Hlúpy

Hlúpy (also Šialený vrch, "Crazy Peak"; Polish Szalony Wierch; German Törichter Gern) is a 2061 m summit in the Slovak Belianske Tatras and the third highest of this limestone range. It rises above the village of Ždiar, about 18 km north-west of Kežmarok, within the town of Vysoké Tatry in Poprad District of the Prešov Region. It is a junction peak: this is where the ridge of the Belianske Tatras meets the ridge of the High Tatras.

Hlúpy lies in the middle part of the main ridge of the Belianske Tatras, between Ždiarska vidla (2142 m), separated by the Široké sedlo saddle, and Zadné Jatky (2020 m), beyond the Šialené sedlo saddle. To the south the ridge drops to Kopské sedlo (1749 m), which divides the Belianske and the High Tatras. The western slopes drain through the Zadné Meďodoly valley to the Javorinka in the Dunajec basin, the northern ones through Monkova dolina and the south-eastern ones through Predné Meďodoly to the Poprad river.

How to get there / routes

The summit itself is off limits. Hlúpy lies within the Belianske Tatry national nature reserve of the Tatra National Park (TANAP), under strict protection, and has been closed to visitors since 1978. However, one of the few marked routes of the Belianske Tatras runs across its slopes.

• Red trail (Monkova dolina educational trail) – from Ždiar up Monkova dolina to Široké sedlo, then along the western and southern slopes of Hlúpy to Kopské sedlo: about 8.4 km, roughly 1075 m of ascent, about 3 h 55 min.
• At Kopské sedlo the red trail crosses the blue one from Tatranská Javorina through Zadné Meďodoly to Tatranské Matliare.

The trail is seasonal, and the Monkova dolina section has been closed in some years because of damage, so check the current status on the TANAP website before you go.

What you can see from the top

The summit is covered only by low vegetation. From here you can see part of the main ridge of the Belianske Tatras and many High Tatra peaks and, in good visibility, the Volovské vrchy, Branisko, Bachureň, Čergov, the Levoča Hills, the Pieniny, Spišská Magura and the hills of southern Poland. Similar views open from the Široké and Kopské saddles reached by the trail.

Nature and history

The mountain is built of limestone, yet there are hardly any karst features on it. On the main ridge, about 380 m north-east of the summit, lies the Priepasť na Hlúpom cave – of tectonic, not karst origin. The largest gully is the Hlúpy gully dropping into Zadné Meďodoly.

Shepherds, and later tourists and scientists, probably climbed the easy grassy top since early times. The first winter ascent was made in 1910 by Gyula Hefty, Ernő Kaczander and István Laufer. The name is most likely a mocking one – shepherds gave such nicknames to steep peaks that were tiring to climb. Another theory holds that the original Zipser German name Ternichter Gern meant a "hidden wedge", because the mountain was often hidden in the clouds.

At the end of the Second World War German soldiers built a bunker on the ridge with a telephone line to Tatranská Javorina, but no fighting ever took place here.

Safety, season and rules

The trail runs high above the tree line, so from 1 November to 31 May it is closed as part of TANAP's seasonal closure of high-mountain routes. Do not leave the marked path: the whole massif is a strictly protected reserve and offenders face fines. In the Slovak mountains help comes from the Mountain Rescue Service HZS: 18 300 (+421 18 300) or 112.

Interesting facts

• Polish shepherds called the mountain the "Silly Peak", Slovak ones the "Crazy Peak"; both names are still in use.
• Hlúpy is one end of the shared section of the main ridges of the Tatras and the Belianske Tatras; the other end is Havran.

Photos: Krzysztof Dudzik-Górnicki (User:ToSter), CC BY 3.0; Kristo, CC BY-SA 3.0; Krzysztof Dudzik-Górnicki (User:ToSter), CC BY-SA 4.0; Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0; Kristo, CC BY-SA 3.0; Rafał Kozubek, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.