Today, Tibor & Dana took us to Slovak National Park where we climbed up the Sucha Bela Gorge. Tibor and Dana don’t really do walks! Not even tramping or hiking really. Certainly not as the ordinary person would define the terms! They do adventures! The words – “commando course, waterfall climbing and gorge scrambling” would better define their idea of a “walk”.
2/ Check out the ladder system up this gorge!!
3/ Those "freaky" wooden ladders!!
As we began the walk, all the fir trees were still covered in their dusting of snow and every now and then, when the breeze blew, soft white crystals floated down from the trees on us like snow flakes. The National Park is riddled with deep gorges that end on a high flat plateau and the park is very busy in the summer with tourists making the climb up to the plateau. The gorges are all fitted with a network of wooden and metal step-ladders to help people climb up the river and waterfalls. I found it quite difficult. I have a terrible fear of slipping and the ice and snow covered wooden ladder walkways suspended above the river really played havoc with my mind. Not only were the wooden rungs covered in ice and snow, the icy river was flowing, in some places, 3 – 4 metres below. Like walking on balance beam, I was fine when the ladders were only 1 or 2 metres off the ground, but as soon as they got higher, the adrenaline started to flow.
Dana has regularly taken her children and friends for a “walk” up this gorge, but she has never made such a slow trip! For me, each step on these horizontal ladders was torture. But eventually, after we had crossed many metres of these walkways, I gritted my teeth and calmed down enough to make a little faster progress. This system of ladders and platforms is truly amazing. It is something we will probably never see in NZ due partly to the wild floods that sweep down all our rivers, and also, I suspect, because NZ OHS laws would say that this system is too dangerous. What a shame!
4/ Hmmm..a walk? Really?
On the way up, Tibor regaled us with many of his climbing stories. He has been on expedition in the Himalayas to Kanchenjunga (the world’s third highest mountain) he has climbed El Capitain in the US, as well as many of the technical European Peaks. As he was describing to Graeme, a particularly harrowing climb in the Dolomites, I couldn’t help but think how lucky it was that I got the same adrenaline rush from doing this walk, which for Tibor was about as exciting as strolling along a suburban footpath. If I slipped and fell, I could twist an ankle or at the very worst break a limb. A mistake by Tibor at his level of adventure has entirely different consequences. Dana is remarkably pragmatic about Tibor’s thirst for adventure. But she is also a good climber and knows Tibor’s abilities. They make a good team.
It goes without saying that it was cold. Probably –2 or –3C for the whole day and probably even colder in the shadows of the gorge, so lunch was a fairly quick bite before we headed down the access track back to the car. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to find out that, for safety reasons, you are only allowed to climb up the gorges not down!
Back into Poprad for what Dana assured me was the “worlds best hot chocolate”! She wasn’t kidding! A cup filled with molten chocolate and topped with whipped cream it was absolutely delicious and easily the best hot chocolate I have ever tasted. And while the boys headed off to do some shopping in an interesting role reversal situation, we delved into the pastry selection. Well, it would have been positively rude to sit there in the café without ordering one! Wouldn’t it?
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