Gerlachovský štít

Where is Gerlachovský štít?

Gerlachovský štít is part of the High Tatras.

You will find it in: Slovakia.

Summit: 49.164° N, 20.134° E

The story behind it

The High Tatras are a small range with very steep peaks, and Gerlachovský štít sits at their heart, surrounded by a horseshoe of granite ridges that closes around a hidden valley. Glaciers polished this rock long ago and left behind round hollows, sharp crests and dozens of cold lakes that people in Slovakia call eyes of the sea. Chamois pick their way along the ledges, marmots whistle from the boulder fields and eagles circle above the slopes. The peak takes its name from the village of Gerlachov below it, and Slovak rules allow the climb only with a licensed mountain guide, because the last stretch is steep scrambling on loose stone with chains bolted into the rock. Thunderstorms build quickly on summer afternoons, so groups set off before sunrise and are usually back in the valley by midday.

Find it on the globe

Gerlachovský štít is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.

It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.