Borišov

Borišov is a 1,510 m summit in the central part of the Greater Fatra (Veľká Fatra) in Slovakia, in its highest section, the Hôľna Fatra. It is a massive mountain with a treeless grassy dome that gives a wide all-round view. A deep saddle separates it from neighbouring Ploská to the east; in that saddle stands Chata pod Borišovom, the main mountain hut of the Greater Fatra. The summit lies in the Martin District of the Žilina Region, where the cadastres of Belá-Dulice and Necpaly meet; Liptovské Revúce is about 7 km away, Necpaly and Belá-Dulice about 10 km. The mountain belongs to the Veľká Fatra National Park.

Counting from the junction summit of Ploská, Borišov is the first and highest peak of the western, so-called Turiec branch of the Greater Fatra, and the only one in it above 1,500 m. The summit itself sits on a long side ridge running north-west and separating the Belianska dolina valley to the north-east from the Necpalská dolina to the south-west. The Beliansky potok rises on the northern slope; the Necpalský potok flows around the southern slopes.

How to get there / trails

A short, steep yellow trail climbs to the top from Chata pod Borišovom (1,366 m), about 600 m east of the summit: roughly 1 km and 250 m of ascent, about 45 min up and 30 min down according to Polish guides. The hut stands at an important junction of marked trails, so it can be reached in several ways:

• blue — from Necpaly through the Necpalská dolina;
• green — from Belá-Dulice through the Belianska dolina;
• yellow (KST 8614) — from the head of the Ľubochnianska dolina;
• red ridge trail of the Greater Fatra Magistrála (Veľkofatranská magistrála) — from Ploská or from Kľak.

Both the Necpalská and Belianska valleys end below the Borišov massif, and forest roads with marked trails run along them.

The view from the summit

Thanks to its height and position at the edge of the central Greater Fatra, Slovak sources describe far-reaching views from Borišov: many Greater Fatra summits, the Lesser Fatra, the Choč Mountains and the Western Tatras, and in good visibility part of the Low Tatras, Poľana, Babia Góra and Lysá hora in the Beskids. The closest neighbours are Ploská to the east and Kľak on the Turiec ridge.

Nature and history

The massif is built of thick beds of Lower and Middle Cretaceous marls. These fairly soft rocks give the mountain its gentle outline but also a varied relief of slopes cut by erosion: two gully-like side valleys, the Ondrejkova and Dolnoborišovská dolina, bite into the south-western flank. In the upper Belianska dolina below Borišov lies the so-called Belianske window, where deeper Tatric rocks emerge from beneath the overlying nappes.

The treeless dome is covered by meadows where Spiš crocus flowers in masses in early spring, followed in summer by gentians, thistles and roseroot on rocky patches. Isolated groups of trees on the summit show that the forest once reached all the way up — the highest it ever did in the Greater Fatra. The northern slopes carry spruce forest with sycamore maple; down to the floor of the Belianska dolina (about 740 m) they are protected by the Borišov National Nature Reserve, which preserves well-kept primeval mountain forest.

Chata pod Borišovom was begun in 1937 by the Martin branch of the Czechoslovak Tourist Club, but because materials were so hard to bring up it was only finished in 1942. During the Slovak National Uprising of 1944 insurgents occupied it, and only a lucky chance saved it from destruction. Repaired, it reopened in 1949.

Safety, season and rules

The even, concave southern slope of Borišov above the Hornoborišovská dolina is one of the most avalanche-prone places in the Greater Fatra and one of the largest avalanche slopes in Slovakia. In winter and spring check the avalanche forecast and keep to safe routes. The summit is exposed to wind, and fog on the broad dome quickly makes navigation difficult. In the national park, stay on marked trails.

Slovak Mountain Rescue — HZS: 18 300 (+421 18 300); general emergency number 112.

Interesting facts

• Forest once grew right up to the top of Borišov — the highest tree line anywhere in the Greater Fatra.
• Building Chata pod Borišovom took five years (1937–1942) because materials were so hard to haul up; at first water had to be carried to it from springs below the building.

Photos: Pudelek, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.