A quick reminder of part one of this story. In the summer of 2020 Zdenička and I decided to set off on our first walking trip. We chose an appealing goal – to walk 120 kilometres from the Teplice-Adršpach Rocks and stand on the summit of Sněžka. Moment of suspense, drumroll please… we managed it 😊 But back to the subject of this article. The climb up Sněžka from A to Z.
When you’re short on time, look for a train
The section from Radvanice was no treat for a walker’s eye, but it was almost excessively sexy for a train ride. An unusual route winding along the Polish border took us all the way to Trutnov. I keep mixing up the towns of Trutnov and Turnov; thanks to experiences in both I finally know which is which, so there can be no faux pas.
Lately I think a lot about places or people I have a strong experience with. Not long ago I was leafing through the diary I kept while travelling in New Zealand, and without that diary I’d have forgotten those places and people. Simply put, the experience itself probably wasn’t that strong, and human memory is short.
What can you expect from Trutnov? Definitely that one afternoon, my friends, will be enough to walk it there and back. Have lunch in a pleasant restaurant, drink a coffee, and still have time to buy a sleeping mat in the local outdoor shop.
From Trutnov to the spa
At least it’s a positive heading, even if it doesn’t match reality. From Trutnov we carried on by train to Svoboda nad Úpou, where the red trail to Janské Lázně begins. A charmingly dug-up little town at the foot of Černá hora. That’s the very mountain Zdenička and I cursed a hundred thousand times the following day.
The reason is simple. Being a thrifty sort, I don’t like using cable cars and similar effort-saving machines. It seems to me that for a few hundred crowns you ride up for a few minutes to have a beer, a coffee, some food or something sweet, let yourself be fleeced by another admission fee for a lookout tower and then, on the way down, force yourself to believe what a lovely trip it was.
TIP: If you’re setting off from Janské Lázně, just past the cable car station you can turn left and the steepest slog will take you all the way to the top of Černá hora.
It’s true that Zdenička and I didn’t speak the whole way, exchanging sharp, wordless looks, but at the top came the reward. A beer.
The lookout tower on Černá hora was worth it. For 50 CZK, in good visibility, you can see the whole surrounding area, and thanks to the telescope all the way to Sněžka, where at the time up to 14,200 people a day were streaming to the summit. Looking from the tower it was like staring into an anthill. Columns of people trying to climb the highest peak of our little patch of earth.
On to Pec pod Sněžkou
As a child we didn’t go anywhere much with my parents; we didn’t ski, we didn’t do cross-country and we didn’t really walk either. So I stared like an idiot at the landscape below Sněžka – in summer it may be even lovelier than in winter. I don’t know, though, I’ve never been there in winter.
I have to say the route is fairly hard on the thighs. You descend all the way to Pec. In the local information centre, built in the style of an original cottage, we got a Krakonoš stamp as a souvenir and then hurried off for coffee and dessert at the bistro Craft Coffee
TIP: On trips we make a lot of use of Lukáš Hejlík’s gastro map, a reliable guide.
Climbing Sněžka from Pec? Yes, here’s the answer
Our day didn’t end there. Summer weather favours walkers. With heavy legs and sore shoulders we finished the last mouthful of coffee and set off just before 6pm towards the cable car that carries visitors right to the summit of Sněžka.
Even though the idea of making things easier occurred to us right after the climb up Černá hora, over time it dropped out of our conversations. Quite the opposite. We looked forward to it more and more, and covered the first kilometres towards a night spent on the summit of Sněžka.
The climb up Sněžka via Obří důl
The first section was almost too pleasant – you could call it flat. From Pec you set off on the blue trail, wave to the people on the cable car and carry on through Obří důl, past the Bouda pod Sněžkou restaurant to a small chapel. Suddenly the path began to rise suspiciously, until we were reduced to a crawl. The clever name of the trail, the “Destruction of the Krkonoše Forest” nature trail, was at that moment our own destruction too. I’d describe that kind of walking as trying to keep moving forward, not stopping, but finding a way to give your body and legs as much relief as possible.
It’s like a traffic jam. If you’re sitting in a queue, it annoys you that you’re wasting time. You curse whoever’s blocking it up ahead. Whereas if you decide to take a detour that’s longer both in distance and in time, your indignation is minimal. It really works. I solved that problem another way. I more or less stopped driving.
By choosing the route through Obří důl we lost the chance of refreshments. That reward waits for you in the Obří sedlo saddle at the Slezská bouda. If 97 % of Poles are Christians, then the remaining 3 % are fleecing people at the Slezská bouda. To a tired person, though, any price seems fair.
The route from Obří sedlo to the summit of Sněžka is about a kilometre with roughly 240 m of ascent. Wondering how long the walk from Pec to Sněžka takes? The whole climb took us about an hour and a half.
Spending the night on Sněžka
Sunset on Sněžka is phenomenal. Most people have already gone and aren’t planning to spend the night at the very top. So you have Sněžka, in inverted commas, to yourself. Just as we did. Shortly after sunset the search began.
Finding a suitable place to sleep on Sněžka’s rocky summit is no joke. After sunset the temperature drops and the wind picks up – nothing pleasant for anyone sleeping out without a warm sleeping bag or clothing. Luckily we found one small, cosy spot under the Poštovna building.
The creativity and ingenuity of the Czech male knows no bounds. Below the Poštovna we built ourselves a small windbreak out of beams that were lying around. Our impregnable fortress didn’t protect us much anyway. I’ll never forget how we woke up every 10 minutes and prayed either for sunrise or for the chance to pull a heater out of my pack.
Outside the summer months in particular, sleeping on Sněžka will be demanding. So make sure you’re properly equipped. For more information, use the official KRNAP website.
Sunrise on Sněžka
3:30. The first time I properly drift off. Someone’s coming, yes, almost two hours before sunrise. A group of people with torches in hand. I feel like an animal in a cage. One woman shines her light on us and says: “Look, someone’s sleeping here. Look how they’ve built it.” That was also the last attempt at sleep.
In July the sun rises on Sněžka around five o’clock. But half an hour before sunrise there are already crowds up there. We’d also considered a night ascent, but we preferred the more unusual experience for us and simply slept on Sněžka.
How the climb up Sněžka ends
Our walk continues. From Sněžka we head on along the ridge past Luční bouda, over Kozí hřbety and down to Špindlerův Mlýn. I have to say this section was the hardest of all. The steep, drawn-out stretch down to Špindlerův Mlýn can be very demanding for people with knee trouble.
And that’s it. We get on an extremely crowded bus, stand in the aisle with respirators on our faces and head off towards Prague.
A gentleman of about 60 laughs at me from his seat because of the phone I pull out of my pocket. On trips like this I don’t take a smartphone but an old dumbphone from my parents. I don’t want to be disturbed by anything; I just want to enjoy the place and, above all, the time with Zdenička. But I probably won’t change his view that down south in Bohemia there must be poverty.
