| Kriváň | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,495 m (8,186 ft) |
| Prominence | 410 m (1,350 ft) |
| Isolation | 6.75 km (4.19 mi) to Ťažký štít |
| Coordinates | 49°09′46″N19°59′59″E / 49.16278°N 19.99972°E /49.16278; 19.99972 |
| Naming | |
| Etymology | "angled" |
| Geography | |
  Kriváň Location in Slovakia | |
| Location | Poprad/Liptovský Mikuláš,Prešov/Žilina,Slovakia |
| Parent range | High Tatras |
| Geology | |
| Mountain type | granite |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | Andreas Jonas Czirbes, 1772 / 1773 |
| Easiest route | Hike fromŠtrbské Pleso |
Kriváň (pronunciationⓘ) is a mountain in theHigh Tatras,Slovakia, that dominates the upper part of the formerLiptov County. Multiple surveys among nature lovers have ranked it as the country's most beautiful peak. Readily accessible along maintained marked trails and with the exceptional vistas afforded from its summit, it is the hikers' favorite mountain in the western part of the High Tatras. Kriváň has also been a major symbol in Slovak ethnic and national activism for the past two centuries. It has been referenced in works of art from 19th-century literature, through paintings, film documentaries, to a Polish rock track. A country-wide vote in 2005 selected it to be one of the images onSlovakia's euro coins.
The name Kriváň, first recorded asKriwan in 1639, is derived from the rootkriv- meaning "bent" or "crooked". It reflects the angled appearance of its shape when viewed from the west and south, characterized in the work from 1639 as an "oxtail" (cauda bubula in the Latin original).[1] The Slovak name is used in other languages including in Polish, rather than its potentialPolonized version (Krzywań), except occasionally inPodhale in the immediate vicinity of the Tatras.[2]
Two adjacent peaks in the nearbyMalá Fatra range carry the same name - Veľký Fatranský Kriváň and Malý Fatranský Kriváň, and so does the village ofKriváň further away in southern Slovakia.
Based merely on visual observation, Kriváň competed for the status of the highest mountain in theHigh Tatras withLomnický štít, which dominates the view from the east, until 1793 when the latter was accurately identified as the higher of the two (but wrongly as the highest peak in the mountain range, an error corrected byLudwig Greiner in 1837):
[Kriváň] is generally said to be the highest of all the Alps in the Carpathian chain; but this opinion is not supposed to be founded upon any measurement.[3]
The relative elevations of the two mountains were determined by the English natural historianRobert Townson, who ascended both peaks in August 1793 and also made an early recorded comment on Kriváň's aesthetic appeal:
The weather was very fine, and the Krivan, having got in the night a cap of snow, looked sublime. [...] 1888 yards above the village of Vasetz [Važec]; the Krivan is therefore something lower than the Lomnitz Peak [Lomnický štít].[3]
The exact elevation of Kriváň is currently recognized as 2,494.7 metres (8,184.7 ft)[4]
Kriváň is believed to have the greatest height from its base in the whole Tatras, as it rises from the bottom of theKôprova valley or fromTri Studničky up to 1,400 metres (4,600 feet).
A travel bookUngarisher oder Dacianisher Simplicissimus written by Daniel Georg Speer in 1693 mentions a current legend (may have more ancient roots) explaining how Krivan got its shape. Lucifer (the carrier of light) flew over Tatras carrying some people to hell. His foot tripped on the tip of Krivan which got bent, and losing his balance he dropped the sinners who populated since the county of Liptov. Records of explorations by miners in the Kriváň massif date to the first half of the 15th century. Their presence increased during the gold rush of the 16th century. Although they may not have been the first to do so, it is probable that some of the miners reached the top of Kriváň; remnants of their shacks have survived below Priehyba Ridge at the elevation of about 2,000 m (6,560 ft.) through the present, and the highest, long abandoned, Terézia Shaft is merely about 60 m (200 ft.) below the summit. The commercial exploitation of the meager deposits discovered at Kriváň proved to be barely viable. It was abandoned in the 18th century.[5]
The Scottish doctor Townson who ascended it in 1793 provided some evidence that Kriváň was already a recognized occasional destination for tourists in the second half of the 18th century. His guide fromVažec had been to the top several times before and Townson saw him collect small coins from under a summit stone where hikers would leave them for luck.[3] The first recorded ascent of Kriváň was by the Lutheran Pastor Andreas Jonas Czirbes fromSpišská Nová Ves on 4 August 1773.[6]
The first celebrity to attempt ascent of Kriváň was the 30-year-old HabsburgArchduke Joseph in 1806, but the plan was abandoned due to inclement weather although parts of the winding road to the old gold mine high on the slopes had already been improved and a campsite built.[5] The firstVIP actually to reach the summit was the 43-year-old KingFrederick Augustus II of Saxony in 1840. The plaque placed at the top to commemorate the first monarch who stood there was gradually destroyed by activists in the 1850s-1860s, who would have wished the inscription to include a comment in Slovak and who objected to where the inscription spoke of the Hungarian (ethnic) nation in reference to all the subjects of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Lower noblemanGašpar Fejérpataky-Belopotocký [sk], an influential publisher based atLiptovský Mikuláš 20 miles from Kriváň, and his six friends climbed to the top of Kriváň on 24 Sept. 1835, which he described in the literary journalHronka in 1837. The account may have stimulated its readers who lived farther away to follow their steps.[7]
The ascent that became most memorable in Slovak culture was byĽudovít Štúr, then a 25-year-old teaching assistant of Slovak at the Bratislava LutheranLýceum (a preparatory high school and college). In the summer of 1841 he traveled through the Slovak counties with his private Greek student Prince Aristarchos and stopped at Michal Miloslav Hodža's parish at Liptovský Mikuláš, whose younger brother Juraj was Štúr's student at the lýceum.[8] Štúr and a group of locals, Fejérpataky Belopotocký among them, hiked to the top of Kriváň on 16 August, its first recorded ascent that included women.
