which peak he’s been to alone, which with his wife (one of the ladies) etc. And he’s repeatedly expressing his amazement over the beautiful sunny day and how we've been lucky with the conditions. Such a joy is always a sign of an honest person. And several times, when his wife chooses a bit different path than him, he remarks that she’s chosen a better one and that she’s got very experienced over the years and he appreciates it. Which convinces me to proceed with them all the way to the top. Especially when there’s no network and I cannot let P. know I'm heading back so that he’d wait for me and not leave before I get back to the cottage.
We’re walking up the snowfield, than get to the rocks and crushed stone, find an old path on a grass field and we get to the ridge, just a few metres of a careful rock ‘climbing’ (more like goat-skipping) from the summit that is marked with a triangulation point. As we’re approaching the horizon, the guy tells me to close my eyes and follow only his voice for the last few metres. I do it and he leads me to the spot where I open my eyes and all of a sudden I can see breathtaking scenery of a cliff and a valley and the ridges and the other peaks, all covered with snow and lit by the sun... I shout out in surprise and joy as the burst of endorphins overflows my mind and soul. For in such moments I feel alive, I feel happy, I feel on the top of the world, no matter it is not the highest peak, it is not anywhere in a far-distant country... You don’t need to travel that far and reach that high to experience a moment of pure joy and happiness. My heart is lifted, I smile even more and when we’re heading over the rocks to the ‘summit’ spot, I get this feeling again that if you want, you simply
can. Whatever you focus on and wish for with a pure heart.
view on the west ridgeVelka studena dolinaWe have a rest up there, the guide renews his vow to the mountain by re-drawing his personal mark on the triangulation point, drinks a can of beer (which we eventually share) and the older lady makes a short ‘admission ritual’ on the younger one, which I get to know is her high school student and has just reached her first proper summit (the teacher apparently offers these ‘guided hikes’ with her husband to her students regularly and this time it was an exception that only one joined). We have a snack, take loads of pictures and enjoy the views for a decent while before we set off on the way back. Which is even more ‘adventurous’ as we use plastic bags or rain-coats to slide down some of the snowfields. It gets us back much quicker, of course. My hiking boots are totally soaked, but never mind that, we’re sliding even some more places as proceeding down the valley from the cottage, and we’re all very grateful for such a beautiful day that we have had. And that is one of the things I like most about this whole trip. That I can feel that even these experienced mountaineers (although they are no profs or experts) take none of the moments in the mountains for granted and they are not afraid to express the gratitude to the God or nature or whatever you believe is there that exceeds us and gives us the opportunity to walk our paths forward, experiencing the feelings of joy when connected with nature, feeling so close to heaven and finding the eternity for a few moments.
When we get back, I even manage to pick up my niece finishing her working day and we all share a beer in a small pub near the railway station and we meet also P. who’s got done with his business that made him head back earlier and we take the same train. We even find out that the ‘guide’ used to teach my niece at university a while, too. Well, world is small, especially here in the High Tatras :)
No comments:
Post a Comment