Gerlachovský štít

Gerlachovský štít (colloquially Gerlach; Polish Gerlach, German Gerlsdorfer Spitze) is the highest peak of the High Tatras, of Slovakia and of the entire Carpathians. Its height is traditionally given as 2655 m; current measurements give 2654.4 m. The summit does not stand on the main Tatra ridge but on a south-eastern side spur of Zadný Gerlach, from which it is separated by the Gerlachovské sedlo saddle. The massif rises above Velická dolina to the south-west and Batizovská dolina to the north-east and towers some 2000 m above the Sub-Tatra Basin. It lies entirely in Slovakia, within the Tatra National Park; the nearest settlements are Štrbské Pleso (about 6.4 km) and parts of the town of Vysoké Tatry, while the village of Gerlachov, which gave the peak its name, is about 9 km to the south-east.

Gerlach's prominence is about 2355 m and the nearest higher mountain is hundreds of kilometres away, making it one of the most distinctive summits in Central Europe. From the top the ridge continues to Kotlový štít, where it forks and encloses the famous Gerlachovský kotol cirque.

How to get there / routes

No marked hiking trail leads to Gerlachovský štít. Under the Tatra National Park rules you may climb it only with a certified mountain guide or as a registered climber: you must register online in advance, carry a valid card of your national mountaineering federation and proper equipment, and for lower-difficulty climbing also a certificate of basic training. Those who leave the marked trails without meeting these conditions may be fined.

• Velická próba – the most common ascent route from Velická dolina, starting at the Sliezsky dom mountain hotel above Velické pleso. It includes an exposed section.
• Batizovská próba – the route from Batizovská dolina, usually used for the descent.

Both routes have been protected by chains since 1880, yet they rank among the harder scrambles of the High Tatras: without snow, guidebooks grade them roughly II–III on the UIAA scale, and route-finding on the ridge is tricky. The height gain is about 1000 m from Sliezsky dom, or about 1665 m if you walk up from Tatranská Polianka. Harder lines include the Krčmárov žľab gully, the Martin route along the north ridge and long technical climbs on the walls.

The view from the summit

We have not found a detailed sourced description of the panorama, so we stick to what the map shows. As the highest point of the Carpathians, Gerlach looks out in every direction: to the south, almost 2 km lower, lies the Sub-Tatra Basin with Poprad; at its foot are the Velická and Batizovská valleys; around it stand neighbouring High Tatra peaks such as Zadný Gerlach, Kotlový štít, Slavkovský štít, Vysoká and Rysy. Gerlach itself is clearly visible from Poprad, Tatranská Polianka and from the summits of Rysy and Slavkovský štít.

Nature and history

The mountain is built of granite. Despite the harsh climate, 15 species of vascular plants grow near the summit, among them alpine bellflower, frost gentian and least primrose.

The peak is named after the village of Gerlachov, to whose land it once belonged; a charter of 1326 records the village being founded by the sons of Gerlach of Spišská Sobota. The oldest name on a map from the 1760s is Kösselberg, "the mountain with a cauldron". For a long time Kriváň, Lomnický štít or Ľadový štít were considered the highest Tatra peaks; only the forester Ludwig Greiner proved Gerlach's primacy by measurements in 1837–1838, and it was generally accepted in the 1870s.

The first people on the summit were probably the Nová Lesná teacher Johann Still, his brother-in-law Jakob Gellhof, Martin Spitzkopf-Urban and two chamois hunters in 1834; the first reliably documented ascent was by Austrian military surveyors in 1868. The first woman on the top, on 22 August 1883, was the Polish climber Natalia Janotha; the first winter ascent took place on 15 January 1905. The name changed six times: from 1896 it was Francis Joseph Peak, in 1923–1932 Legionnaires' Peak, in 1939–1945 Slovak Peak and in 1949–1959 Stalin Peak. In 1944 a Li-2 aircraft carrying soldiers of the 2nd Czechoslovak Parachute Brigade, flying to support the Slovak National Uprising, crashed on neighbouring Zadný Gerlach; the whole group died and is buried in Gerlachov.

Safety, season and rules

• Leaving the marked trails without a guide is prohibited. The marked high-mountain trails in the area (e.g. to Batizovské pleso or above Sliezsky dom) are closed from 1 November to 31 May, and hiking is allowed only in daylight. The rules for climbers are on the TANAP website.
• The best time is summer and early autumn without snow. A typical summer day brings a clear morning, clouds by noon and afternoon storms; the summit is often in fog, with a real risk of losing your way. In winter this is a demanding alpine climb with avalanche danger.
• Rescue: Mountain Rescue Service HZS – 18 300 (+421 18 300), general emergency number 112.

Interesting facts

• Within less than three decades of the 20th century Gerlach was successively the highest mountain of the Kingdom of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, the Slovak State and Czechoslovakia again.
• In 1896, for Hungary's millennium, a diorite plaque bearing the emperor's name was carried to the summit; it was destroyed in 1919.
• The peak belongs to the Crown of Europe and the Great Crown of the Tatras.

Photos: Ing.Mgr.Jozef Kotulič, CC BY-SA 4.0; Krzysztof Dudzik-Górnicki (User:ToSter), CC BY-SA 4.0; Michal Klajban, CC BY-SA 3.0; Rafik k, CC BY-SA 4.0; Kristo, CC BY-SA 3.0; Pavol Svetoň, CC BY-SA 4.0; Peter Orság (user:Peko), CC BY-SA 3.0 — Wikimedia Commons.