County Highpoints of the Kingdom of Hungary

... before 1920

Preface

This page is about history, mountaineering and mountains. I try to give you a summary about the golden age of the history of Hungarian mountaineering. And with a list of County Highpoints of Hungary as it was between 1886 and 1918/20 I want to show the inspiring environment that the friends of nature had at that time around. Please note that the contemporary Hungary is 3 times smaller than it was at that time – and most of the old good mountains are outside the borders of Hungary now.

Short History of Hungarian Mountaineering

The main focus of Hungarian mountaineering was on the High Tatras – as it was the most impressive and highest mountain of Hungary.

There are records from the 16th century about hikings to the High Tatras. In 1565 the wife of the captain of the Castle of Késmárk (called Kešmarok now) organized an excursion into the Tatras with a big companion. And the rector of the highschool of Késmárk regularly organized excursions for his students into the Tatras in the 1590s.

The first peak climbing in the High Tatras was already recorded in 1615. Unfortunately the name of the peak was not mentioned, but it had to be one of the most prominent peaks of the High Tatras.

Dániel Speer published his climbing of a peak of the High Tatras in 1655. The peak was very likely the Késmárki-csúcs (called Kežmarský štít now). Dániel Speer climbed the peak with a guide and with 4 other companions. The interesting thing is that the guide supplied them with the follwing gears: hiking boots, ropes, hookes with fixed rope on it, special walking sticks with increased fraction and other special gears. The guide received defined fee for these gears. The climbers could log their name on the peak on a pergamen roll beeing kept in a tin box. The climbers had to pay the defined fee also for the logging. All these in 1655! Perhaps it was here where these sophisticated methods were applied in the world for the firts time.

Sr. György Bucholz climbed the peak Nagyszalóki-csúcs (Slavkovský štít, 2452 m) with 11 companions in 1664. He also published the book about the High tatras, and this book was used in Universities abroad. This made the marketing of the mountain abroad. The first recorded climber coming from abroad was an Englishman in 1724.

Jakab Fábry climbed the second highest peak of Hungary – Lomnici-csúcs (called Lomnický štít now) was between 1760 and 1790. Actually at that time it was thought to be the highest peak!

János Lux - a local teacher in the village Felsőerdőfalva (called Stará Lesná now) climbed the peak Lomnici-csúcs in 1825 for the first time. Later he worked as a mountain guide and climbed the peak 98 times!

The highest peak of the High Tatras – and the highest peak of Hungary before 1919 - is the peak Gerlachfalvi-csúcs (Gerlachovský štít), 2655 m. For centuries the peak Lomnici-csúcs was thought to be the highest. It was scientifically measured and published only in 1839 that the peak Gerlachfalvi-csúcs is higher than the peak Gerlachfalvi-csúcs. The first climbers of this peak were János Still, János Gellhof and Márton Spitzkopf in 1834. They lived in the neighbouring cities: in Alsóerdőfalva (Nová Lesná), in Felka (Veľká) and in Nagyszalók (Veľký Slavkov).

In 1865 György Rainer built the first tourist hut in the valley called Tarpataki-völgy (called Studená dolina now). Dávid Husz built a tourist hotel with 24 rooms in the nearby city Poprád (called Poprad now). Szentiványi József built the first tourist hut at the lake Csorba-tó (called Štrbské pleso now).

In 1873 the first Hungarian mountaineering club was founded, as a response to the increasing interest in this activity. Mountaineering life was very active with excellent results until World War I.

The war and the consequent collapse of the Hungarian state in 1918 and the peace treaty drawing new borders in 1920 created an absolutely new environment with huge limitations for Hungarian mountaineers. Recovery from this shock is another story...

List of County Highpoints

The below listed administrative divisions - counties - were founded in the 11th and 12th centuries, and most of them existed with minor modifications until the end of WW I and many of them even after it and today.

In sequence of their altitude:

Help Needed

This list is not a copy-paste product from any "official" document but the result of my own study. If anybody can find incorrect data (potentially concerning the county highpoints lower than 300 m) or can give missing names of peaks in Hungarian or in other languages, I would welcome that

Peak baggers?

Who is the most efficient peak-bagger of these county highpoints?

I have no concerning data yet. Until I have no further info, I write about my record. I was already on the top of 41 of them. Names of these counties are highlighted on the above list. If anybody exceeded this number, please let me know and I will update this record with his name and results.