The Tatras are a compact, sharply sculpted range on the border of Poland and Slovakia, the highest mountains in either country. In Marcin Kęsek’s photographs, sharp summits float above seas of cloud while the last warm light catches the snow on the ridges.
Marcin Kęsek’s Tatra mountain photographs
Kęsek, a landscape photographer whose portfolio is on 500px, is drawn to the cloud inversions of the Tatras. On these mornings and evenings the valleys fill with mist, and the peaks stand out in dark layers against an orange or pink sky. His wider frames swap the drama for green foothills, forest and water below the distant skyline.
Tatra Mountains facts: peaks and national parks
The range covers about 785 km², roughly 78% of it in Slovakia and 22% in Poland. Small as it is, it holds true alpine scenery:
- Gerlachovský štít, 2,655 m, in Slovakia, is the highest peak of the Tatras.
- Rysy, 2,499 m on the border, is the highest point of Poland and the highest summit reached by a marked trail.
- Giewont, 1,895 m, is Poland’s “national mountain”, nicknamed the Sleeping Knight.
- In the High Tatras, around two dozen peaks top 2,500 m.
Both sides are protected. Slovakia’s Tatra National Park (TANAP) was founded in 1949 and Poland’s Tatra National Park (TPN) in 1954; together they form a transboundary UNESCO biosphere reserve. The Polish side alone receives more than five million visitors a year.
Zakopane, Morskie Oko and the trails
Zakopane, often called Poland’s winter capital, is the base for the Polish Tatras. Rail service from Kraków arrived in 1899, and the town is known for its wooden Zakopane-style architecture, pioneered by Stanisław Witkiewicz, and for its Goral highland culture. The Kasprowy Wierch cable car, completed in 1936, climbs to a 1,987 m summit with skiing in winter, and a funicular has run up Gubałówka hill since 1938.
Morskie Oko, at 1,395 m, is the most famous lake in the range, set beneath peaks rising about 1,000 m above it. It is about a two-hour walk from the nearest road, or a ride by horse-drawn cart, and draws more than 50,000 visitors in the holiday season. Above it lies Czarny Staw pod Rysami, the start of the climb to Rysy.
The Orla Perć (Eagle’s Path), built between 1903 and 1906, is the hardest marked trail in the Tatras. It is marked in red, and over 100 people have died on it since it opened.
Best time to visit the Tatras
Polish trails stay open all year, while most Slovak trails close from 1 November to 31 May, so summer and early autumn are the main hiking season. Expect changeable mountain weather: rain falls on more than 200 days a year and thunderstorms are common in summer. Winter turns the range into serious terrain, with temperatures down to −40 °C on the summits and frequent avalanches, so check the current avalanche forecast and go with a guide on high routes.
Explore more: Jakub Polomski’s Aiguille du Midi series; The Scale of Nature.
Related reading: Winter in the Karkonosze: Snow, Summit Buildings and Borderland Views.
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