Rysy

Introduction to Rysy

My first day in the Tatra Mountains that I can actually remember. I have been here before but I was to young to recall the experience. My parents can only tell me that story now. This story, though, I can tell you. It is about me and my best two days that have ever happened to me so far. All the mountains in America are safe and easy, especially those for regular tourists. Here is the Tatra's you can actually climb/hike a really hard mountain with no fee's and permission. For me it was paradise, an actual hard mountain that I do not need any equipment for, Rysy.

Morning

It was a cloudy and dark early morning. The sun was not up and we had woken up in the heart of the Tatra Mountains. I was very tried, especially from sitting in the car all day and not exactly prepared for what I was up against. More than 20 miles of hiking first through a very long road up to a restaurant then the rest would be a thin trail of hard hiking and then a lot of steep scrabbling and rock climbing.

Trail Start and Lakes

The first park of the hike took us along a concrete road where carriages pulled by horses went up and down to gather people for an easier ride to the restaurant/lake. We did not, we decided that this hike would be by foot only. Thousands of people would hike or carriage-ride to Morskie Oko (Eye of the Sea) that day. Though only a smaller amount of people actually decided to climb the summit. Once at Morskie Oko near the restaurant we start our way up to the other lake. The next lake that we have to hike up to Czarny Staw (Black Pond). It is really amazing that from the other side of the lake you can hear people's conversations clearly for how far away they are.

Hike up

Now that we have passed both the lake it is time for the steep hike up. It is only a long rocky trail until you reach the first chains. It was very foggy so there were no views. Only at a few moments did the clouds go away and the magnificent views appeared to us to amaze us, then the fog came again. Climbing at a steep angle and hanging off of chains was new to me, and a little bit challenging at first. My dad has been on these type of mountains before so he told/showed me what to do. I got the hang of it, good thing too because tomorrow I will be climbing Orla Perc, a much harder mountain.

Summit

The summit was not very amazing. The clouds obscured the views, and all there was on the top were a lot of tourist and a white pole with a red stripe. Anyway, I was on the highest peak in Poland that day, I felt really proud. With still plenty of time left over since we woke up so earl my dad, brother, and I decided to step into the Slovakian side just for fun. We did, on the misted rocks. Once we were done with that "fun" we started to descend down.

Descend

The descend was a little bit harder since you had to go backwards with your chest to the rock. It was troubling at first to get the hang of this "going backwards down a mountain" thing, but as always my dad showed me how to do it. So we climbed down and finally reached the upper lake, Czarny Staw again. This is not a loop trail from the side we were coming from so there really is nothing more for me to tell. It was an amazing hike with really cool chains to hang off of, a hike I will forever remember. If you are just a beginner climber and do not have any equipment yet, this is what I would highly recommend if you are ever in the area. Thanks for reading!

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