The Western ridge of Low Tatras (51km / 2700m+), Čertovica - Donovaly, 9.10.2021

 On the trail of NTS part II.

It has been a beautiful, colorful autumn for some weeks now, and the forecast promises clear skies and magical autumn weather on Saturday as well. The temperatures are supposed to be around zero and even lower in the mountains, but that doesn't matter at all. I'm wondering where it would be a good place to go, because this will probably be one of the last nice weekends. The choice falls on the Low Tatras and the transition from Čertovica to Donovaly. Katka and I wanted to do this together as a continuation of our adventure from the beginning of the summer (read here), but you know there's always something... we haven't been able to reconcile so far, so I say to myself, I'll run it alone now and then sometime again with Katka - after all, that ridge is not going to go anywhere. I hope Katka will forgive me.

I am planning my time plan and according to this plan, it is planned in such a way that the plan is to leave Čertovica at six in the morning so that I can comfortably catch the bus from Donovaly, which leaves at 4:45 pm and goes to Liptovský Hrádok. There is also a enough space for enjoying myself and chilling, for example, at Kamienka, with excellent tea or at Chabenec with a beautiful view. Jano is reluctant to let me go alone, but I assure him that this ridge is always full of people and now there will be crowds - Saturday, beautiful autumn weather, etc etc, blah blah. In the morning, he drives me to Čertovica in the darkness of darkness and cold wind and coaxes me to wait at least 20 minutes until it starts to dawn a little.

I don't need to be coaxed for a long time, I sit back in the heated car and snuggle into the seat for 20 minutes. I admit, I don't feel like going into the darkness and cold wind at all, on the other hand I am looking forward to what awaits me today. So I climb out of the car eventually, take a picture at the signpost, switch on my headlamp and head out into the darkness. The morning light is already showing through a bit, but the first short stretch is through the woods, which is about this dark:

Photo by Jano on my departure

I make my way through the mini uproot and go out onto the open piste. There is peace and quiet everywhere and there is peace and quiet in me too. I climb up the steep hill and feel the dawn of the day. The Western and High Tatras are looming in the distance, Kráľova hoľa is peeking out into the morning light on the horizon. The ground is frozen and hard, somewhat slippery, but I warm up pleasantly as I climb. In about half an hour I can turn off the headlamp, and before long the sun rises from behind the horizon. It's magical. The sun leans into me and warms me. Ďumbier and Štiavnica are bathed in its pink light.

With the sun come strong cold winds. It's okay, it gave me a great workout last weekend when I was crossing Otrhance and now I'm toughened up.  If you know me, you know that I hate the wind, its insistence, its persistence, the eerie sounds it makes in the treetops. Today, however, I've tamed it, after all, you can't run for ten hours with the enemy by your side. I swallow a banana on Panská hola and enjoy the views, Štefánik's hut is already in sight and glistens in the morning sun. I'm running under Besná, through Sedlo Králička, and the wind is getting stronger. Štefánička is literally sleeping, so I don't stop there and rush to leeward under Ďumbier. Nine kilometers behind me and on the ridge there are so far exactly this many people:

Zero point zero point zero zero for fuck sake...

I send Jan an SMS that I just passed Štefánička and so far I have only encountered a lot of wolf droppings. Indeed, this time the trail was lined not with bear but with wolf poop. It's a pleasant change 😂 Jano compliments me that it's so great, there were supposed to be crowds of people on the ridge 😁 oh well. I enjoyed a moment of solitude in the mountains and the magical moment of the birth of the day in the middle of the wilderness on Lajštroch.

Not long after that, however, I meet the first tourists, and the closer I am to Chopok, the more frequent the meetings become. I'm jogging along the granite between Krupove sedlo and Chopok, I've only gone in this direction once, as a tourist, I guess twenty years ago. Some runner catches up with me, he says to be from Jamník and not going all the way to Donovaly. I let him go in front of me and soon he is out of my sight. I don't even know how, I'll be at Chopok in a moment. This is my fourth time here in two months, am I overdoing it a bit? I stop at Kamenna chata and have a great hot herb tea. Kamienka is a refurbished chalet and I really like it - cozy but modern interior, helpful staff, huge windows providing spectacular views of the ridge and surrounding mountains. I'm sipping my tea and munching a peanut butter puff, texting Jan that I'm at Chopok and there are crowds of people here. I refill my soft flasks with water and continue along the granite path through Dereše to Sedlo Poľany. On the way, I go around large groups of tourists and warm up in such a way that the wind jacket has to come down, but I keep the gloves on. The wind has also completely stopped, it can only manage occasional harmless gusts.

