Tatra savoir-vivre

Going on vacation, we all want to rest. Not only from work – tables, translations, or house designs – but also from stress, planning the day with a watch in your hand, hurry. Some of us, which can be clearly seen in Zakopane, would also like to take a break from all rules, norms, prohibitions and orders. We deserved it. We adhere to the rules prevailing in our company for a whole year, children are constantly restricted at school. If we spend money earned by the sweat of our brow on vacation at the Tatras, then perhaps we can finally be ourselves, feel free. Yes and no.

Where does your freedom end?

Alexis de Tocqueville, a French thinker and diplomat, already in the nineteenth century said “human freedom ends where freedom of the other man begins.” This slogan is a good match for today and it should perhaps be included as an additional point in the regulations of the Tatra National Park. Basically explaining all the others. Probably, one should add the freedom of animals, primitive and lawful inhabitants of the Park.

When studying the regulations of the Tatra park located on the boards near the ticket offices to the park, one can get the impression that it is simply repressive, prohibiting “everything”. Let’s take a look at some of its points and let’s explain a little bit more about why each of them is important.

Fire?

We will start with the recipe which probably the most problematic. We can read on the boards and the Tatra National Park website: “Do not smoke, do not use open fire, except for designated and marked places”. Why? One reason is almost trivial, it’s about a fire hazard. The second – also, the park where the fag-ends kick around is not a park, just a garbage dump, and therefore not a place that you want to visit and relax there. But there is also a third reason – difficult to bear, irritating and annoying for all non-smokers, and also poisonous smoke. The air in the Tatra is wonderful, it is just next to beautiful panoramas the greatest value of this area. For people living in cities, even in Zakopane, a trip to the mountains is a unique opportunity to breathe in fresh, fragrant air, not cigarettes. Perhaps the smokers do not realize this, but in the harsh, mountain air, the fragrance particles move many hundreds of meters, sometimes a streak of cigarette smell stretches behind the breaking regulations tourist even half a kilometer. Often he is not seen for a long time, but the “smell” does remain. Do you need a lot of imagination to understand other people on the trail? They came to the mountains to commune with nature, wildlife – and if someone does smoke it is the same as in the city, stifling cigarette smoke. We will omit health issues, everyone knows that active and passive smoking is harmful. Therefore, neither collecting cigarette butts to a bottle or a plastic bag, nor smoking only if they go through some sections alone does not justify smoking. If the smell of cigarettes seems pleasant, let’s imagine something else we do not particularly like – hydrogen sulfide, tar or pigsty – and let’s think that it could persecute us on the trail, where we went to rest and enjoy fresh air. Nice?

Music of the brook

The second recipe that causes problems is asking for silence. On the trails, actually every day, you can find fans of loud music from the smartphone, or – bizarre but true – from a loudspeaker with a sub-woofer placed in a backpack (that accompanied a group of sportsmen dressed in T-shirts with a state emblem). And again, there are obvious reasons – like the one that you cannot scare off animals and you have to let them rest out-of-the-way place, because they sleep now, to live their secret life at night. But there are also less trivial reasons – for example, respect for people who go to the mountains to silently observe the nature and sometimes to resolve their life’s difficult topics, pray or meditate. The Tatra Mountains, due to their majestic beauty and power, are a great place to do so. Music? It accompanies us everywhere else. In cafes, stations, in transport, shops. However, if this is not enough and we simply cannot endure the sound of birds singing or wind and streams – put on well-insulated headphones. Let’s enjoy ourselves without hurting others.

Do you hear me, I’m on Giewont!

