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.

Slovakia: Gerlachovský štít (11/28)

With an early start we’d made it back down in time to visit the local mountain guide office. Slovakia is unique, within the set of mountains we’re trying to climb, as it requires you to hire a guide to summit it’s highest peak — Gerlachovský štít.

We eventually located the office, and the lady at reception started ringing round to try and find us a guide. We also chatted to her about the provisions in the regulations that allow you to climb without a guide (if you’re members of a UIAA affiliated club, and climbing one of the harder routes), she commented that we ‘didn’t look like real climbers’, and continued to try and find a guide for us. 

We were hoping to arrange one for the next day as the weather was deteriorating throughout the week. She couldn’t find one for the next day, but managed to organise one for the day after. This was probably for the best, as it gave us a day’s rest between mountains.

We spent the day in the ski lift car park; which was much better than it sounds. Quiet and with clear mountain views and the occasional deer roaming around. We caught up on writing our blog posts and editing some photos.

The next morning we were up early to have a quick breakfast before driving to meet our guide at 5:30am. Amongst other groups of people, milling around, we found our guide, and jumped in the back of his land rover for a lift to the start of the route. 

By packing our own helmets and harnesses our guide determined that we were real enough climbers to take the harder scrambling route to the summit. We both readily agreed, and it was a great decision, we only saw one other group on our ascent.

Leaving the path we crossed a boulder field, before scrambling up to the base of a Gulley. Here we donned our helmets and harnesses, and our guide led off. A short section of tricky moves, helped with a few fixed aids, gave way to less technical, but steep ground to the ridge at the col. From here we scrambled across an exposed ridge to the summit.

At the top we met a number of other groups who’d come up the other way, stopped to have our photo taken at the top, and had some lunch — even though it was only 10am. Then we descended of the other side of the ridge, down a well trodden gully to reach a small plateau with a perched lake at the far end. We followed the path back, traversing round before descending back down to the hut where we started.

We celebrated with a non-alcoholic Raddler while waiting for the other groups to arrive back, before catching a lift back down to the van.

The next morning we headed toward Hungary, but not before stopping at Dobšinská Ice Cave. An impressive cave, which was quickly turned into a tourist attraction after its discovery in the 1880s. It was also used as an ice rink when the USSR had power shortages and couldn’t afford to create ice rinks in more convenient locations! Unfortunately there were no English tours so we had to make do by eavesdropping on someone else translating for their friends.

So with two peaks done in quick succession we headed back to Hungary.

Hungary: Kékes (12/28)

We had actually already driven through Hungary but made a snap decision to climb the Polish and Slovakian peaks first in order to hit a good weather window.

On our first pass through Hungary we stopped at Miskolctapolca cave bath. I had read good reviews about this and was under the impression this was a hydrothermal pool/spa in a cave. However, when we arrived it looked rather more like a kid’s pool party, I'm not sure how much of the cave was actually real but I don't think I would recommend it to anyone else. Although apparently people make a trip from Budapest just to visit it. However it served a showering purpose and we headed on to Slovakia.

After completing the Slovakian and Polish peaks we drove back into Hungary and headed for a campsite in Eger, mainly to use a shower, but also to visit a wine region known as "The Valley of the Beautiful Women". Here, cellars carved into the soft rhyolite rock, serve wine supplied from the surrounding vineyards.

Apparently these artificial caves are an ideal temperature for storing wine and the mold which grows on the internal walls adds to the taste. Luckily our campsite, which was only £10 a night, was only a 5min walk from the cellars, bargain! Unfortunately just as we headed out it started to rain so we made a dash to the nearest cellar. Wine tasting in Hungary doesn't seem to work the same way as it does in South Africa. Instead of paying for a tasting you just seem to pick a wine from a list and buy a glass. This is OK as it worked out as 42p per glass. We chose a sweet red which was a little tangy then headed onto the next cellar.

Here we tried two more local wines but unfortunately not the famous "bull’s blood". We decided three was enough and headed back to the campsite. Apparently we haven't mastered the Hungarian word for 'thank you' as the waitress laughed at our attempts. We made a quick stop for ice-cream which turned out to be more expensive than all the wine but still quite cheap.

