Showcase April - Unforgettable day in the mountains

These days, I've been thinking a lot about my home. I usually visit my family every 3-4 months but it looks like this year is going to be different. I've been going through my posts from Slovakia and found this one that I wrote last year in summer. It's a good one to share again, so here you go! Sweet memories...

I fell in love with the High Tatras when I was a child. At least once a year we went hiking with my family. This was when I discovered my passion for hiking. I've always been in awe of the vast maze of rocks, high mountains, unreachable summits and crystal-clear lakes. I couldn't wait for school breaks to go back.

I still visit the High Tatras at least once a year. And I try more difficult hiking trails each time. But this time it was different...

In July and August, I suffered from severe stomach inflammation and let me tell you that I have never felt this bad in my entire life. I was feeling better when we traveled to Slovakia but I lost some weight and my energy level was very low, so hiking wasn't included in our plan. But I still wanted to go to the mountains, and we booked a couple of days in a wellness hotel and enjoyed sauna, swimming pool, massages and some easy strolls in nature.

It's been my dream to take a cable car to Lomnický Peak (2634 m) but the weather didn't allow us to go there anytime we visited the High Tatras in the past. This time we were lucky. Well, almost lucky...

There are three different cable cars that you need to take if you want to get to the summit. The first cable car had some technical issues and stopped running. We could hike up the hill for about an hour to reach the second station, but it was not possible in my condition. Another solution would be to wait for a pickup truck that would bring us and dozens of other people to the second station.

We missed the first pickup as people became crazy and were pushing forward like their lives were depending on getting in the car. We managed to squeeze in the next round. When we got to the second station it started to rain but we were not losing our hopes.

Our cable car to the third station stopped running for twenty minutes. We were hanging twenty meters above ground and had no idea what was happening. There was not even a phone number that we could call for some information. Finally, we got to the third station and made it to our last cable car.

It was very small and full. I will not exaggerate when I'll say that there was no place to move. One older guy got sick and almost fainted. Luckily, there were people with some water and helped him to survive the ride.

And then we reached the clouds...

ISO 100 1/200 sec. f/8 24 mm

When we got off the cable car, we were informed that we had fifty minutes to spend outside before returning back to the cable car. This seemed to be enough to me...

Many people were disappointed with the weather but I was running from one side to another and tried to take the best shots with clouds moving very fast..

ISO 200 1/160 sec. f/8 35 mm

After half an hour we were instructed to get inside as there was a storm heading in our direction. As we were walking on a metal platform we hurried back inside.

The cable car stopped running, and we waited for better weather conditions to return back down. People were smiling and even singing so we had a good time. It took another hour before we could board the cable car again.

The ride takes eight minutes and these were one of the longest minutes in my life as I was scared that the cable car would stop running in the middle and we would be hanging there for who knows how long...

ISO 200 1/160 sec. f/8 24 mm

Here are some photos that I could take in that short time that I had...

ISO 200 1/200 sec. f/8 24 mm

The visibility was low but we enjoyed some nice light conditions...

ISO 200 1/160 sec. f/8 24 mm

These two pictures are taken with difference of ten seconds so you can see how windy it was...

ISO 200 1/160 sec. f/8 24 mm

ISO 200 1/160 sec. f/8 24 mm

ISO 200 1/125 sec. f/8 24 mm

When we finally got down to the next station we went for a walk around the lake...

ISO 200 1/125 sec. f/8 24 mm

ISO 200 1/125 sec. f/8 24 mm

There were some nice stone stacks on the way...

ISO 200 1/125 sec. f/8 24 mm

And this is how the trail looks like...

It's not very easy to balance on those rocks without twisting your ankle, so be careful and watch your step.

ISO 200 1/125 sec. f/8 24 mm

Another stone stacks...

ISO 200 1/125 sec. f/8 24 mm

And some pretty flowers at the end...

ISO 200 1/125 sec. f/8 36 mm

Before we went down to the next station, we went for lunch in a mountain restaurant. They surprisingly had a vegan meal and it was delicious!

We had to wait for another hour because of the storm as the cable car stopped running again. When we finally got to the next station, we decided to walk down the hill to the village instead of taking the pickup truck again. It was a great walk even though it was drizzling all the time. There was a hot sauna waiting for us in the hotel so we didn't mind the rain..

(Yes, it was this windy)

It was a great day even though we spent most of it either waiting for a cable car or in a cable car 😊

Thank you for reading!

Cheers!
Martina