From Dereše there are views of the part of the ridge that I like very much. I can see the hills in the distance, which I will soon cross. Beyond Sedlo Poľany, the granite and crowds of tourists end, and I run along the well-known footpath through Krížske sedlo and Kotliská towards Chabenec. Brown grass lines the frozen path, which is slightly flooded and therefore quite slippery in places. You can't push too much here, but it doesn't matter, I'm enjoying myself at a lovely "photo pace" today. And there is a lot to enjoy. The day turned out to be absolutely beautiful, the visibility is sharp and you can see far away. I enjoy this section, I love it here. I remember how, two years ago, Aďka Elischer Jogošíková and I ran from Jasná to Donovaly, but we were so distracted by enjoying and taking pictures on the way, that we then cut it from Hiadeľské sedlo to Korytnica. It was a wonderful run full of beautiful experiences and views. Back then we ate bread and butter at Chabenec, but today it's overcrowded here, so I don't stop here. Later I find out that the village of Partizánska Ľupča has an organized mass ascent to Chabenec today. I take a break a bit further down, under the peak in the lee, I open Cola - wow, this was a great idea to take it! I send Jan an SMS that I'm behind Chabenec and there are a million people here.

Chewing the other half of the roll, I look into the distance and recognize Ďurková, Zámostská and Latiborská hola, and somewhere there, Velká and Malá Chochula. I remember that two years ago Chochuľa seemed so terribly far away to Aďka and I... but today I feel that it is somehow close. Isn't that Chochuľa just that hill further away? No, no, it must be this one, but those back there are Ploská and Rakytov. Visibility is really amazing today. Refreshed, I run on and again pass the crowds of people heading to Chabenec. I ignore Utulna Ďurková - I still have enough water and it should last me until Hiadeľské sedlo, where there is a well. Today I don't have much need to drink and I go for a pee relatively often, so I'm probably hydrated enough. Below the peak of Ďurková, I can see an off road vehicle from a distance, and I think to myself, what kind of fool is driving a jeep here again. But when I get closer, I see that it's a Mountain Rescue vehicle and among them I recognize my friend Janko P., we say hello and I immediately cheer up - it's great to meet someone you know, you don't feel so abandoned during those 50km. He says that they are fixing the winter pole markings, the guys ask where and from where I am running, and we agree that today is a really beautiful day.

Enlightened by this encounter, I run towards perhaps the most beautiful section on the route. I recall the conversations and topics we discussed here with Aďa two years ago, and I also remember my feelings then. People are gone again and I pass Zámostská and Latiborská hola. I look behind me and can't believe that I went through all that today. A miniature Mountain Rescue jeep can still be seen in the distance, but after a while I lose sight of it. I'm fascinated by the distances, the vast spaces, when just a moment ago I was a mini ant on those hills opposite and now I'm standing here, on a peak that seemed so far away to me half an hour ago. Even Chochuľa, which looked so close from below Chabenec, suddenly seems distant to me... now I see that there is still a bit of a trail waiting for me before I reach its slopes. Well, it's a picturesque path, a single-trail leading through a meadow and a forest, through blueberry bushes, where Aďa and I grazed on blueberries two years ago. The sun is already shining in my eyes, so I put on my visor. There are only a few people here. Chochula doesn't and won't come closer, on the contrary, as if it was getting farther and farther away. I'm starting to feel tired and hungry, and tell myself that I'll eat up at the top, so that I have it with the views.Gathering all my strength I climb to the foot of Košarisko and then run a long traverse to the top of Veľká Chochula.

