Alpine antics
Trip Start
May 01, 2007
1
65
80
Trip End
Ongoing
Zakopane,
Southern Poland,
Poland
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Saturday morning we rose nice and early (around 7am I think), and headed to the local store to get some mountain supplies before jumping on a bus to Lysa Polana, the start of our hiking trip. We had to wait a little while on the bus whilst the driver rounded up a full load. A common occurence in these parts I was told by Will.Our plan for the day was to hike half way to Morskie Oko, before turning off and continuing through the Roztoki Valley. We would then have a short but steep 300m climb to the Valley of five Polish Ponds (Dolina pieciu stawow polskich), where we planned on spending the night in the highest mountain lodge in the country, at 1670m. I was very excited as this was the highest I've ever been on foot.
The weather was ok, a little overcast but not windy or too cold. Plenty of snow was about of course. The first leg was a long an old road which had become incredibly icy. This was the main path to Morskie Oko, and one used by the sleighs pulled by horses.
01 - Me at the start of our adventure
This made the road in some places a mix of icy horses shit and piss. Not too pleasant to say the least. Before long we turned off the road (on which the view towards Morskie were becoming great), and heeded the avalanche warning sign. We headed up through the forest for a bit and the along the path through the beautiful Roztoki Valley. The snow was getting deeper and deeper the longer we went. I was amazed to see the areas in which an avalanche had a occurred in the past. Basically a channel through the forest leading up to the snowy mountains above. This was something I had never seen before. Before long we nearly at the head of the valley with only a steep 300m climb up to the lodge remaining for the day. We had a short bite to eat before trudging up knee deep through the snow to the lodge. It was a tough hour but we made it fine. Unlike the Polish mother and daughter just ahead of us! Full-on arguments on the mountains are not cool. I had gaiters but no crampons and no poles. All other hikers seemed to have both, but we made it just the same. Tough Tasmanians we were!At the top we were greeted with superb views right across The Valley of the Five Polish Ponds (which were iced over and just looked like flat snowy plains). We stopped at the lodge for some food before making the most of our daylight and heading as far up the valley we could. We made to a nice rock at about 1800m, which marked the highest I've been on foot. We had a wee rest at this lovely rock enjoying the views own into the valley, and I also managed to disprove the snowball effect! We decided to head back down to the lodge, where we settled in with a pint of Zywiec and a couple of games of cards.
02 - Mlynarz
I was tired, but looking foward to the next day.The next morning the weather was glorious. Quite a bit more snow had been dumped overnight and the the sun was shining through the crystal blue sky. This made for great photo opportunities! It was also nice to be so isolated and alone up in the mountains. It was so quiet!
We had aig breakfeast and stocked up on drink before heading back down the valley to the road were turned off the day before. Unfortunately due to the snow cover the direct ruote to Morskie Oko was closed so we had to back track a bit. Nevermind, it was glorious all the way! So we had a pretty uneventful trudge through the snow back to the road, where we turned right this time and head for Morskie Oko, about 2 hours away. As we got closer to Morskie, the views of the surrounding mountains became stunning, especially with the weather being so nice. We made to Morskie around lunch, had had some delicious placki and eggs whilst enjoying the views over the frozen lake. Morskie Oko is a stunning lake surrounded by huge alpine mountains, but on this day, the lake was covered with thick ice. We could have stayed there all day, however we had more travelling to do! We had already walked 22km over the last two days, and had another 9 to go before the end. So we took some nice snaps, agreed it was an absolutely stunning spot and headed back to Lysa Polana.
The remainder of the day was spent waiting for the bus at Lysa Polana, showering (much needed) at the hostel at Zakopane, waiting for the bus to Krakow, and then the long journey back to Krakow, which seemed to take forever. It was good to sit down however after such a busy weekend.
We checked into a cool hostel in Krakow, and went out for a bite to eat - Georgian style, which was delicious. Sadly the end of my trip ended with frustration as whilst away my bank had blocked my ATM card and I could not longer withdraw money. Will was good enough to lend me some to get me back to Glasgow.
So thats my trip to Poland. The couple of days hiking in the Tatras were probably the best I've done, and staying the mountain lodge was a magnificent experience. The mountains are beautiful and I can definitely see why Will goes there so often.
