Koruna Turca – day 6
Wednesday, 23.10.2024
Chata pod Chlebom – Chata Javorina
→ 35,4 km ↑ 2167 m ↓ 2159 m – total 147,3 km
We actually manage to get up at 6am. It was fairly warm overnight with occasional gusts. The tent’s completely soaked with condensation and all our things are damp. We change straight away, Jozef gets breakfast ready and I pack. Then I go look for the kitten I’d been petting last night, and there it is.
We give it a slice of salami and we’re already friends. It winds around our legs so much that we give it a few more. It knows how to work us. Meanwhile we have breakfast, drink tea and finish packing. Unbelievably, we manage it all within the hour. We start with a climb on the yellow trail to Snilovské sedlo. The sun’s just coming up and the sky’s beautifully tinted pink. The clouds add to the magical atmosphere.
At Veľký Kriváň we photograph the cloud blanket below us and take a photo together.
Then the sky clouds over and we more or less stay in the clouds for the whole day. We just can’t seem to get good weather here in Malá Fatra. No matter, today we’re in a hurry and at least we stop less for photos. It’s about 10 km to Chata pod Suchým.
We continue through Malý Kriváň, Stratenec, Biele skaly all the way to Suchý. The last stretch is more technically demanding and we move slowly. The descent from Suchý is fairly unpleasant, over loose scree.
At 11am we’re already in the warmth of the hut. I have coffee and strapačky, and Jozef has a farmer’s platter and a beer. Half an hour later we head down, since we’re supposed to meet my brother Dávid in Strečno at 1pm, who’s bringing us a gas canister. We descend from the hut on the blue trail. We thought we’d chosen the easier route, but it’s more like an ankle-twister. It’s an unmaintained rocky path, covered in leaves. I go at a gentle jog to get it over with fast. Jozef falls behind and grumbles, since he’s the one who picked this route. Once we join the red trail lower down, we move fast alongside the Váh river.
In Strečno we first go shopping for the next two days and then head to the parking lot by the castle, where we’re meeting Dávid. Three little Heglas girls are waiting there too. Together we climb the stairs up toward the castle, top up water, and they walk with us a bit further to the turn-off.
It’s 2pm and we’ve still got 13 km and almost 1300 meters of elevation ahead. We choose the red route, which is a bit gentler than the alternative. Even so, we start with a solid climb and then join a forest road that feels endless.
After 6 km and 800 meters of climbing we reach Javorina pass and take a break for bread with salami. From here the route’s very familiar to us, since we ran it a month ago during Big Bear’s Ultra. And we know exactly how nasty a climb is waiting for us. There’s logging going on here, so we go a bit off the marked trail, bypassing it the same way we did during the race.
Gradually the route eases off and we move a bit faster. At Minčol it looks like we might get above the clouds, but no luck. When we ran this, it felt shorter somehow. From here it’s still 4 kilometers to the hut.
We’d originally wanted to sleep in the tent by the hut, but all our things are damp, the tent weighs double from this morning’s condensation, and there was no time or conditions to dry it today. At 5:30pm we reach Chata Javorina. We have a beer and ask about a room. The waitress and the hut keeper exchange glances, guessing it’s just the two of us here. It is. I’d actually thought about calling ahead yesterday. So the hut keeper stays with us and the waitress arranges her ride home. We put the tent to dry in the boiler room and the shoes on a special boot radiator. Second day in a row with a shower, even though my legs look like I haven’t washed them in a week. No wonder, the shoes already have holes in several spots. Then we go have dinner, I get lentil soup and pancakes, and Jozef gets bean soup and a amazing segedin goulash. We watch the news while eating and our brains basically shut off, so we turn it off instead and chat with the hut keeper about hiking, shoes and injuries. Before 9pm we head to bed. In the room I still edit photos and write the blog, but it’s like pulling teeth, so I leave it for tomorrow.