The next morning, after we did some van chores, we headed for the highest peak. You can basically drive to the top and after a couple of hundred metres walk we were at 1014m.

There is also a tower which you can pay to climb to the viewing deck. We decided to also do this and admired the flat scenery of Hungary.

After another ice-cream we headed back to the car and drove towards Lake Batalon. We were there in time to sit by the lake and watch the sunset whilst some ducks floated by.

The next morning we left early to avoid paying for parking and visited the Tapolca lake cave which was in the direction of Slovenia. Again there was no English tour, but it seemed to be very comprehensive. We were wondering why the tour seemed confined to the visitor center for the first hour but soon realised that the actual section of the cave above water is very minimal.

The cave was discovered in 1870 and was quickly explored by cave divers pictured wearing only speedos and rudimentary breathing apparatus. The exploration continues today with underwater digging to try and connect two areas of the cave.

Eventually we entered the actual cave and after a few flights of steps we reached the queue for the tin boats. The most exciting bit of the tour is paddling a short circuit of cave with a low roof. I thought this was very fun and novel. I was also pleased that the boat man let us go for a second circuit. The water was lovely and clear and I can see why people were keen to cave dive in it, apparently some underwater areas are also fed by hydrothermal springs which may explain the speedos..

After the tour we headed back to the car and in the direction of Slovenia for the next peak.

Slovenia: Triglav (13/28)

Our visit to Slovenia was ever so slightly premature. We’d been planning to drive from Hungary to Austria and then down into Slovenia (to avoid paying for an expensive Slovenian vignette). However we arrived at a border crossing only to discover it was the Slovenian rather than Austrian border! We’re not really sure where we went wrong but obviously at some point we’d taken a wrong turn. Keen to avoid paying €30 for the vignette we cut across the corner of Slovenia, avoiding the motorways, and back onto our original route in Austria.

Crossing back into Slovenia, for the second time, we parked for the night at an excellent little camper van car park provided by the town which offered free water & electricity. The next morning we sorted out some supplies and headed to Triglav National Park. We’d previously climbed Triglav in 2017, and so decided to use a different route this time. We parked the van at the end of the tarmac, thinking we weren’t allowed to drive on the gravel tracks, and then promptly walked past two car parks where we could have left the van much closer to the start of the footpath.

Taking the path, we traversed the hillside climbing consistently but not too steeply. The sodden ground from yesterday’s rain making the air thick and humid, as it was heated by the midday sun. A short, steep section took as to a saddle where we stopped for some lunch.

After our break we continued on to the hut, admiring the dramatic scenery, even if it was slightly obscured by swirling cloud.

That evening, over a hearty serving of goulash, we chatted to a couple of Dutch lads who were driving to Croatia in their van. They hadn’t had any time to do any conversion on theirs so when they wanted to sit outside, they were unbolting the back seats and taking them outside.

The next morning we were up early, keen to make full use of the clear morning air and have a cloud-free summit.

We took the path, and then climbed steeply up to a second hut, perched on the edge of a plateau 400m below the main summit. A helicopter, which had been buzzing overhead, then proceeded to skilfully land and drop off two people. This was for the resupply of the hut. As we continued on our route, we watched it a couple more times, hover overhead with the people on the ground guiding the cargo net down and un-hooking it, before they were picked up again after the final drop.

We’d reached the via ferrata and climbed up onto the summit ridge. We then joined the other path coming from a different hut, and followed the crowds to the top.

After a spot of lunch with a panoramic view, we headed back along the ridge, taking a slightly different route back down to the hut we’d stayed at the night before.

We’d originally booked a second night here, but as we were feeling fit we decided to carry on down and save the money. So now retracing our steps from the previous day we headed back to the van.

With limited camping locations around the national park we headed back to where we’d stayed two nights previously. Feeling sweaty from our two day excursion we rushed to the public swimming pool, 20 minutes before closing, for a quick shower. Famished from our walk we treated ourselves to two gigantic pizza’s and cold beers for dinner.

The next day we visited some lakes. The first, Lake Bohinj in Triglav National Park. A beautiful, clear lake with steep sided mountains in the background. We took a couple of swims to cool off.