The situation is slightly different in communicating on the trail. There are pairs, groups that can communicate with each other in a low voice. So that they can only be heard by people walking two meters alongside. But there are also tourists who can be heard from a distance of three hundred meters. In the mountains, the noise resonates, reflects off the rock walls. The pain in the neck is especially gentlemen with a horrible voice, who necessarily have to share a comment with a friend, wife, or child walking 10 meters in front of them. Or young girls whose giggles and squeals are probably heard in Poronin. There are also fans of games who, risking stumble on the trail, go with their eyes fixed on the smartphone, from which come the characteristic sounds of cheering and voice of the commentator, full of emotions. Children are also very spontaneous to express joy, but if they shout too loudly – maybe they are not grown up yet to walk in the mountains? Undoubtedly everyone has the right to a good mood, he is desirable, but there are different, more subtle ways of manifesting it. The only creature that has the right to roar in the Tatra is deer on a rut and a bear. Of course, everyone will also accept the noise of the TOPR helicopter approaching to help. But, going to the mountains we do not necessarily want to integrate with other people sharing the trail with us – to a degree to learn stories of marital disputes, legends about health problems, divorces behind the scenes, accounting guidelines given over the phone or memories of a grand party. Let’s think if we want everyone to know about it. Maybe it is worth going to the mountains to put down lowland matters for a few hours? Focus on what surrounds us and what we have been waiting for many months – smell of herbs, dwarf mountain pine, silence, bird rustle or lizards in the bushes, clatter of insects, colors of sky, clouds, amazing rock formations. This will certainly not happen in the city, so even if it does not impress us, let us think about those who want to soak up the beauty of the Tatra with every cell of the body.

Mountains for demolition

Another “controversial” recipe seems to be a ban on collecting flowers, picking up fragments of rocks “in remembrance”, eating fruit from a bush. Imagine, however, what would happen if everyone, let us emphasize everyone visiting the park – decided to make a bouquet. And take one pebble, maybe two. Let’s multiply it by hundreds of thousands of tourists a year. What would remain?

You will endure!

It is not known why on the notice boards at the entrances we will not find a crossed out icon visible usually on the toilet door. Perhaps the management of the park doesn’t believe that you can go to the bushes “in need” in the national park, maybe they think that the ban on littering already contains in itself also this sensitive issue. Recall – physiological needs can be arranged in numerous shelters, portable toilets located in many places near the entrance to the trails. And only there.
The odor of human excrement is a signal of threat to wild animals. Rather, we do not have to be afraid that at the “strategic moment” a she-bear defending the young will attack us. But it may happen that the mother of a small lynx or a fawn will abandon him in the lair, she will be afraid to return to where she left him and the little one could not cope alone. It will die. We will not die refusing to take a stop in the bushes. We do not have to refrain from drinking – most of the water will evaporate through the skin with increased effort.

Keep straight!

From time to time, the subject of a ban on drinking alcohol in shelters is coming back. It arouses the horror of many lovers of mountain trips. There is something very pleasant about drinking beer and supplementing the missing micro-elements in this way. However, it would be wise to plan this pleasure at the end of the trip, when we do not have to overcome any demanding route. For safety. It is easy to lose balance in the mountains even without alcohol. For sure we should give up drinking when we have little time to return before dark, when we look after children and when we are just weak, we are very tired, or we do not feel confident in the mountain terrain. The beer will wait, down in Zakopane there is no shortage of atmospheric pubs in which you can sit in the evening and once again discuss the impressions of the trip.

School of patience

On the TPN boards you can find information about right-hand traffic on the routes. In practice, it is not always possible to pass, there are sections of trails like at Orla Perć, where the place for setting the foot is 20 cm and we have to stick to the chain so we do not to fall off the wall. It is good to wait when we see that someone from the other side gathers to overcome a difficult section. And we absolutely can grab the chain only when it is free and no one else is holding it. This is an incontrovertible and breaking this rule may result in death or disability. Likewise, no one is allowed to tell someone to hurry, to exert pressure, to try to overtake by going beyond the marked path.
The routes are crowded, that’s the reality. If we want to avoid crowds, let us choose rarely visited routes and non-standard hours, instead of the most popular ones. But already being one of the people that create this crowd for your own security, let’s be patient.

