On snowshoes from Liptovská Teplička
The Andrejcová shelter (1410 m) is located on the main ridge of the Low Tatras below the Andrejcová peak. It is accessible all year round and is one of the officially permitted places to spend the night, especially during the crossing of the NT ridge. Most of the year it is without a householder, but on weekends there is almost always someone on it. In 2014, the last major reconstruction took place, with the replacement of the stove and the addition of thermal insulation. Whoever was in the cottage before the reconstruction must, like me, have a chin drop, so thank you for this great transformation.
Liptovská Teplička
We started the weekend transition on snowshoes, with the main goal – Králova hol ', sleeping in Andrejcová (shelter), in the village of Liptovská Teplička. This village (2,000 inhabitants), which is proud of the title of Village of the Year 2007, until recently had a functional ski slope, which unfortunately is now falling into disrepair. However, it is an excellent starting point for the NT ridge from the north side, but because the boarding paths are longer than from the south (Pohorelá, Šumiac, Telgárt), you will not meet many tourists here. And I just liked that.
Above Teplička
Following the blue tourist sign that leads from the ski slope, we climbed (some along the ski slope) to Sedlo pod Doštiankou. There, the yellow sign leads along the side ridge to Panská hol'a, which we reach after about 3 hours. It's a beautiful hike, no big climbs, no one anywhere, just crunching snow and rolling clouds with the rays of the penetrating sun, which are slowly beginning to reveal the views of the landscape.
On the way to Panská hol'a
The boys who climbed the piste have a smaller lead and so they are waiting for us in the sitting area … as well as the local cross-country skiers, who went for a ride before lunch :)
Budnárka
The winter path (partly trodden by ski mountaineers) leads mostly through the forest, to this Budnárka mountain hut, which is equipped for emergency accommodation, there are stoves and a supply of wood. We sit inside (the temperature is the same as outside), eat something and move on. It's about two hours and in less than two we are at Andrejcová. The path continues directly from the cottage, where we fall down a steep but short hill into the valley to the blue mark, after which we continue to the stream, which we cross and begin to climb the traverse to the main ridge.
Finally the Tatras
When we get higher, the panoramas we came for finally start to appear. However, I didn't even hope that we would have the Tatras in sight almost all the time from now on :)
Andrejcová 10 minutes or an hour
We connect to the main ridge and we are at the red tourist sign. We only have 10 minutes from the signpost to the finish. We are very happy to stretch these 10 minutes for an hour and do what we enjoy and what we finally have enough time for :) We take photos and roll in the snow before the winter drives us to the cottage.
South view
A thick, falling blanket of clouds formed in the south, and in the north it became completely clear. But the temperature above was still the same, beautiful –13 ° C :)
Mainly take the right direction
For the less oriented, the cottage is clear … beer to the right, water to the left.
Finally (v) cozy
As I have already written, those who were not in the cottage before its reconstruction may not be able to fully appreciate its transformation. But when I compare sleeping on wooden bogies with running mice and broken stoves, I now felt like I was in a 5-star hotel. The receptionist (chateau) Vlado welcomed us with a smile, offered a great lentil soup, a homemade „žeruchovice“ as a digestif and a several-bed bed, in a heated room (a thin sleeping bag was enough). I'm not talking about beer here, that's a matter of course :). The price for food and accommodation is VOLUNTARY, for beer 2 €. What to write next? On the guitar wall, the table swayed in the style of „what the backpacks gave“ and we still welcomed other ski alpinists until we finally found out that we actually knew some of them. World is small. They all fit in (fits in good style), played the guitar, watched the stars and then fell asleep contentedly, waiting for the sunrise …
Morning
The night passed and I don't even know how (the earplugs) and at six we started to get up first. Vlado was so good that he got up with us and did not hesitate to come with an offer of sausages, tea or coffee for breakfast …
Charming colors
when the Tatras are asleep and you are no longer
Sunrise
The Tatras are waking up
Inversion
Yesterday's cloud in the south fell down, so we looked at it from the other side.
NT ridge - from Vápenice to Královo hol'u
Because one part wanted to go over the ridge to Královo hol'a and then back along the green to Teplička (which is quite a long route in winter), the other half, which hurried to Brno, decided for a shorter variant with an ascent to Velká Vápenica and back. across Panská hol'a into the valley to the ski slope in Teplička. This version is about 2 hours shorter. The variant via KH is lengthy mainly due to the endless descent from Velký Brunov to Teplička (about 6 km along a forest road) and I recommend it to physically fit individuals. Two boys walked this route upside down yesterday on sklialps (LT-KH-Andrejcová) and after arriving at the cottage they dropped out within an hour. Maybe you could use the car and get closer, but we didn't do it because of the snow.
On the way to Vápenice
Velká Vápenica is 1h45min from Andrejcová, which we will keep calm and still manage to take pictures.
The Great Limestone
After reaching our peak today, we return to the Priehybka saddle and turn to the blue mark (which is no longer trampled and is not even marked in winter). However, it is possible to estimate and with the help of GPS we will walk again to the Budnárka cottage, which we already know from yesterday, and where we will connect to our already known route.
Blue
The blue sign from the Priehybka saddle was (in my opinion) the most beautiful part of the hike … powder, which is almost a shame to enter, wonderful views …
Blue, down duvet and us
In addition to the track of squirrels, our tracks will now remain in the snow.
Blue
blue is good … we make our way „from the eye“ and go out right next to this mountain hut.
Blue
The blue sign will lead us out of the forest by a steeper descent to the stream, along which we walk about 500 m, where there is a visible turn (officially unmarked) back to the cottage Budnárka. For a while we climb again and after a while the cottage is in front of us.
Back to Teplička
From Budnárka we follow the same path along the yellow road and after Panská hola we turn right into the valley, which will lead us directly under the ski slope, from where we set off. You could ski down the valley beautifully, but we also meet a lot of local hikers.
Final
What kind of event would it be if we ended it in a pub with dumplings. This time we will miss the Krajinka mountain hut in Ružomberok and visit the local restaurant by the ski slope (probably intended for former skiers). Anyway, the prices were very nice and the food as well, so we go to say goodbye to the locals where we slept and when we leave, we also meet the just arrived second group from the King's Club, which looks quite exhausted. I admire their pace, not that it would not work, but we preferred to enjoy it comfortably, without the tongue out :)