Gerlachovský štít, Slovakia. Anybody climbed it?

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 JohnnyW 20 Feb 2020

My pal and I are looking at trying to climb this later in the summer, and there seems to be an awful lot of red tape, as well as some tricky route finding and loose rock. Apart from all this, I am sure it will be great!

Has anyone done it, and can offer any advice at all. I have read Summitpost, and have my McKeating and Crolla book, but anything more up to date would be much appreciated.

 Babika 20 Feb 2020
In reply to JohnnyW:

Have a look at the UKC logbook for Gerlach. 

I did Galfy Route and wrote up quite a bit of info to help future ascentionists. An absolutely brilliant day out - truly fantastic - even though I was knackered after 16 hours!

OP JohnnyW 21 Feb 2020
In reply to Babika:

Thanks. I had looked at that, but it originally only came up with the blank summit entry. Odd. Sounds a cracking day.

We intend doing the 'Normal' route up and down, as we won't have that much time.

 Mike Lates 21 Feb 2020
In reply to JohnnyW:

Make sure you get the right start with a recce night beforehand then get an early start before the guides. In summer there really aren't many operating because all the younger guides are off in the Alps. 

The ascent is pretty direct and obvious with a lot of grade 1& 2 ground and odd sections of grade 3. Have short amount of rope ready to protect these moves. Can't remember if in situ gear or not; I suspect they will have some bolts in there now sadly.

The traverse section to the summit is quite prolonged and complex because it doesn't follow the crest. Instead it goes across a series of ribs that make anticipation quite blind. I got tempted up to the crest a few times before I got the hang of it. The key on a lot of Tatry routes is to make sure you're on the worn route. Sounds obvious but, again not obvious. One of my fave tactics is to glance back whenever in doubt; from above the line is far more visible, pale in a sea of darker granite (apologies Slovak geologists if that's not quite accurate).

Reversing didn't seem so bad because of this benefit and we downclimbed the whole route back to the valley rather than abseiling. Under 6 hours but we were shifting pretty fast so allow 8hrs.

OP JohnnyW 21 Feb 2020
In reply to Mike Lates:

Thanks Mike, appreciated. Is there a 'lite' option I wonder......? :0

 Babika 21 Feb 2020
In reply to JohnnyW:

Are you trying to do the 50 summits? 

If so, there's no way round this one - no cable cars taking you high up or shorter/ easier entry from the other side. ...sorry

However you will have an amazing time whether the "voie normale" scramble or harder and longer 20 pitch rock route we did.

It's simply a superb mountain - we never met a soul all day and that's pretty special on a national high point. 

Good luck!

Post edited at 16:56

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