Day #6 – The Malá Fatra – Saddled between the Rozsuteces
Štrvtok (Thursday), 24. augusta 2017-- (excerpts from
my journal The Pressburg Diaries,
vol V and a separate travel diary)
Well, I think today we’ll try what we didn’t do
yesterday—to ascend Malý Rozsutec. The Fog Fairy finally decided to leave and
let the sun take over. We left our pension about 9:30-ish and started hiking up
the yellow trail to Sedlo Vrchpodžiar. I bought two stickers—the very first—for
the brand new Turistický Denník (Tourist Diary sticker book) I bought yesterday
in Terchová. This is a clever way of keeping track of all the places you visit.
Better than postcards, you not only have a small picture of the location, but
some information about it as well. Plus, there’s space to write your own notes
and comments.
Now, fast forward to 14:43 (2:43 pm). We’re at Medziholie,
at the bottom of the trail to Veľký Rozsutec, and we changed our original
hiking plan. Looking back and up to this point, the hike so far was a total of
11.5 kilometers, 800 meters of which was up and then 800 meters back down. Then
came the really hard part. We climbed up the famed Jánošikove Diery, or
Janošik’s Gorge, which is essentially a unique system of waterfalls and deep crevices
in the rocky mountainside, formed by the Dier Stream. It was a strenuous hike
up, some of it on metal ladders and more chains over rushing water and sharp
drops into crevices and mountain streams. It was extremely slippery, and I had
to concentrate on my footing. It was also wet and muddy in a number of places. I
stopped to fold up and put away my metal walking stick, since I would need both
hands to navigate the ladder.
Ladders and chains. Again.
It didn’t help that it was crowded. After all, we were
in the high tourist season. There were numerous Czech and—you guessed it—Polish
hikers. Many of them were confident and felt the need to sprint up the ladders.
I was trying to take it easy and so I felt rushed in a number of places with
the numbers of “speed hikers”. At one point, the ladder lead to a large, flat
rock that served as a sort of landing, like at the top of a flight of stairs.
Here, I was able to “pull over” and let the Poles and Czechs pass me. To my
frustration, I discovered that I hadn’t secured the telescopic walking stick
shut, and the inner part of the metal tube had slipped out and fallen down into
the rushing stream someplace. There was no chance of recovering it. I couldn’t
even see it from the height of the ladder above the gorge below, which was as
much as perhaps ten meters (32.8 feet) in some places. I wasn’t even aware I’d
lost it until I stopped to check it. The rungs of the ladder were also narrow,
and although I have size 43 (9 ½ US) feet, I had a hard time securing my
footing on the steep and slippery ladder. I tried not to look down and just
kept focusing on reaching the top.
When the last of the Polish entourage had passed me
and the next group of hikers were still several meters below me on the lower
half of the ladder, I left the security of the landing and cautiously started
up the last half of the ladder. There was no turning back. Hiking traffic goes
in one direction and the only choice was to keep moving forward. I was
breathing hard and fast, not even aware I was doing so. My hands were muddy
from placing them on the rungs above me to brace myself. I must have looked
like a beetle, slightly hunched over and trying to hold on anywhere I could. I
was relieved when we reached the top and the trail went off into woods. I
stopped to gather what was left of myself and make a few notes.
We have covered as such the following:
Štefanová ---> Sedlo Vrchpodžiar
S. Vrchpodžiar
---> Podžiar (beginning of the blue trail)
Podžiar --->
Pod Palenicou (green trail)
P. Palenicou
---> Pod Taněčnicou
P. Taněčnicou
---> Sedlo Medzirozsutce
(Pod means
‘below’ and sedlo means ‘saddle’, or
that gap between two mountain peaks.)
