High Tatras Mountains // Slovakia Part 1

"I like being near the top of a mountain. One can’t get lost here." ~Wislawa Szymborska

High Tatras, Slovakia

I would say, hands down, out of every trip we went on, Slovakia was the most life changing.

Away from the glamorous European cities, we found ourselves in the blood, sweat, and tears of the Tatras.

Raised by an outdoorsy family, I have grown up doing many long-distance hikes all over the East and West Coast. Living in Virginia and studying in North Carolina, my friends and I hike as much as possible. I will go to my grave saying hikers are some of my favorite people on this planet. It is amazing what man can accomplish when you give him a granola bar and the right type of shoes.

My friends Kyla, Brittney, and I joined AAU Hiking Club for the adventure! We had to fit everything for the 4 day weekend in one backpack. This included food, heavy snow gear, water bottles, and a hammock. The hike up to our cabin would be 3 hours once we got off the train, so we had to keep the bags as light as possible.

It must have been an interesting scene watching three college girls try to fit hiking gear into laptop backpacks.

The result: (After sitting on our bags to close the zippers and mushing the bananas inside)

Starting off the challenging weekend with our first big accomplishment!

We headed off to the train station and met up with the hiking crew! The nine of us introduced ourselves and jumped on the night train to Slovakia! These strangers would turn into friends over the next few days.

Sunrise as seen from a train window

Good morning mountains, I've missed you!

We jumped off the train and took a tram to the base of the Tatras. From there, we began our 3 hour ascent to the cabin.

Due to the incline, we had to take a few stops to stretch and hydrate.

My favorite was this "water break"

We were all wearing a majority of our cold weather gear, so before we hit snow hiking we were burning up!

Many of us ended up tying our winter jackets to the outside of our packs. In addition to carrying plastic bags with our breakfast food, we each had to carry a lot of extra weight up the mountain.

A few miles higher up, we came across another beautiful waterfall! We crossed a wooden bridge in front, and watched the mountain water fall all the way down the valley.

Conquered all of that distance on foot. (And occasionally on hands when the ice got slippery!)

Little did we know we would be on top of those cliffs the next morning!

And the snow jackets go on..

3 hours later we finished the icy paths to our cabin! During WW2, the owners used to hide Jews inside, as the cabin is nearly impossible to access in the winter.

The nine of us had the entire attic to ourselves, and I snagged a spot with an incredible window view!

In order to get food to the cabin, people have to hike from the town with coolers on their backs. We instantly felt lame complaining about our backpacks...

During the summers, there are competitions judging speed and weight!

These guys are the ultimate mountain men

Fox sighting!

We hung up our Eno hammocks after the long hike, and had great life chats till dinner!

After warm goulash in our bellies, we watched the sun set over the mountains!

Perfect end to our first day in the High Tatras.

Exhausted, we went to bed early so we could get an early start on our hike the next day.

The first day hike, and hardest, of the weekend. Cue intense theme music..

After a breakfast filled with peanut butter and Turkish coffee, we filled up our water bottles and headed off for the adventure.

It started out pretty manageable. The ice and snow took us a bit to get used to (Brittney and Kyla had never seen this much snow in their life) but at least the incline was gradual.

The trail was filled with lots of cheerful, yellow signs like the one below:

Things started to pick up once we reached the height of the clouds. We hiked in cold, windy, fog for the next few miles.

Thankfully, we had a dog sighting so it made it easier.

The sky started to peak through right as we reached the base of the cliffs.

Little did I know, we would be summiting the tops of those cliffs.

(Which were still covered in clouds at the moment)

We started our climb, without a single hiking stick.

I didn't take many pictures on the way up, mostly because I thought I was going to die, and didn't know the appropriate selfie to take in that situation.

For perspective, here are my feet. You can see a hiker on the incline below, as well as the river in the distance from the previous picture.

At this point, we were above the tree line, so the only breaks we could take were on the rocks.

Of course, some rocks looked safer than others.

After what seemed like 5 hours, we made it to the top of the cliffs. We all had moments where we cried in fear, where we bled on the rocks, and where our sweat stung our eyes. The view was so worth it, that I would do it all over again.

Find the river for perspective..

Stacks of wish stones, praying for a safe journey down.

In awe of God's creations.

Don't trip!

Who knew there were bars at the top of mountains?

Couldn't have done it without them!

At the summit, there was a small cabin where we bought hot chocolate and sought refuge from the cold.

We talked to the staff, and they said they switched off hiking up and living at the cabin for a week in order to keep it running. Slovakians are tough as nails!

Most rewarding cheers of my life so far

The downhill was about 50 times harder. The first hill down from the cabin we had to BODY SLED down. It was impossible to hike down such a snowy incline without sticks. We said some prayers and had friends catch us at the bottom.

That was child's play compared to the storm we faced on the way down. Fog, strong winds, and freezing rain met us on the descent.

Can't go over it, can't go under it, gotta go through it!

(Check out that trek down...)

Being on flat ground again brought us tears of joy. We hiked that slope to the left of me.

From a distance, I captured a photo of one of our friends who fell in a hole.

Once we were all back on flat(er) ground, we had a long hike back to the cabin. Thankfully, we all got back before sunset and had a huge dinner waiting for us at the cabin!

"Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory." ~ Ed Viesturs

Slovakian Bryndzové Pirohies for dinner!

Chocolate dumpling with cream for dessert!

"There are two kinds of climbers, those who climb because their heart sings when they’re in the mountains, and all the rest." ~ Alex Lowe