Hiking in the High Tatras during winter has its charm.
The winter High Tatras are a paradise for skiing lovers, offering slopes of various difficulties, including the steepest and hardest ski slope in Slovakia, the Lomnické Sedlo saddle. But while your partner is enjoying this 1,240-metre ski slope located 2,190 metres above sea level just below the second highest peak in Slovakia, the 2,634-metre Lomnický Štít, you as a non-skier are not doomed to sit at the Panorama restaurant or Skalnatá Chata hut at Skalnaté Pleso mountain lake and sipping tea after tea, waiting for hours until they've had enough of skiing. When sufficiently equipped, you can set off for a winter endeavour and hike some local touristic trails. Under winter conditions, it is something completely different than during other times of the year.
Find out more about region of folklore, national parks and modern attractions in our Žilina Region Travel Guide. (source: Spectacular Slovakia)
This was also my case, when my friend, an enthusiastic skier, uncompromisingly got on the cable car to bring her to the top of the Lomnické Sedlo ski slope, leaving me at Skalnaté Pleso musing over how to spend the following few hours. People like me, colloquially called pešiaci (footmen in English) by the ski centre staff, were not even allowed to take the cable car up, relishing the vistas and returning to Skalnaté Pleso. But the sun was not warm enough to just sit outside while the weather forecast didn't promise any improvement, and I didn't want to sit inside for hours.
Hiking in the snow
I resolved to try the trail to Zamkovského Chata mountain hut. It was not far, about one hour and 15 minutes of mostly traverse hiking along the red Tatranská magistrála trail in summer conditions. I put on my micro-spikes, as the terrain already at Skalnaté Pleso was slippery, and headed off.
