Suddenly it thundered.
Once, and then again. The heavens were ripped by a bolt of lightning.
We were almost in the sky. At the height of 2,000 m. We put on our raincoats and kept walking. We passed the Račkové plesá mountain lakes, where a playful chamois accompanied us for a while.
And then it thundered again.
Fiercely. It started to rain. And the raindrops trickled down our faces.
We stopped, looked, aghast at each other. We looked around us and sensed the white fog rolling down the green ridge to Klin mountain, enveloping us.
Klin mountain was our goal.
But we did not reach it. We were forced back, we retreated just shy of its summit.
In 1970, Reinhold Messner, with his younger brother Günther, started an expedition to the ninth highest mountain of the world, Nanga Parbat, the „killer mountain“. The expedition was connected with many complications and bad weather conditions. Because of heavy snow, they were forced to stay more than a week, hanging exposed from the middle of a stony wall.
But still, they reached the summit. The descend, was for the physically and psychically exhausted brothers, fatal. Günther died in an avalanche. And Reinhold was not able to find him. They reached the goal, but was it worth this price?
If they had decided not to hike and waited patiently for better conditions, they would have lived. Both.
Mountains are our teachers.
They teach us to be not only goal seeking and insistent, but also patient and humble.
She tried to reach the summit of K2 three times. She waited for the right moment. Patiently.
Finally, she succeeded on 25 July 2019 at 4:05.
Klára Kolouchová was the first woman of the former Czechoslovakia and twelfth woman in the world, who achieved the summit of K2, the „savage mountain.“
Hiking to the massive rocky mountain Klin, with its pyramid shape, located between the Račková and Gáborová dolina valleys, starts at the parking lot near the car camping in the Račková dolina valley. The large wooden statues, reminiscent of the Lego movie, will wink at you. You will take the blue and yellow marked hiking paths until you reach the highest located sheep chalet in Slovakia, the Chalet under Klin.
There you will have a rest and admire the pictures of local sheep-masters from the 19th century. You will walk up the stony path until you find yourself near the mountain lakes, Račkové plesá.
In the Račkové sedlo saddle you will take the red marked hiking path and after one hour you will stand on the summit. The majestic panoramic views above the clouds will be the reward for each drop of sweat.
The 2,176 m high Klin mountain is the highest mountain of the Polish part of the Western Tatras. The border between Slovakia and Poland cuts the mountain, called also Starobociański Wierch.
„Bang! It starts! I am full of energy and run with passion, only for a short while I feel „the heavy legs“, but this feeling disappears fast. I control my tempo and allocate the power to manage the race”, the trail runner Lucia Dobrucká says and adds: „under Klin mountain I drink a few drops of hot tea and continue following the direction to the Gáborov zadok pass. I look up, take a deep breath and ask, Klin, would you let me up today?“
In September, a few fiery trail runners stand on the start and run up to Klin mountain. They run, jump on the stones, walk, climb, sweat. It takes 3 hours. With modesty. With controlling of speed. Carefully. With joy and freedom all around you.
“Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”, is the French national motto, the motto of the French revolution.
Endurance, patience, and humbleness could be the motto of the mountains.