The second we visited was Lake Jasna. After paddling across the freezing, glacial stream to get to the beach we both decided we definitely weren’t going in this one. Instead we sat and read our books in the shade by the cool water before continuing our journey to Austria.

Austria: Großglockner (14/28)

We’ve actually been in and out of Austria and Slovenia a number of times over the last few weeks. However, we left Slovenia for the last time and crossed the mountains into Austria, after a few hours drive found a nice lake, parked up and settled in for the evening. 

We had a few sundowners and another GB camper turned up. These guys are spending six months travelling around Europe in their VW Transporter. It turns out we are basically doing opposite routes so we swapped recommendations and advice for our upcoming countries. We had a little van envy as they had a pop top, an insect net — which covered their side door — and some USB powered fans, which we really could have done with that night.

We wanted to have a couple of rest days, after completing four peaks in the previous week, and before attempting our highest peak to date in Austria. So we did what seems to be a traditional Austrian summer holiday activity and headed to a Lido at Worthersee. But after our beach day was shortened by a thunderstorm we headed in the direction of the mountains.

We found a spot which happened to be near some sort of woodland story trail. After a pleasant cool night’s sleep we were rudely awakened by a hornet flying in through the window, luckily Olly kept calm, and caught it in a mug. Now fully awake we went for an explore in the woods. Conveniently amongst the odd wooden carvings and the mini water wheels there was a compositing toilet, winner!

The weather was looking a little unsettled for the following few days and we had read that Großglockner is very popular so its best to avoid climbing over the weekend. To kill time we headed for Falkertsee which is a small lake in the Biosparenpark Nockberge. Near the lake are a couple of via ferratta routes. We decided to try and squeeze in one before the forecast afternoon thunderstorms. We opted for the harder grade D route which turns out is the hardest via ferrata I have ever done. I have always thought I would be OK with via ferrata as one can hand over hand climb the cable in a worst case scenario. It turns out this route was the worst case scenario, there were very limited holds for hands or feet so we had to haul ourselves up the mostly vertical sometimes over-hanging cable for 200+ vertical meters.

They say you should do something everyday that scares you and I think this covers me for at least a week. Olly was very patient waiting for me to work up the courage to continue with each section and to rest my arms every 10 meters.

After we escaped this horrendous pull-up torture we walked up to the summit of Falkert, ate our lunch, and walked back through the valley. I had another fright when I narrowly missed treading on a snake which was crossing the path.

The following day we started our Großglockner preparations which included scouring the area for an outdoor gear shop which sold ice-screws. Eventually, three shops and an hour drive later we found some and bought the last two in the shop. We then headed for a camping stop near to Großglockner. It had been pouring down with rain all day but luckily our spot had a small shelter in the forest with a large table which we could use for gear sorting and packing.

Also included in our preparations was a YouTube refresher of how to wear mountaineering rope coils and Olly teaching me the basics of crevasse rescue. This would be the most technical climb we have done this trip and possibly ever without a guide.

The following morning after waiting for the rain to stop we headed up the Großglockner normal route. The route starts simply enough with a slog up a gravel path to the Studl Hutte at 2802m (this is where most people meet their guide). Though it had stopped raining the visibility was still pretty poor. This actually worked to our advantage in multiple ways, firstly we couldn’t see how imposing the glacier walk was and secondly it was much cooler walking in overcast conditions.

We roped up for the glacier following the well worn tracks in the snow, we had a quick stop off to practice placing our new shiny ice screws before continuing the exhausting snow plod. Finally we reached the cliff which had some sections of via ferratta. 

These weren’t too technical, but were steep. We are still getting used to being roped together and I think this can be an argument generator. Eventually after a gruelling 1525m of ascent we reached the Erzurum Johann Hutte at 3454m which is the highest mountain hut in Austria.

We chilled out for a few hours before a three course dinner and an early bed-time. Breakfast started at 05:30am so most people were in bed by 9pm. Annoyingly not everyone shared this idea as someone insisted on turning on the light and talking loudly at 10pm. The same person turned the light on at 5am so Olly missed his 15 minute lie-in.

