Share This Article
Are you afraid of climbing, but would you like to enjoy views from one of the highest peaks of the High Tatras? So let’s go!
Mt Lomnický štít is a peak in the eastern part of the High Tatras, towering above the village of Tatranská Lomnica, from where one can take an aerial tramway to travel to the summit. The construction began in 1936 and the aerial tramway was officially opened 5 years later.
Nice weather on order… or not?
We are leaving a totally thick fog which covers the whole valleys of Hornádska kotlina and Popradská kotlina. After arriving in Tatranská Lomnica at 8:00 am, we wait for the cable cars to start so that we can travel to the second highest peak in the High Tatras – Mt Lomnický štít. It’s a beautiful spring day, sunny, no wind, we are enjoying the view of the majestic peak lit by the morning sun. It’s really great as it was raining at lower altitudes and snowing at higher altitudes before, it was foggy for a few consecutive days, but a change has been announced for today. We are looking up and hope that the flawless conditions will stay with us until we come back down. A cloud passes by from time to time, the inversion is moving so nothing is sure yet and the summit can disappear in white darkness anytime.
Lost in Skalnaté pleso?
The best is to buy cable car tickets via Gopass in advance. It’s not only cheaper but also safer. Especially in high season, they often sell like hotcakes.
We board an old chairlift at 8:30 am and change to a new spacious cable car at the Štart station soon after that. The higher we get, the thicker are the clouds around and the visibility gets worse and worse. After getting off in Skalnaté pleso, I can see literally nothing and although I have been here many times before, I have absolutely no idea where to go – up or down, to the left or to the right. I am racking my brains to remember where the building is. I know it should be somewhere to the right and a bit lower opposite the upper station so we start walking. But no matter where I turn, there is a big fat nothing everywhere around.
Only when we get to the building, do its outlines start to appear. Ouch, that doesn’t look good at all. While waiting for our aerial tramway to leave Skalnaté pleso for Mt Lomnický štít, we watch the webcams that show flawless conditions and sun on the summit. It’s almost hard to believe and I pray that it doesn’t change because the thick fog that surrounds the area of Skalnaté pleso can move up anytime and we will not see further than to the tips of our shoes. At 9:00 am precisely, we board a small cabin where a member of the staff is sitting with us.
We are getting up and hoping…
After a short while, we get out of the thick fog to enjoy a stunning view of the peak and the saddle with flawless spring skiing conditions and weather like on a postcard. When I turn around, I can see the best conditions that one can wish to have in the mountains. Everything below us is surrounded by thick inversion fog which seems to be endless and looks like a fluffy duvet. We are very happy and cannot wait to get off the cabin. The altitude is impressive, but passengers who don’t take heights very well might feel sick quite easily. After about 5 minutes, we get out of the cabin inside the station building and climb several steps up to the café there and leave it immediately. This is when we find ourselves on top of Mt Lomnický štít at the altitude of 2,634 metres.
We’ve made it!
Now we can finally relax, we have made it! It’s sunny, warm, there is thick fog below us as far as the eye can see, massive clouds are wandering around us, simply beautiful. We walk around a safe path and enjoy the views in every direction (I thought there was not so much space to move here and it was only about the legendary outlook platform). We feast our eyes on shrouded Skalnaté pleso, which peeps out once in a while, and on Lomnické sedlo, which looks so small (although when standing in Skalnaté pleso, the saddle makes a massive impression). Then we go further to admire Malá Studená dolina (valley) dominated by Téry’s chalet, which is together with frozen Päť Spišských plies (tarns) right below us. Behind Priečne sedlo (saddle), there is Veľká Studená dolina (valley) with Zbojnícka chalet, above which Mt Slavkovský štít is towering. And Mt Gerlachovský štít is in the background. We can even see Mt Babia hora in the Oravské Beskydy Mts.
We are enjoying a ringside seat to admire Mt Kráľova hoľa with a whole ridge, which continues with Orlová, Bartková meadows etc. On the opposite side, there is Mt Jahňací štít, a beautiful panorama of the Belianske Tatra Mts., three sharp peaks of Trzy Korony in the Pieniny Mts. We keep walking around and don’t know where to look first. I am very thankful for these flawless memories. As I usually say, it couldn’t be any better. We are alone on the summit and this makes the experience even more intense. We took the first cable car in the morning and the date was not very attractive (mid April), which allows us to experience the unique atmosphere of Mt Lomnický štít and have it to ourselves only for a while.
A physical-astronomical observatory of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and a weather station of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute are located on the summit. It’s the highest located workplace in Slovakia. We stay for 50 minutes on the top. Those who think it’s not enough can spend a night there. It must be truly unforgettable.
We have a coffee in the Dedo café, take a look at the photos depicting the aerial tramway and station construction and after our number is called out, we travel back down to Skalnaté pleso. The weather there is “luxurious” like before. We cannot see a thing, but the sky gets a bit clearer for a while and the peak with the saddle appears at least partially. We have been lucky because about one hour after our visit, the thick fog surrounds the summit too. Well, the mountains can be unpredictable.
As there is still a lot of snow, taking the cable car down is out of the question for me and I enjoy the last and perfect turns of the season with my skis at the same place where I started my ski season in December. 😊
This article has been created in cooperation with MTHIKER.sk.
Written by: Nely
