Tatry [antikvár]

LETO / ODDYCH / KRASA Nik nevie presne, preco si clovek tieto hory tak vel'mi zamiloval. / V obdobi sneznej zimy bolo by to este pochopitel'né: jednoducho chce si zalyzovaf, spúst'af sa z vysav pol'ahky dosiahnutel'nych horskymi dopravnymi zariadeniami a vychutnávat' rozkos zo samohybného pohybu. / No ale V úpeku lata ? / A práve vtedy V húfoch coraz mohutnejsích stverá sa, krôcik za krôcikom, ta do nadoblacnych vysin, aby potom nasyteny panoramatickymi pohl'admi a rozhl'admi blazene, krôcik za krôcikom, zostúpil. / Popravde treba priznaf — nepatria ani k privysokym, ani k rozlozitym pohoriam ; na horopisnej mape sveta sa nacisto strácajú, darmo sú najvyssím pohorím mohutného, tisícdvesto kilometrov dlhého Karpatského oblúka, a zároven najvyssím vnútrozemskym pohorím Európy, darmo ich konciare dosahujú a miestami vysoko prekracujú dvetisíc metrov nadmorskej vysky. / Nepatria ani k najstarsím na Zemi, aj ked vznikli V perióde karbónu mladsích prvohôr a ich vek sa odhaduje prinajmenej na tristo miliónov rokov, a niektoré glaciálne a endemické reliktné druhy a poddruhy v nich sa nachádzajúce sa dozili aj stodvadsatstyritisíc rokov. / Majú vsak sympaticky spolocny názov. / Tatry. / Vysoké. Belianske. Západné. Nízke. THE TATRAS - SUMMER, REST, BEAUTY Nobody knows exactly why man has lately become so fond of these mountains. / During the snowy winter, it could be easily understood: he just wants to have a ski, to get down from the heights to be easily reached by the mountain means of transport, and to relish the pleasure of the self-propelled movement. / But what about the heat of the summer? / And exactly then, in denser and denser crowds, step by step, man ascends up there, to the heights over the clouds, to descend then happily step by step, after having been satisfied by panoramic views and prospects. / In fact, it must be acknowledged, the Tatras belong neither to too high, nor to very expansive mountain ranges. On the orographic map of the world they absolutely disappear, in vain are they the highest range of the big, one thousand two hundred kilometres long Carpathian curve, in vain do their summits reach, and here and there highly overpass, the altitude of two thousand metres above sea level. / They do not even belong to the oldest ones on the Earth, though they arose in the period of the Carboniferous of the Earlier Paleozoic Era, and their age is estimated to be at least three hundred million years, and some glacial and endemic relic species and subspecies found in them had lived for a hundred and twehty-four thousand years. / Buttheyhaveapleasant-soundingcommonname. / The Tatras. / The Hi^i Tatras. The Belianske Tatras. The Western Tatras. The Low Tatras. Hardly will anybody be willing to admire mountains and to climb them up because of their name, however sweet-sounding it might resound. So why are the four Tatra brothers paid such an attention and, are treated with such a respect? / Each season of the year gives an individual charm to all high mountains. Nevertheless — as sky-high mountains — also the Tatras should be the most attractive to the visual perception in their varied summer clothes. Inspite of the fact, that the visitor will be deprived of a thousand different kinds of beauty, colour, and emotion, / of the glittering of ice crystals of white-shining hoar-frost, / of the orange-red sun gleam on the endless snowy carpet at dawn, / of the blue-violet veil, spread on the same carpet at dusk, / of the chimes of freezing, yet still denuded sight holes in the middle of the torrent, / of the limpidity of the air in a severe frost, / of the stalactite lace covering the view from the chalet window, / of the whiz of ski on the down-hill race track as quick as lightning, / of the heat on the cheeks, the heat of the chilling wind, / of the meetings with snowmen, sleds, snow tractors, / inspite of this everything and many other things, not mentioned here, the Tatra high summer sky will liberally compensate the visitor. He will be compensated first by the opening to the public of the whole chain of ranges and summits, which have been untouchable for the infinitely long winter, lasting continually more than two hundred days. He will be led to them by marked, maintained, mostly comfortable tourist paths, and to the summits with more exceptional position, by foot bridges, iron chains, or qualified mountain guides. / He will be compensated by the views of the flora of the high Carpathians, of the wealth of really uncommon beauties, of snow-white, but also of white with a tinge of violet or bluish, azure, navy blue, blue-violet, red-violet, pure violet, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, pure green, or of combinations of various colours and their tinges, shining even in the highest places. / And he will also be compensated by the views of basins of various shapes, filled with pure water, that are remnants of the ice-age. Their origine is due to the activity of glaciers. They are found in all zones — in woods, dwarf-pine, bare rocks — and they are tenderly called tarns. They create the most expressive decoration of the high mountains. There are about a hundred and twenty of them in the High and Western Tatras, only very few in the Low Tatras, and none in the Belianske Tatras. It is the consequence of the different development of the four mentioned brothers. He who has not seen their surfaces, he has not seen the Tatras, he has never been to the Tatras. There is always something to be admired. Here down, wild torrents, cascades, swift currents of the rivers, waterfalls. Up there, higher, moraines, valley dikes, terraces, amphitheatres, suspended valleys, strange rocky formations, chimneys, ribs, wells, debris, terrain breaks, stone seas. And rocky walls, torn to pieces, bizarre towers, saddles and peaks, granite sheets and huge round rocks, rounded by glaciers, big pillars and conical places of debris, shaped by the weathered granite and gneiss matters. / And the pure air there far away, high on the boundary of the Alpine and sub-nival vegetative zone, mainly in the end of summer when the weather is stable, when rare precipitations create optimal conditions for long tours, and the sough of the bora winds, and rolling wreaths, reminding of the eternal resurrection of the giant. / Perhaps this everything - on the whole, and in details