Breakfast was a little sparse, but quick and we were out the door before 06:00. It was actually better to be behind the guided groups as they are always very fast. We headed up another two snow slopes which were definitely steeper and more imposing than the glacier crossing. Next we reached a rock wall with some via ferrata cable. This was actually quite tricky and because you are stepping from ice to rock you have to climb the first section whilst still wearing crampons.

Here our major rope faff began, it was very tricky to work out how much rope to have out and how far to climb between belay points. The guides all short rope their clients (have a short amount of rope and lead them like a pet) which definitely reduces the faff, but this doesn’t really work for our abilities.

Eventually we made it onto the main ridge which is impressive in terms of its exposure and views. We now had the hang of how much rope we wanted out but the next challenge was contending with groups coming back along the ridge and guides pushing their clients past us. Along the ridge are a series of metal poles fixed into the rock which everyone uses as simple belay points. This makes passing people particularly awkward as you keep having to untangle your ropes from the other groups using the same pole.

After a series of scrambles and untangles we made it to the summit at 3798m. The views were amazing and well worth the effort to get there. We then repeated the same faff to get back along the ridge and down to the top hut. There was now a clear view of the whole the glacier, after a few snacks we headed back down the via ferrata, across the glacier and back to the Studl Hutte.

The plan was to stay a night here to break the decent but we both decided we would rather walk another 2.5 hours downhill and get a good nights sleep in our van. We opted for lunch at the hut, but bamboozled by the German menus and having been up since 5am we ended up with some rather expensive but very tasty pasta.

With some rain clouds approaching we made our way down the final section of path, and were lucky enough to see a whole heard of chamois with huge horns as well as a marmot.

We made it back before the rain and had a very sound nights sleep. This was definitely the most challenging peak we have done, partly due to the grade II climbing on the ridge and the winter skills required for glacier crossing and walking up steep ice slopes, but mainly due to having to deal with a lot of other people. Quoting Olly “This was probably the most stressful day of my life”. Which is because he felt responsible for my safety. Personally I was less stressed than on the awful via ferrata earlier in the week.

The next day we headed to Germany & Switzerland (details in future blog posts), but a week or so later we were back in Austria on our way to Czechia. We made a stop off near Innsbruck for the Klettersteig Stuibenfall on recommendation from our friends Cat and Adam. This is a via ferrata route which runs up the side of the largest waterfall in Tyrol. This is a easy-moderate via ferrata but includes fun things like a wire bridge across the top of the waterfall. After arriving at the top of the waterfall you return to the bottom by a series of metal staircases which must have been a feat on engineering to install.

Our final adventure in Austria was to visit Schwartzmooskogel Eishohle, an ice cave on the Loser plateau. This area has been explored by the Cambridge University Caving Club for over 40 years. We have never attended this expedition but many of our caving friends have. With our access arranged with CUCC we headed up to the plateau with a GPS point of the cave and a set of instructions to locate it. 

However fate was kind to us, the German caving expedition which normally runs alongside the Cambridge one were camped out in the car park and a group of cavers were planning to explore a cave very close to the one we intended to visit. They very kindly showed us the way. I had forgotten how tiring it is to walk along limestone pavement. There are many clints and grykes (fissures and ridges) that one has to hop over. The German cavers had been crossing this area for days and so I had trouble keeping up. The route was pretty tricky, butwe definitely saved many difficult hours of wandering around trying to find the cave by following them.

This cave is different to most we explore as it is an “ice cave”. The name translates as ‘snow volcano’. Once we climbed down the snow slope in the entrance we entered a huge chamber which had an ice covered floor. At one edge was an enormous snow slope leading to another entrance which must have been 30 meters high. This is where the cave gets its name as this snow mountain looks very much the same shape as a volcano.

The cave has a series of ice formations which change shape every year, partially melting in the summer and reforming over winter. Some of these were 10 meters high and we spent some time wandering around the huge chamber having a look around and attempting to take some photos.

This is the first time we have used flash guns and we are pretty happy with the results. After a couple of hours we returned to the surface to have some lunch and find our way back to the car park. That evening we enjoyed a beer and a chat with the German caving group before we headed to Czechia the next morning.