The High Tatras or High Tatra Mountains ( Slovak: Vysoké Tatry; pl, Tatry Wysokie; rue, Высокі Татри,'' Vysoki Tatry''; hu, Magas-Tátra; german: Hohe Tatra; french: Hautes Tatras), are a

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have ari ...

along the border of northern

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

in the

Prešov Region The Prešov Region, also Priashiv Region ( sk, Prešovský kraj, ; hu, Eperjesi kerület; uk, Пряшівський край) is one of the eight Slovak administrative regions and consists of 13 districts (okresy) and 666 municipalities, 23 o ...

, and southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in the

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). It was created on 1 ...

. They are a range of the

Tatra Mountains The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - '' plurale tantum''), are a series of mountains within the Western Carpathians that form a natural border between Slovakia and Poland. They are the hi ...

chain.

Description

The mountain range borders the

Belianske Tatras , photo = Belianske Tatry from Jahňaci štít-captions sk.svg , photo_size = 250px , photo_caption = Muráň, Nový, Havran, Ždiarska Vidla peaks – beginning from the left , count ...

to the east, the Podtatranská kotlina to the south, and the Western Tatras to the west. Most of the range, and all the highest peaks, are in Slovakia. The highest peak is Gerlachovský štít, at .

Biogeography

The High Tatras, having 29 peaks over

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

are, with the

Southern Carpathians The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps; ro, Carpații Meridionali ; hu, Déli-Kárpátok) are a group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania. They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the Pr ...

, the only mountain ranges with an

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

character and

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s in the entire length of the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...

system. The first European cross-border

national park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

, Tatra National Park, was founded here with Tatra National Park (''Tatranský národný park'') in Slovakia in 1948, and Tatra National Park (''Tatrzański Park Narodowy'') in Poland in 1954. The contiguous parks protect

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

's trans-border Tatra

biosphere reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

. ;Fauna Many rare and

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

animals and plant species are native to the High Tatras. They include the Tatras' endemic

goat-antelope The subfamily Caprinae, also sometimes referred to as the tribe Caprini, is part of the ruminant family Bovidae, and consists of mostly medium-sized bovids. A member of this subfamily is called a caprine, or, more informally, a goat-antelope ...

and critically endangered species, the Tatra chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra tatrica''). Predators include Eurasian brown bear,

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...

marten A marten is a weasel-like mammal in the genus ''Martes'' within the subfamily Guloninae, in the family Mustelidae. They have bushy tails and large paws with partially retractile claws. The fur varies from yellowish to dark brown, depending on ...

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and fox. The

Alpine marmot The alpine marmot (''Marmota marmota'') is a large ground-dwelling squirrel, from the genus of marmots. It is found in high numbers in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, at heights between in the Alps, Carpathians, Tatras and No ...

is common in the range. ;Flora

Flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. ...

of the High Tatras includes: the

Tatra scurvy-grass (''Cochlearia tatrae''), yellow mountain saxifrage (''Saxifraga aizoides''), ground covering net-leaved willow (''Salix reticulata''),

Norway spruce ''Picea abies'', the Norway spruce or European spruce, is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 9–17 cm long. It is very close ...

(''Picea abies''), Swiss pine (''Pinus cembra''), and

European larch ''Larix decidua'', the European larch, is a species of larch native to the mountains of central Europe, in the Alps and Carpathian Mountains as well as the Pyrenees, with disjunct lowland populations in northern Poland and southern Lithuania. It ...

(''Larix decidua'').

Peaks

Highest peaks

The 15 highest peaks of the High Tatras—all located in Slovakia—are:

Other notable peaks

Kriváň Kriváň can refer to: * Kriváň (peak) Kriváň () is a mountain in the High Tatras, Slovakia, that dominates the upper part of the former Liptov County. Multiple surveys among nature lovers have ranked it as the country's most beautiful peak ...

, 2494 meters, also called Slovakia's "most beautiful mountain" * Rysy, the popular Polish−Slovak summit border crossing. Rysy has three peaks: the middle at 2,503 meters; the north-western at 2,499 meters; and the south-eastern at 2,473 meters. The north-western peak is the highest point of Poland. * Slavkovský štít, 2452 meters tall, within the

Tatra National Park, Slovakia Tatra(s) National Park ( sk, Tatranský národný park; abbr. TANAP) is one of the nine national parks in Slovakia. It is situated in North Central Slovakia in the Tatra Mountains. The park is important for protecting a diverse variety of flor ...