A similar hike, without Štúr, took place the following year, and then sporadically later. Their organizers called them "national excursions" with increasing frequency. They were constituted as an annual late-August event by the authorities atPoprad in 1955 in order to commemorate the anniversary of theuprising of 1944.[9] The attendance reached 480 people in 1981.[2] They have continued with a broader national designation through the present. The National Ascent of Kriváň (Národný výstup na Kriváň) is an annual two-day event on the third weekend in August organized by the Slovak Tourist Club,Matica slovenská, and the towns ofVysoké Tatry andLiptovský Mikuláš. The number of persons allowed to ascend the summit on each of the event days is limited to 300.[10]
The three marked hiking routes to Kriváň start at different locations, but all ultimately converge at the elevation of about 2,145 m (7,035 ft.) for the final ca. 350-meter (1,150-foot) steep, rocky ascent to the summit − the only segment where both hands may be needed to maintain balance in places.
The historical winding road built by miners for horse-drawn ore carts and used by hikers in the past, including the participants of the revered 1841 excursion, is between the green and blue trails and links up with thegreen trail above the timberline below Priehyba Ridge.[12] The road is not marked, theTatra National Park management decreed it off limits. It is partly obscured by shrubbymountain pines at higher elevations.
Kriváň has been favored by those appreciative of its aesthetic and historical allure, as well as by those who seek vistas from the top. Polls of nature lovers at large as well as of connoisseurs have consistently rated it as Slovakia's most beautiful mountain.[13] The 360-degree view from the top is among the best in Slovakia with the scenery ranging from the populated valleys of upperLiptov,Spiš, and distant parts ofPodhale, to the rugged drops of its north face, and many of the notable peaks of theTatras includingGiewont overZakopane,Rysy,Lomnický štít, andGerlach, the highest peak of theCarpathians. The panorama is framed by theWestern andLow Tatras, and by mountain ranges beyond them in good visibility.[14]
The mountain is mentioned byNikolai Gogol as the abode of twoCossack brothers, Ivan and Petro, in his short story 'The Terrible Vengeance', written in 1832.[15]
Afterlower nobleman Gašpar Fejérpataky Belopotocký (1794–1874) published an account of his 1835 ascent of Kriváň in the literary journalHronka in 1837, its editor-in-chief Karol Kuzmány (1806–1866) wrote thenovellaLadislav (1838), whose title character, taking the long way home from Italy via Germany and the PolishPodhale, hikes to the summit of Kriváň where he and his friends talk about brotherhood among theSlavs, sing arousing songs, and imbibeTokaj wine. Both works may have motivated the hike byĽudovít Štúr and friends in 1841 that inspired him to write two poems published in 1842.[16]Romantic poets soon became fervent admirers of the eye-catching mountain. Eugen V. Šparnensis (1827-after 1853) called Kriváň a marker of his homeland, the Slovaks were "Kriváň's children" forJanko Kráľ,Samo Chalupka's poem saw the mountain as a symbol of their place among the nations.[17]
The significance the intellectuals began to ascribe to Kriváň and its images they created were gradually adopted by popular culture. An early instance is the poemOh, Below Kriváň (Hej, pod Kriváňom; originally:Hej, pod Muráňom) by Samuel Tomášik (1813–1887), which came to be seen as an anonymous folk song[18] and is sometimes featured as such on folk albums. Likewise, the Polish poemKriváň, High Kriváň! (Krywaniu, Krywaniu wysoki!) byKazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer[19] was labeled as a folk song and the author of the verses was not credited when its rock version bySkaldowie was released in 1972.[20]
The short filmUp the North Face of Kriváň (Severnou stenou na Kriváň; 1947) directed by Karol Skřipský with original music by Šimon Jurovský documented the first winter ascent of the Kriváň North Face, which, unlike the southern slopes of the massif, requires technical climbing. The mountain featured as an attractive backdrop in several films includingNative Country (Rodná zem; dir. Josef Mach, 1954). It has appeared in numerous paintings, including by Ján Hála (1946),Miloš Alexander Bazovský (1956), Andrej Doboš (1967), and Ladislav Čemický (1979).[21] The role of Kriváň in popular awareness and high culture was highlighted when a country-wide vote in 2005 selected it to be one of the images on Slovakia'seuro coins.[22]
.svg)
He shuddered all over when just ahead of him the Carpathian Mountains appeared, and tall Krivan, its crown covered with a gray cloud as a cap; and his horse raced on and was already roaming in the mountains.
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