Veľké Solisko

Veľké Solisko (Polish: Wielkie Solisko) is a 2,412 m peak in the Slovak High Tatras and the highest point of the Solisko ridge. This side ridge runs south from Furkotský štít on the Kriváň spur and separates two valleys — Mlynická dolina to the east and Furkotská dolina to the west. The mountain rises above the resort of Štrbské Pleso, about 5.7 km to the south in a straight line, and some 20 km from Poprad. The summit is crowned by a two-metre mushroom-shaped rock block, clearly visible against the sky. The Solisko ridge lies exactly on the watershed between two seas: the western slopes drain via the Furkotský potok, the Váh and the Danube to the Black Sea, the eastern ones via the Mlynica, Poprad, Dunajec and Vistula to the Baltic.

How to get there / routes

There is no marked hiking trail to the summit. Veľké Solisko lies in Tatra National Park (TANAP) and in the Mlynická dolina and Furkotská dolina national nature reserves; climbing off the marked trails is allowed only with a licensed mountain guide (horský vodca) or for members of mountaineering clubs under park rules. The climbing routes described in guidebooks are relatively easy, graded 0+ to II on the Tatra scale.

Hikers can see the mountain close up from marked trails:

• Yellow trail Mlynická dolina – Bystrá lávka – Furkotská dolina: the Bystrá lávka notch (2,315 m) lies just half a kilometre north of the summit, and the path skirts the Solisko ridge on both sides, past the lakes of both valleys.
• A chairlift runs from Štrbské Pleso to Chata pod Soliskom (its stations are about 2 km south of the summit), and from there a marked path climbs Predné Solisko (2,117 m) — the easiest way to view the Solisko ridge from the south. This outing is permitted in winter too.

The view from the summit

According to Slovak Wikipedia, the rocky summit offers a full panorama: many High Tatras peaks and valleys (Kriváň to the west, Furkotský štít and Hrubý vrch to the north, Rysy and Satan to the east) and, beyond, the Volovské vrchy, the Slovak Karst around Spiš and Gemer, Kozie chrbty, the Low Tatras, Veľká Fatra and part of the Orava Beskids. Below the summit lie lakes: the Wahlenberg tarns to the west, Capie pleso to the north-west and Nižné Kozie pleso to the east.

Nature and history

The west face, about 200 m high, drops to Vyšné Wahlenbergovo pleso, while the broad, not very steep east face, some 300 m of ribs and gullies, falls to Mlynická dolina. The pygmy buttercup grows abundantly on its slopes. The name most likely comes from a spot at the foot of Predné Solisko where shepherds put out salt (Slovak "soľ") for sheep and cattle; cartographers unfamiliar with the area transferred it first to the whole ridge and then to its individual peaks. Another theory derives it from an old German word linked to ore mining. Until recently the name Veľké Solisko also covered neighbouring Prostredné Solisko, then considered its subsidiary top. Sources give the height anywhere from 2,404 to 2,414 m.

The first recorded ascent was made on 19 July 1903 by Karol Englisch with the guide Paul Spitzkopf senior, from Furkotská dolina; Englisch named the peak Annaspitze, but the name did not stick. The first winter ascent was by Gyula Hefty and Lajos Rokfalusy in January 1912.

Safety, season and rules

TANAP's high-mountain trails, including the yellow route over Bystrá lávka, are closed from 1 November to 31 May (exceptions include the path to Predné Solisko). Even in summer snow may linger in the notches and gullies, and Tatra weather can change within minutes; ridges are dangerous in thunderstorms. Do not try to reach the summit on your own off the trails — it breaks park rules and is genuinely risky.

• Stay on marked trails; the summit itself only with a mountain guide.
• Emergency numbers in Slovakia: Mountain Rescue Service HZS 18 300 (from a foreign phone +421 18 300) and 112.

Interesting facts

• The roughly 2 m "mushroom" rock on the summit is one of the most distinctive features of the Solisko skyline.
• The Solisko ridge forms the boundary between two national nature reserves — Mlynická dolina and Furkotská dolina.

Photos: Adam Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Adam Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rafał Kozubek, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rafał Kozubek, CC BY-SA 4.0; Rafał Kozubek, CC BY-SA 4.0; Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0 — Wikimedia Commons.