Mountain lakes

Major lakes

* Slovak lakes ** Štrbské pleso - 1,347 m, 20 m deep. ** Popradské pleso - 1,494 m, 17 m deep. **

Veľké Hincovo pleso Veľké Hincovo pleso is the biggest and deepest mountain lake of glacial origin in the High Tatras, Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in ...

- 1,945 m, 54 m deep. * Polish lakes ** Morskie Oko - 1,395 m, 51 m deep. **

Czarny Staw pod Rysami Czarny Staw pod Rysami (Black Lake below Mount Rysy) is a mountain lake on the Polish side of Mount Rysy in the Tatra mountains. At 1,583 m above sea level, it overlooks the nearby lake of Morskie Oko. Its maximum depth is 76 m. A walking path cir ...

- 1,583 m, 76 m deep. **

Wielki Staw Polski Wielki Staw Polski ( Polish: ''Wielki Staw Polski''; Slovakian: ''Veľký stav''; German: ''Großer Polnischer See''; Hungarian: ''Nagy-tó'') - is a tarn located in the High Tatras, at an elevation of 1,665 metres above sea level in the Valley ...

- 1,664 m, 79 m deep.

Other lakes

* Slovak lakes ** Zmrzlé pleso ** Ťažké pleso ** Ľadové pleso ** Batizovské pleso ** Veľké Spišské pleso - 2,019 m, 10 m deep. ** Veľké Žabie pleso (Mengusovské) - 1,921 m, 7 m deep ** Vyšné Bielovodské Žabie pleso - 1,699 m, 25 m deep. ** Nižné Bielovodské Žabie pleso - 1,675 m, 21 m deep. * Polish lakes ** Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy - 1,624 m, 51 m deep.

Transport

* By TEŽ ** Line : ''from'': Štrbské Pleso - ''to'': Poprad-Tatry ** Line : ''from'': Starý Smokovec - ''to'': Tatranská Lomnica * By OŽ ** Line : ''from'': Štrbské Pleso - ''to'': Štrba * By ŽSR ** Line : ''from'': Tatranská Lomnica - ''to'': Studený Potok or ''from'': Poprad-Tatry - ''to'': Plaveč

Culture

The area is well known for

winter sports Winter sports or winter activities are competitive sports or non-competitive recreational activities which are played on snow or ice. Most are variations of skiing, ice skating and sledding. Traditionally, such games were only played in cold a ...

Ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

s include Štrbské pleso,

Starý Smokovec Starý Smokovec (; german: Altschmecks; hu, Ótátrafüred; pl, Stary Smokowiec) is a part of the town of Vysoké Tatry in northern Slovakia in the Tatras. Its name is pronounced approximately "Star-EE Smoke-oh-vets", meaning "Old Smokovec". ...

and

Tatranská Lomnica Tatranská Lomnica (; hu, Tátralomnic, pl, Tatrzańska Łomnica) is a part of the town of Vysoké Tatry in northern Slovakia in the Tatras The Tatra Mountains (), Tatras, or Tatra (''Tatry'' either in Slovak () or in Polish () - ''plura ...

in Slovakia, and

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been ...

in Poland. The town of

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the t ...

is the gateway to the Slovak Tatra resorts. ;People The Górale people ("highlanders"), a group of indigenous people with a distinctive traditional culture, are of the High Tatras and other mountain ranges and valleys in the Tatra Mountains region. Ludwig Greiner identified Gerlachovský štít (Gerlachovský Peak) () as the highest summit of the

, and the entire

system. It is also the highest point of Slovakia. ;Places and services *

Vysoké Tatry (town) Vysoké Tatry (; hu, Magastátra, ; german: Höhe Tatra, ; pl, Wysokie Tatry, ; cs, Vysoké Tatry, ), formally Mesto Vysoké Tatry () is a town at the feet of the Slovak part of High Tatras in Slovakia including all the major resorts in that ...

* Orla Perć — ''tourist mountain path/trail''. * Tatra Volunteer Search and Rescue (Poland) * Mountain Rescue Service (Slovakia)

References

*"The Tatras: High, Western, Bela's" (1:50,000 hiking map); BBKart/Marco Polo; 2005.

External links

UNESCO — Natural Reserves of Tatras Mountains

Tatry.org: Tatry Open Directory

Tatry.sk: Official town of High Tatry website

TldTatry.sk: Tatra Cable Railways

High Tatra Mountains visualized in 3D

3D scan of Lomnický peak, one of the highest mountain peaks in the High Tatras mountains.

Images

Butkaj.com: photos of villages in the High Tatras
— ''after the 2004 storm calamity''. {{Authority control . Tatras, High Tatras, High Tatras, High Tatras, High Tatras, High Tatras, High Tatra Mountains