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Published: February 13th 2010
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Rozcestník
The first signpost on the way to the top of Praděd. By the above title I mean to say "the highest mountain
in Moravia" and "the God
of Moravia" (I don't really know who that is..)
This weekend has turned out not to be too much of a language test, I just haven't been speaking much.. instead it turned out to be more of an endurance test filled with walks through landscapes whose off-the-track ground currently bears between 80cm and 3 metres of snowfall. The day temperatures are fine as long as you wear enough layers (maybe around -5 at the lowest), the paths are fine to walk on as long as you can work out where they are, and the air is squeaky clean.
We arrived to Vrbno on thursday after a hectic journey featuring a domino chain of delays and running around stations to catch connecting trains which also, luckily, were all delayed or waiting for us. We had some welcome Slivovice after which we just blacked out. The next morning Jitka's brother Michal and his girlfriend Miška went off to work, and we set out on a trek out of the town and the outlying village into the forest, which was just sublime - the exact kind
Half-death
Random clumps of trees in this forest had been completely destroyed by the nuclear wind from Chernobyl in 1986. of picturesque snow-covered taiga wood you would expect had you only seen Czech countryside by summer before. We followed a path towards a hill named "Medvědi Vrch" as far as we could until we came to a point where it was simply blocked off by a wall of snow, suggesting no one had set foot there for weeks. However to the right, cross-country ski trails led us up a sub-trail up the hill, which took us up a winding path into a clump of trees filled with bouncing hares - an animal I'd never seen in the wild before. We walked for 30 minutes or so until the ski trails stopped and the path became unclear - so much that Jitka (a veteran orienteer) directed us down a "trail" of hare footprints which led us into a tree, so we just had an epic snowball fight and hopped back down. We spent that evening recovering, watching films and drinking wine.
Today the four of us went to aim a bit higher - we took a 15 minute drive to a bus stop in the middle of nowhere which was picking up skiers and snowboarders and taking them to a
Magic Mushroom Rozcestník
The signpost on the peak - notice the drastic difference in appearance! small resort in the very heights of Jeseníky. As we went, the trees became more and more floppy and looked more and more like mutant snowmen, except for a few clumps which had been permanently destroyed by the wind carrying nuclear radiation from the Chernobyl disaster.
At the top, we followed a wide path kept flat by cross country skiers, other hikers and ski scooters, which led us across the piste all the downhill skiers and snowboarders on the bus were clammering for, then further up the hill. The views were almost nonexistant due to the fog, but even the slopes leading down into the forest were spectacular enough for me. While the path was fine to walk on, rulers sticking into the ground confirmed that the snow in the trees was indeed a metre deep, so we were only physically able to do this hike thanks to there being a ski resort on the mountain. We passed signpost after signpost which began to look more and more like snowy magic mushrooms every time, and after 2 hours, reached the top, straddled by a huge viewing tower which simply ascended into the looming stratus cloud 3 metres above our
Praděd
This is what we could see of the tower head. On the three days of the year when the sky over the whole of central Europe is clear, it is possible to see as far as the Alps from the top of this tower.
We went inside for a drink then hopped down again. Got home knackered. I think we're planning to hit the Vrbno nightlife later on after some food.
Going back to Prague tomorrow feels weird.
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Aaron
non-member comment
Awesome!
Hay ZeiB, I just read through the last three blog entries, sounds like you are having an awesome time out there man. You write really well by the way, you should get started on a book. Keep us updated please :-) A