Going to Bratislava for Christmas with the in-laws opened up an opportunity for some ice climbing in the Tatras. Located along the Polish border, the mountain range itself is only about 25km long and 6km wide but presents a pretty dramatic image.
While my wife hung out with the family in their winter cottage outside of Martin, I hopped a train to the tourist town of Stary Smokevec located at the base of the High Tatras, then rode the tram to Hrebienok--a small kiosk that marks a ski area. Although I only know enough Slovak to order a beer and get my face slapped, I was able to arrive at the trailhead without too much trouble. My wife and the in-laws were initially concerned about me heading in the mountains by myself but I quickly discovered the trails were clearly marked and well traveled. I headed up the route leading to Zbojnicka Chata (Hut) with The Supersuckers blasting away in my headphones. There are several huts along the Tatras and I was supopsed to meet Jaro Michalko--a guide--at the Zbojnicka hut. Jaro's a cool guy, speaks english fairly well and is UIAGM certified. I had climbed with him the summer before when we summitted Gerlach with my 58 year old father in-law, who had never done any climbing whatsoever. Right off the couch. What a badass!
Along the way, the weather was variable but I was still able to see this gem before the clouds closed in and everything turned to shit:
The last 3km or so were rough as I was heading into a headwind that at times blasted my headphones off and sent me scurrying for cover behind a boulder. Anyhow I made the hut, relaxed for some tea and spread my clothes by the fire to dry out whilst I waited for Jaro. The hut sleeps about 16 people at a cost of about $16 USD including a healthy dinner and breakfast. It was full and I found the language barrier to be a big impediment socially except for a few czechs who spoke english and a romanian who I talked to later who held an impressive command of climbing slang ("dude, that guy's gonna be pumped or take a whipper if he doesn't flash that vertical"). In the end I just drank a few beers and read before going to sleep.
As it turned out, Jaro didn't show up until 9:30 p.m. and I was already crashed hard. He woke me up and we discussed the weather problems and my expectations of what I hoped to climb. We concluded that we'd wake up at 7 and re-assess the situation. The next morning was not a whole lot better but finally opened up a bit around 9 when we were able to see there really wasn't a lot of ice 'in' at the time. He lead me around the valley trying to locate some climbable ice before we threw in the towel and started packing back down the trail for Hrebienok. When we got to the gem shown above we were sweating like pigs due to a dramatic rise in temps. As we approached the base, we saw someone else already on it: a couple of Czechs I had talked with the night before.
The leader fell shortly after this pic was taken. I learned afterwards that they were using Irbis screws!! Turns out that most people in central Europe climb on them with little concern. I had a couple of turbo express screws that Jaro used as he lead out--he wouldn't let me lead since he wasn't sure of my abilities and quite frankly I didn't mind so much after watching that Czech take a whipper. He finished the lead but I almost barfed when he fell. It was a WI 3+ that was about 55m tall with bolted anchors at the top. We made short work of it with the only real challenges being the short vertical section and the deluge flooding over us as we ascended--it was quickly melting out as we climbed it and you could hear the roar of water from behind the ice. By 11 a.m. I was drinking beer and Jaro was quaffing a foul concoction consisting of a small glass of warm, spiced wine with a shot of rum in it.
This is a shot from farther away of the same waterfall after we climbed it:
There are tons of potential flows all along the valley but the weather just wasn't cooperating. I later saw pictures of over 20 different ice flows along that valley alone that come in under better conditions. The best time to go is in late January/early February. Although I only climbed one it was an enjoyable outing in a beautiful place and I highly recommend it.
