Restricted Access in Tatras

Access to the most crowded Tatra National Park summits, Giewont, Orla Perc and Rysy, is being restricted for safety reasons, Gazeta Wyborcza quoted park director Pawel Skawinski as stating.

The holidays produce the most intense traffic in the Tatra mountains. And up to 60 percent of the 2.5 mln tourists visiting the highest Polish mountains every year go there in the summer. Skawinski says crowds on the trails increase the risk of falls. Volunteers this summer are helping keep the Giewont ascent safe by limiting the number of Giewont climbers to 50. The volunteers also are closing trails during hazardous weather conditions, such as heavy rainstorms. Skawinski says this is the first time that volunteer help has been sought, but it won’t be the last one as there is a lot of work to do in the Tatra in the summertime. About 50 volunteers from throughout Poland are helping keep order in the park in exchange for a free stay in Zakopane (capital city of the Tatra mountains). The volunteers are wearing Tatra National Park T-shirts, have special IDs, and they are receiving radio telephones to communicate with the park guards more efficiently.