Why are you in a hurry?

Recently, running in the mountains becomes more and more popular. Runs are organized, in this way train single athletes and amateurs as well. There are trails on which it does not bother anyone, and the runner always arouses admiration and respect for his fitness. However, sometimes you can put both yourself and others at risk. Many trails, despite the continuous efforts of the TPN authorities to keep them in good condition – they simply fall apart. On many sections, they run on a colluvium. Even walking peacefully we can knock down smaller and larger stones or gravel and you can’t avoided when running. Someone below may suffer. And no, it is not a good thing for everyone to go to the mountains in a helmet. Striking with a stone in the leg or hand can also exclude this unlucky person from further trip. Therefore, although the park regulations do not prohibit running, let us resign from this in unstable terrain, even if we are not afraid of stone avalanches and we feel confident.

Stay alert

In the mountains you often feel a bond with other people – through a community of goals, participation in hardships, similar experiences and impressions. It is not bad or strange to help someone who clearly needs it. Giving a hand and supporting someone, a hint to where to set foot, or a warning that the stone is shaking – are always welcome. The more advanced forms of help include sharing the water or a snack with someone who for some reason has no one anymore. You can share a headache pill when low atmospheric pressure makes someone to be in pain. If we have a first aid kit – and we should have at least a minimum – seeing that someone is hurting, do not hide it for yourself. It also happens that we see someone who literally “goes for death” – badly dressed, awkwardly moving, burnt by the sun without any cover. Then we must at least try to turn the person back along the shortest path from the trail, use all arguments. And if we have strength and a place in the backpack, we can always help the person with hindering sleeping bag or the belongings in a plastic carrier bag. Yes, there are such cases and you can leave their assessment for later, but if we have such a possibility, let us show our ability to selfless help.

What do the Tatra smell like?

Another point, which is not included in the TPN regulations, but maybe it is worth mentioning. If we talk about the nuisance of the smell of cigarettes, let us remember that there are others that are brutally in contrast with the surroundings. Tatry is not a place to spray from head to toe with intense perfumes or deodorants. Let us pay attention even to intensive washing powders or sports clothing fluids. Poorly rinsed, they leave behind a cloud of chemical smell. And again, they do not allow other people to feel the pleasure of mountaineering with every sense. Of course, we do not encourage you to go to extremes and give up showering throughout your stay. Just moderation is also indicated in terms of hygiene.

The fawn feeds itself

Many tourists, especially in the region of Morskie Oko, meet a fawn. He spins between people, drinks water from the lake and is completely not afraid of tourists. Also in other places you can stand eye to eye with a wild animal. The worst thing you can do then is to assess them for malnourished and to reach out with your own food. First of all, a cheese sandwich or crisps is not what the fawns like the most and it will just hurts them. Secondly, once animal does learn that the food comes from people it will have a huge problem in a situation when tourists are not around. Let the animals remain wild and it is also for your own safety. The fawn does not arouse the same respect as does a bear. But it can also trample a man if something suddenly arouses his anxiety and decides to defend himself.

Anyways, it is beautiful

Perhaps, after reading this text, the Tatra Mountains seem to you, dear reader, as a terrible place. Where freedom is a myth, there are bans everywhere, in every moment you can commit a blunder, make someone feel sad, or upset someone. Keep calm. The authoress of these words for 18 year goes to the Tatra and never once broken any ban included in the regulations, nor did she refuse to comply with the additional guidelines set out above. And she still thinks that the Tatra area is a mystical place, beautiful regardless of the season and day, in any weather. Definitely worth the change your habits for ten, maybe a dozen or so hours. Even if every day we are the social butterfly, stimulants are not alien to us, and in defense of our own comfort we fight like a she-bear with young –in the mountains we can give it up. Discover in yourself – an empathic, delicate and attentive person. That’s why you also go to the mountains.

Anna Markiewicz