Lomnický Peak, Feb 3 2008
I´m thinking about how to commence these lines. I´ve got a counsellor at hand who by the way took part in our event and advised me to write the way I feel.
Haaaaaaaa..., I´m totally, I must say it, fucked, that we, yesterday, yeasterday! stood there. Where? At the highest placed edifice in Slovakia, namely a SUPERB café on the summit of Lomnický peak.
Thanks to my friend´s call (Otep).
Ringringringring: Hi. The sunday´s weather will be fine and I´ve been rotting for three weeks at home.
me: well..., I know.
Otep: Wouldn´t we go somewhere?
me: well, we´re gonna ski, but if it´s worth, you know, I´d rather go up.
otep: I´ve thought about Fatra or Low Tatras.
me: Listen. The weather should be really nice, and I´d intended Ľadový or Lomnický peaks.
otep: d´you have time? I´ll come round.
And so, Peťo The Otep, Ivka The Myheelhurtsme, and me, MiroThe Writing had met at 5 and driven, thanks to my daddy, to under-Tatras Tatras´ Lomnica. My crapons took me some time which I couldn´t get fixed to my unnamed Pinguin backpack.
At 8:15 we were heading up along the piste to the Tarn of Skalnaté. It took us a bit longer time psychically.
Probably because we had undergone this leg several times. At Skalnaté, a trickle of people were sunbathing, others skiing, smoking or devouring something.
We only ate a bit. After all, we´d passed some 900m of altitude up to then, and about 400m up to the saddle level. And from there still 500 altitude meters
up to the summit. When we had climbed the piste, we dismissed thoughts of being send back down by a too much commited dimwit out of a reason like
"What are you assholes doing here." There were many here who have died!!! Woooow, we were lucky, none of such dummies we met. On the contrary, two
chaps equipped with climbing tackle had beaten down the way for us. A few goes up, some traverses and we caught up with them, had a short talk and
overtook them afterwards. Ropes detain one after all. From about 2450m of altitude we were ascending through a mainly snowy trough. From above we
were bombarded with crumbling snow and firn from two fellows on the return above. One of them with skis (he didn´t seem determined though, but he
was as his trails proved later). After 1 and a half hour we were struggling through ice-rock finale, with only 10 to 15cm of snow. Up there we
were stars shot and captured by cableway-users who watched us and didn´t understand the way were were climbing up.
Wooow, we were up and the back view bewitched us, too. Peťo began to frolic with his love Nikon: Pyšný peak, Ľadový peak, "Ivka place yourself
before Gerlach...". We had mapped the intestines of otherwise miserable café on the summit (in pictures it seems opulent, but even those barmen
don´t make it look like that). After about 15 minutes we were putting our crampons on. The others linger 50 minutes (probably worn out by the ascent).
We shook hands with the roped fellows anad were about to go down to the descent. Inquiery of those being impressed "How long will it take you get down?"
I answered in a down-to-earth way "It may be pretty short." We had predetermined a strategy down which was not to use the same steps in the trough
we´d made before. The upper half of the trough was, and is, pretty precipitous. The ascent on Vysoká peak is no match. It left a fantastic, highly positive,
motivating, encouraging and satisfying impression in us. Important is that nothing bad happened, because that´s everyone frets about before, don´t we.
Or it´s just my nauseous feeling?
On the way down a gawky snow gale caught us which got a solid telling off by Ivka and died out shortly. Down the piste we were the last skiers.
I can´t account for now, but it´s been one of the most ravishing events. Why? Because of the strenuosness? The weather? The ascent itself? Anyway,
the climb up on Lomnický peak surely is grueling one - technically, psychically as well as physically.