Poland: Rysy (10/28)

After a rash decision over lunch in Hungary, we decided to skip the Hungarian peak and head straight to the High Tatra mountains. These mountains are the location of the highest peaks of both Poland and Slovakia.

After making the decision, we then realised there was only a two day weather window before thunderstorms set in for a week. This put a spanner in the works as the Slovakian highest peak requires the accompaniment of a UIAA mountain guide. Obviously we had to book this, on ringing the guiding federation we discovered quite rightly, the office of mountain guides would only take a booking this close to the date in person. But not to worry their office hours were 13:00 to 18:00. We weren’t going to make it to the office that evening but we decided that if we could get an early start on the Polish peak we could be down in time to book our guide for the following day to climb the Slovakian peak.

With a new plan formulated we headed in the direction of Slovakia. As we avoided vignette motorways this turned out to be a very scenic journey and we were lucky enough to spot a couple of flocks of starlings murmurating. Also we are now back in Schengen which means lengthy border crossings are a thing of the past. Seamlessly crossing into Slovakia we headed for a camping spot which would be the start of the climb to Rysy the highest peak in Poland.

Here you may point out that we are in the wrong country, however Mount Rysy can be climbed from both Poland and Slovakia as the summit is effectively on the border. The parking logistics were a little easier on the Slovakian side and there is less walking on tarmac so we opted for this. Also it was closer to the mountain guide office.

We parked up, had some dinner and got an early night in preparation for our early start. I think this is the earliest we have every started a hike for a peak as we were away from the van at 05:50am. This is also the coldest it has been with the temperature around 5 degrees.

We headed up the tarmac track with a surprisingly large number of other hikers. Some of these seemed to split off at the end of the tarmac towards a lake and a hut whilst we turned left following the signs for Rysy summit.

Here we saw a sign in Slovakian with what looked like some sacks on wooden carrying frames. Later with Google’s help we translated this to mean carry a 5-10kg supply parcel to the Chata hut and receive a free refreshment.

The rocky path first wound its way through some pine forest before crossing a few streams. The pine trees soon gave way to short stubby pine bushes and eventually grasses, then lichen.

Climbing higher we got to see the impressive sharp ridge lines the High Tatras are famous for. On the path we overtook what looked to be someone carrying a wooden frame with a barrel of beer attached. I thought maybe this was a sponsored climb for charity. We saw another two men carrying huge heavy packs and concluded with the additional evidence of many hikers descending the path we were ascending that they must be restocking a hut further up the mountain.

The path became a little steeper and there were even sections protected by chains and metal ladders. Our suspicions were confirmed when we saw a wooden plaque welcoming us to Chata Pod Rysmi, the highest and oldest mountain hut in the High Tatras at 2250m.

This hut is only open in summer and after doing some research I can see why, the hut has been hit by avalanches 5 times since 1955, in 2000 half the cottage was demolished by an avalanche. This winter the boiler, railings and parts of the chimney were torn off despite a concrete protective shield deflecting most of the 8m high avalanche. 

I also read that the High Tatras employ Europe’s last porters, instead of the huts being supplied by helicopter as in the Alps or the Dolomites. Porters are paid to carry food fuel and most importantly beer to the remote mountain huts. The Chata Pod Rysmi employs six Sherpas between spring and autumn but many worry this trade could die out with advancements in technology.

I think we even walked past one of the most well known Sherpas in the region, Viktor Beranek who has been working as a Sherpa for over 40 years and is now in his 60s. In an interview he stated that its a hard job but he likes the lifestyle. The reporter quoted him as saying “The first time I tried Sherpa work, I walked 50 meters and thought, oh my god this is harder than I thought”. The porters are paid by the kilo an most carry around 90kg at a time.

Beranek has the nick name “King of the mountain” as his best carrying weight is 122 kg. They carry their loads on a birch wooden frames with wide canvas straps made from old fire hoses.

Beranek organised the first, of the now annual, Sherpa rally where competitors from around the world race carrying a load up the mountain (60kg for men 20kg for women). He has won it a number of years. He hopes the popularity of this race will help prevent the High Tatra sherpa trade from dying out.

After a quick break at the hut we had a little route finding difficulty. Eventually we worked out where the trail of people had come from and made our way across a snowy patch before reaching a ridge line. Here we got to see a brand new view of some of the northerly peaks. Following the ridge we had another route finding issue where we followed a little path directly along the ridge rather than the markers which ran lower along the slope. We soon found ourselves at a knife edge with a 400m drop on either side. Back tracking to the path we scrambled up the last section before reaching the summit just over the border in Poland at 2499m. Mount Rysy has three summits, the highest is actually on the Slovakian side at 2503m, but we were there for the highest peak in Poland!

In the past climbing to the Polish summit from Slovakia would have been illegal. Many mountaineers were fined for crossing the border not at an official crossing point. In 1999 an official border crossing was placed at Mount Rysy allowing mountaineers to reach the summit. Luckily for us however in 2007 both countries joined Schengen and we are free to hop across the border as many times as we wish.

We luckily had a cloud free summit and soaked up the views before getting someone to take a summit photo for us. At this point we realised we couldn’t remember which way up the Polish flag went. I guessed and we had our photo taken. They must not have been Polish or thought we were idiots as I got it wrong and we are holding the flag upside down. 

Well it was the right we up if we were on the highest peak in Indonesia! Luckily we had taken a couple of back up summit selfies with the flag in both orientations just in case.

It seemed like our early start had put us ahead of the crowds and we met a stream of people coming up as we made our way down. We made it back to the car in around 8 hours, paid our parking (after an angry note had been left on our car for not paying earlier) and reached the Slovakian mountain guides office only an hour after they opened.