We met a Slovak couple at Podžiar and together we opted for the green trail up because it was a bit easier. Like me, the guy was sick and tired of ladders and chains. I was glad I wasn’t the only one. By the time we got to Pod Palenicou—where a number of people were camped on the grass in an open meadow, I was already fatigued. I was in no shape at this point to tackle the final 10-minute (or so the guidebook said—never trust the book, right?) hike up the red trail to the summit of Malý Rozsutec. We decided to rest in the meadow and enjoyed the warmth of the sun there. I started to recalculate the trail we’d take from here. After about 45 minutes, Zuza decided that she would like to hike that last, really steep part. OK, and I’d stay here in the “saddle” between the two peaks and bask in the sun and wait for her to come back down. But by the time we walked the short distance to Pod Tanečnicou, where the red trail started, we realized that it was 20 minutes up, not ten (Ha! The guidebook was wrong!), or so the sign said. And then at least that many minutes back down, plus a few more to mull around at the top. So figure an hour, round trip. What was I going to do in the sedlo for an hour all by myself? I got out my camera and zeroed in on the summit of Malý Rozsutec. Through the zoom lens setting, I could see a steady stream of people inching their way up the steep red trail, like an army of ants on a mission. And there were ladders and chains. It looked it my estimation to be at least a 60° angle going up. Wow, it was steep! Yikes! So at that point, even Zuza decided to bag it and move on. Clearly this is a hike requiring at least some skill and experience. I realized, too, that I’m much better in biking than in hiking. I need to build up the endurance to tackle some of these mountain slopes that Slovaks find incredibly easy.
Resting between the two peaks
Hikers crawling up Malý Rozsutec
We sat saddled between the two mountains until we came up with a different plan. So now our newly
amended hiking path would include:
Sedlo Medzirozsutce ---> Sedlo Medziholie
S. Medziholie
---> Štefanová, via the koliba
at Pod Rozsutcom
We’ll have to calculate the total distance, but it
should be somewhere between 12 and 15 kilometers round trip.
So it was now 14:30 in the afternoon. From here, the junction of the red trail to the summit, we decided to take the long trail around the back (north) side of Veľký Rozsutec via Medziholie and take us up to 2 hours to get back. There was a shorter trail down, but much steeper. I didn’t want anymore steep anything in my regiment today. An 80 year-old woman was at the same junction, looking fit as a fiddle for her age. She was wiry, too. She only needed advice on which trail to take down. Zuza chatted with her a few minutes, and the woman went one way and we went the other.
Zuza and I glided down the long trail around the back of the larger of the two Rozsutec peaks. We encountered very few other hikers. We traipsed through woods and open meadows of fluffy, tall grass. Only in a few places were there some steep drops, but there were trees, thankfully, which would stop me from rolling too far. I didn’t fancy whacking my head against the trees, but I knew it might be a safer option than rolling down into some abyss. We talked about our college days and reminisced about the classes and lectures we remember.
The trail went on and on. We stopped occasionally to relieve ourselves, take a picture, or nibble on snacks. Eventually, we came to Sedlo Medziholie, right smack underneath Veľký Rozsutec. Right in front of us was the trail that we would have come down, had we done the summit at Malý Rozsutec and then come the way we had originally planned. There were a couple of other trails there which all seemed to meet. Again, there was a large, open meadow, and people here and there sprawled out on their jackets or blankets, soaking up the sun and the peace nature was offering.
View of Veľký Rozsutec from Sedlo Medziholie
Neither of us had quite anticipated the rigors of the first leg of the climb. Zuza has memories of her dad (then about 70—he passed away in January 2017 at 81) doing this hike. I regret I was tired and not in the best shape to tackle the challenge of this one. Perhaps in the future I’ll be better prepared. I also think a pair of gloves would be in order, to protect my hands when grappling rocks and trees. My hands are still sore after Monday’s challenge on Sokolie. The main casualty of today’s hike, however, was my telescopic walking stick. To start with, I’d left it behind in the shop at Sedlo Vrchpodžiar where I bought the stickers for my diary. The shop assistant came running out with it. Even on Sokolie I had visions of losing it. It was bound to happen sooner or later, I guess, and today was the day.
At 16:30, we ended up at Koliba pod
Rozsutcom and ordered a Kofola and an 11° Vŕšky. From there, it was just five
minutes to our pension, a hot shower and finally dinner.
"Back at the lodge". We had been on the opposite side of those two Rozsutec peaks