Ďumbier

Ďumbier (Polish Dziumbier, Hungarian Gyömbér) is the highest peak of the Low Tatras at 2,046 m (2,043 m on older maps). It stands on the main ridge between Krúpova hoľa (about 1,922 m) and Štiavnica (2,025 m), some 15 km north of the town of Brezno, on the border of the Žilina and Banská Bystrica regions. It is the highest point of Brezno district and of the whole Horehronie region. The summit lies in the Low Tatras National Park, and the northern slopes are also part of the strictly protected Ďumbier National Nature Reserve.

From the north Ďumbier looks like a true alpine massif: walls, buttresses and gullies almost 500 m high drop into the glacial cirques at the heads of the Bystrá and Ludárova valleys (part of the Jánska valley system). They are separated by the short spur of Ludárova hoľa; in the western cirque lies the small Bystré tarn, visible from the top. The southern slopes are much gentler and covered with a field of granite boulders. It is on Ďumbier that the main ridge forks: the eastern arm ends at massive Štiavnica, while the south-eastern one runs via Besná to the Čertovica pass and on into the Kráľova hoľa Tatras.

On the summit stand a reinforced-concrete pylon and a large wooden Slovak double cross. In the saddle below, at about 1,728 m, the General Milan Rastislav Štefánik hut is the main base for the ascent.

Getting there / trails

Only the red-marked spur from the junction at Krúpovo sedlo leads to the summit itself: about 40 min up and 30 min down. You can reach the saddle in several ways:

• Along the red Cesta hrdinov SNP (E8) on the main ridge — from Chopok in the west via Ďumbierske sedlo (many people ride the cable car up to Chopok) or from the Čertovica pass in the east past the Štefánik hut.
• Green markings from Demänovská dolina (Lúčky) through Široká dolina, or from the Tále resort and the Trangoška stop past the Štefánik hut.
• Yellow markings from the village of Mýto pod Ďumbierom past the Štefánik hut, or from Vyšná Boca via Besná.
• Blue markings from Liptovský Ján up the Jánska valley to the Štefánik hut.

In winter a separate winter route is marked from the Štefánik hut; it is closed in summer. The most popular option is the cable car to Chopok, then along the ridge to Ďumbier and back.

The view

The all-round panorama covers practically all the mountains of central and northern Slovakia: the High Tatras, the Choč Mountains, the Greater and Lesser Fatra, Liptovská Mara reservoir, Poľana, the Veporské and Stolické vrchy. In good visibility you can see the Orava Beskids with Pilsko and Babia hora, Oravská Magura, Vtáčnik, Sitno and even Kékes in Hungary.

Nature and history

The summit area is built of deep-seated crystalline rocks — tonalites and granodiorites. Lower down, in a band of limestone and dolomite at the level of the Štefánik hut, the large Cave of Dead Bats has formed. Tatra chamois and marmots live in the northern cirques. The Ďumbier nature reserve, more than 2,043 ha, was declared in 1973 and covers the summit and the glacial relief of the northern slopes.

From the 14th to the 19th century iron ore, gold and antimonite were mined intensively on the massif's slopes — traces of adits and spoil heaps can still be seen in almost every valley. At the end of the Slovak National Uprising, in autumn 1944, fighting between insurgents and German troops took place near the saddle below Ďumbier, and that winter partisans crossed the ridge in very harsh conditions; a memorial next to the Štefánik hut recalls these events.

Safety and rules

The ridge is exposed to every wind; in fog and bad weather it is hard to navigate across the boulder fields, and in winter the slopes are prone to avalanches. Keep to marked trails, do not enter the reserve's cirques and follow the rules of the Low Tatras National Park (current restrictions at napant.sk). Slovak Mountain Rescue Service (HZS): 18 300 (from a foreign phone +421 18 300) or 112.

Photos: Milan Bališin, CC BY-SA 4.0; Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0; Milan Bališin, CC BY-SA 4.0; maczopikczu, CC BY 3.0; Pudelek, CC BY-SA 4.0; Milan Bališin, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.