Končistá

Končistá (Polish Kończysta, German Kontschista, Hungarian Koncsiszta) is a 2,537.5 m summit in the High Tatras in Slovakia. It rises above the settlement of Vyšné Hágy, about 15 km north-west of Poprad, and belongs to the town of Vysoké Tatry (Starý Smokovec cadastre) in Poprad District of the Prešov Region. It is the highest point of a long side ridge running south from Popradský Ľadový štít (2,396 m) on the main crest; south of the Pod Drúkom saddle the ridge is simply called the Končistá ridge. The eastern side drops into Batizovská dolina, the western side descends more gently into Štôlska dolina and the north-west into Zlomisková dolina.

Končistá has three tops. On the highest, southern one sits a huge loose rock block, Jármay's Table (Jármayho stôl), also called the Anvil (Nákova): it used to look like a blacksmith's anvil or a horse's head. In 2019 it was struck by lightning, a large piece broke off and the characteristic shape is gone. The northern top (2,536 m) is separated from the southern one by a shallow notch, Vyšná Pastrnakova bránka.

How to get there / routes

No marked hiking trail leads to Končistá. The summit lies in the Tatra National Park (TANAP), where three national nature reserves meet – Mengusovská, Batizovská and Štôlska dolina – so a hiker without climbing qualifications may go up only with a licensed mountain guide. Among the main High Tatra summits it is considered one of the easiest: the simplest approach is from the broad, stony Lúčne sedlo (2,168 m) to the west, and guides also lead parties from the Sliezsky dom mountain hotel and from Popradské pleso, both via Batizovské pleso.

The nearest marked trail is the red Tatranská magistrála: between the saddle below Ostrva and Velická dolina it skirts the southern end of the Končistá ridge. The magistrála was built in 1930–1931; it gives a good view of the peak but does not lead to it. Sources give no official ascent time.

What you can see from the summit

The rocky summit gives an all-round view. To the west you see Ostrva (1,984 m), Tupá (2,285 m), Patria, Satan and Zlomisková veža; to the north Kôpky, Vysoká (2,547 m), Rysy (2,503 m), Gánok, Rumanov štít, Popradský Ľadový and Batizovský štít; to the east Lavínový štít, Kotlový štít and the highest Tatra summit, Gerlachovský štít (2,654 m). To the south stretch the Sub-Tatra Basin and the ranges from the Lúčanská Fatra via the Veľká Fatra, Low Tatras, Kozie chrbty and Volovské vrchy to Branisko, and to the north the mountains of Poland.

Nature and history

The name comes from the Slovak adjective končistý, “pointed”, which is how the massif looks from the south. Originally the mountain had no name of its own: people in the Tatra foothills called it, together with Batizovský štít, Hrebeň or Batizovský vrch, and the Zipser Germans Hochkamm. As early as 1717 Georg Buchholtz the Younger's Tatra panorama marked both summits together as Batisfalvensis mons. The separate name Končistá appeared in the 1860s.

The first documented ascent of the northern top was made in 1874 by Alexander Münnich and companions. The Anvil, however, long remained unclimbed: visitors got to the foot of the rock, which stands 7 m above the summit, but no higher. Viktor Lorenc, chief engineer of the Krompachy ironworks, reported a failed attempt in the Zipser Bote in 1878, and in 1891 the Smokovec spa doctor László Jármay wrote that so far only Lorenc with his guide Ruman had reached the highest point. Jármay proposed calling the rock Lorenc's Rock, but the Hungarian Carpathian Society refused, and it was named Jármay's Table instead. The first winter ascent was made by the German climber Alfred Martin on 17 February 1906.

Safety, season and rules

This is high-mountain rocky terrain with no path: rock, scree, steep slopes towards Batizovská dolina, rapid weather changes and summer thunderstorms. In TANAP the high-mountain trails are closed every year from 1 November to 31 May; off the marked trails you may move only with a mountain guide or under the park's climbing rules. Start early, carry a helmet and warm clothing. In the Slovak mountains help comes from the Mountain Rescue Service HZS: 18 300 (+421 18 300) or 112.

Interesting facts

• Končistá is one of the summits of the Great Crown of the Tatras.
• Before the First World War guides said scornfully that you could get up it “even on a dying horse” – partly because they disliked the low fee set by Spiš County, and some of them poached chamois on its slopes and did not want tourists in their hunting grounds.
• On 29–30 August 1918 Končistá was the goal of a Slovak “people's excursion”, the last before the break-up of Austria-Hungary; it was chosen instead of the usual Kriváň so as not to attract police attention, but a cloudburst turned the party back near Lúčne sedlo.

Photos: Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jakub Krajňák, CC BY-SA 4.0; Adam Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Adrian Tync, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.