The hike to Téryho chata was the hardest I’ve faced yet. The vertical climb was treacherous through 3ft snow and 40mph winds…
Monika and I had the same plan as the last hike we completed to visit the Goulash Man. We would finish work and head out as soon after.
Juraj had also driven about five hours to meet us in Hrebienok.
It was snowing a little as we left Hrebienok, so I’d wrapped my backpack in a plastic bag. We knew there were some powerful winds that day too, but they weren’t so bad at Hrebienok.
We even had a rainbow.
We started out on the hike. It was only 7km, but we were effectively hiking up a steep valley.
The start of the hike was easy enough. Not too steep and well marked out. We arrived at Zamkovského chata.
Looking back, we probably should have moved on quickly to use the remaining sunlight, but it’s pretty much custom to have a borovicka at each chata you pass in Slovakia.
And I only wanted to use the toilet, but I was ambushed by a group of drunk Slovakians, asking where I was from etc.
They looked at us with no reflective gear, no avalanche protection gear… well no snow protection gear in general really.
I was just wearing my ski-pants over my jeans on my lower half and my thermal, a t-shirt, a fleece and a hiking jacket on my upper half. Obviously a hat and gloves too.
Still, it wasn’t really effective gear and the drunk Slovakians told us we would die if we went out there.
I took them for drunk idiots and urged Juraj and Monika out of the chata door.
Visibility was already low approaching the real steep climb. The wind was insane. We had to bend down and hold on to something every time a gust kicked up else we would be blown over by a 40mph wind.
Even so, we kicked on.
Monika’s crampons kept coming loose and I had some stupid city-dweller crampons on. I still wasn’t particularly scared, until I asked Monika to switch her headlamp off for a second.
If we separated and somehow lost our light, there was no way we would find each other. The wind would have drowned out our voices with ease.
Avalanches never really crossed my mind, mainly due to a lack of education on them.
We lost our way several times, whilst taking two steps up and one slip down in the mega winds.
We contemplated turning around, but I was sure I could see a glow above. We pushed on regardless of the dangers.
I did see a glow, but it was a lot further away than I thought.
I’m not sure how long that climb took, but a lot longer than it should have, that’s for sure. I remember stopping several times, just to regain some energy and mental support.
When I finally saw a strong orange glow through the fog and snow, I couldn’t have been happier.
Finally, we’d made it.
The atmosphere was as warm as the orange glow felt as we climbed the final stretch.
Of course, we had borovicka to celebrate.
And then we brushed our teeth and went to sleep… kinda…
We were in a room of say twenty people. We shared one large bunk bed. Really.
Juraj and a couple others wanted to carry on drinking borovicka and eating sausage, but there were many people who wanted to sleep including me, so I politely asked them to shut up and go to sleep.
Monika translated their response…
“I can’t believe we are going to bed for one English guy.”
Damn right. Go to bed.
1st February 2020
I hiked from Hrebienok to Téryho chata yesterday. It was dark before we arrived. Just the three of us, Monika, Juraj and myself.
The hike was the hardest I’ve faced yet. The vertical climb through 3ft snow and 40mph winds made every step treacherous. I wore crampons, but they were just shitty ones from the shop for city dwellers.
Once again the atmosphere in the chata was fantastic.
I’m still waiting for an opportunity to work somewhere else, so that I may leave the ski-resort as I’m unhappy with the ethics behind the corporate program and the naivety of fellow volunteers. Fortunately I have these side adventures to keep my content whilst I look for the opportunity.
2nd February 2020
I woke up around 3am suffocating from the heat in the room. I just got out of the room in only my boxers and flip-flops.
I went for a pee over the edge of the mountain, with a very foggy brain and appreciating the freezing cold weather.
What a sight.
I just enjoyed that sight for a while by myself, before returning to bed.
The view was still great by the time we all woke up around 7am, but it didn’t quite compare to the moment I had whilst peeing.
The way down was way easier. Mainly because I just sat on my bag and sledged down, which to the many hikers was entertaining.
I’m stupid like that.
Honestly, there isn’t too much to tell on the way back to Hrebienok. It was all downhill which made it much easier.
Other than seeing how many types of Hello I could get out of people on the way down the only other entertainment was seeing the drunk Slovakians as we passed the chata at the bottom of the valley. They looked more dead than we did, after the drinks they’d obviously been consuming all night.
We decided to grab a burger and beer at Dobré Časy (translates to “good times”) once we arrived in Starý Smokovec.
And that’s that folks. One last twenty-minute hike up from Starý Smokovec to Hrebienok completed the entire trip.
The End.
A Slovakian Winter Story: Téryho Chata