At that time, Aďa and I were completely alone here and we witnessed a wonderful theater - the sun was setting and clouds were rolling over the mountain peaks and the ridge and fog was settling. It was probably the most beautiful moment I've ever experienced in the mountains. Today there are people here like at a protest rally in front of Government building, the sun is still quite high and the wind is blowing here, so I'll just take a few photos and run a little lower to the leeward side. I finish the rest of the Coke and eat a peanut butter bread with chocolate bar and absorb the views. Donovaly is down there somewhere, beyond that massif and another massif below, with the peaks of Kozí chrbát and Kečka. This Chochuľa massif is quite vast and long, with growing fatigue the distance seems to lengthen and what is distant seems even further away. However, with food comes not only physical energy, but also mental energy. It's a miracle what replenished blood sugar can do. I pass Malá Chochula, swing over the top of Prašiva - I remember that here two years ago, the figure of a man and a dog emerged from the mist above us, towering over us in the dark haze of the dying day like some kind of deity... and it was Aďka's Janko and Uško the dog, who came out to meet us from Korytnica 😃 then we ran down to Hiadeľské sedlo at dusk and arrived at Korytnica after dark.

Today, however, I continue on to Donovaly and mentally prepare myself for the unpleasant descent from Prašiva to the pass - I remember that it is steep and stony, gravelly and unfriendly, but in the end it is not so bad. I'm trained by the downhill from Hruby vrch to Jamnicka dolina from last weekend, that's probably the worst downhill EVER 😂 I go around some hikers, enjoy the autumn colors in the forest and soon I'm in the pass. I run down to the nearby well and get some water. I text Jan that I'm in Hiadeľské sedlo and the final 10 km and 350 meters of ascent await me. I could whip that up in an hour and a half. It sounds easy, but this is the only section of the entire route that I haven't covered yet, so I can't imagine what it will look like. So, totally, and immediately, the first half kilometer will kill me right away, during which I will gain 200 meters of altitude, and what's more, in a dark, muddy doomy forest. Oh. However, the light at the end of the tunnel does not leave me waiting for long and I finally emerge from the forest and arrive at Kozí chrbát. There are people here again, families on their Saturday trip, children are running around here, it's a lovely scene.

The ridge of Kečka opens up in front of me and the kilometers that still await me - there are about eight of them and they seem endless to me - like all the final kilometers on long routes. I swing over Kečka and look behind me. The massifs of Prašiva and Chochule rise above Kozí chrbát. I'm fascinated by that distance again - after all, a while ago I was running up there somewhere... and now I have to cover this final section, leading through a nice, pleasant forest, which doesn't end and even climbs upwards😂 but everything has its end and the forest road joins the asphalt road. In the surrounding meadows, families fly kites in the cold autumn wind. I see a wooden bridge over the main road somewhere over there, beyond which is the destination of my journey today. I run and run and the bridge is still not getting closer. Only a kilometer and a half to go... and I'm there. Hop over the bridge and land at the signpost. However, I accidentally take a photo of a bike trail sign instead of a hiker's one, which is three meters further and I haven't noticed it at all. I only realized it at home while looking at the photos. Oh well, I'll have to go back there and go through the whole thing again 😁. Kati, so when are we going?

I arrived at Donovaly with a good time reserve before the bus departure (total travel time 9 hours and 59 minutes), so I have time to change into dry clothes in peace. I hide in the bus stop from the unpleasant cold wind, which started to take effect again with the lowering sun, and I throw off all my wet tops (I'm lucky that there are no people at the bus stop, but even if there were, I probably wouldn't care at that moment 😁). I layer on dry clothes, but I'm still shivering with cold until the bus arrives. While waiting, I scrap the leftovers of the food I have left and finish the last of the water. The bus arrives three minutes late, and I settle down contentedly on the heated seat. It was a challenging, but beautiful day, to summarize, perfectly timed, everything worked out perfectly. The bus ride takes two hours - it stops at every willow tree. I notice that there are somewhat too many lost existences in Ružomberok bus station... I would be afraid to be alone THERE, and not somewhere on a ridge in the mountains before the dawn 😊