Lakes of the Gąsienicowa Valley in the Tatras

Po polsku: Stawy w Dolinie Gąsienicowej

Did you know that one Tatra lake stays frozen for almost 10 months of the year? It is called Zmarzły Staw (the Frozen Pond), and you can find it in Dolina Gąsienicowa (the Gąsienicowa Valley), in the Polish Tatras, the mountains south of Kraków. This valley has more lakes than any other in the Polish Tatras.

Two valleys, many lakes

Dolina Gąsienicowa is split into two parts. Most of its lakes lie in Zielona Dolina Gąsienicowa (the Green Gąsienicowa Valley). The ratio is 19 to 2 compared with the other part, Czarna Dolina Gąsienicowa (the Black Gąsienicowa Valley).

The Polish word staw means pond or small mountain lake. If you walk through the Black Valley, you will see up close the two best-known ones: Zmarzły Staw and Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy (the Black Gąsienicowa Pond).

These lakes have very little life in them. You will mostly find crustaceans and algae. That is no surprise. In winter they are covered with a very thick layer of ice, and they stay frozen for a very long time. Zmarzły Staw is frozen for almost 10 months.

The ponds of the Green Valley

Let’s start with the Green Valley. The closest ones to the PTTK mountain hut „Murowaniec” are Jedyniak, Dwoiśniak and Samotniak. (PTTK is the Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Society, which runs many mountain huts.) You can see them from close by if you walk the trail towards Kasprowy Wierch. They are very small, and sometimes they dry up completely.

Troiśniak lies by the black-marked trail to Świnicka Przełęcz (the Świnica Pass). It is made up of three little lakes.

If you keep going along that trail, you will reach Litworowy Staw Gąsienicowy. It is clearly bigger than the ones above. It used to be called Sobkowy Staw. It was stocked with trout by people, and it is one of the few Tatra lakes with reeds growing in it. One of the tributaries of the Sucha Woda stream flows out of it.

The biggest lake of the Green Valley is Zielony Staw Gąsienicowy (the Green Gąsienicowa Pond). It lies at the foot of Skrajna Turnia. All attempts to stock it with fish have failed. Its name comes from the special green colour of the water surface.

In the past it was called „Suczy Staw” (the Female Dog’s Pond). According to a legend, local highlanders (górale) once drowned a dog in it because she would not guard the sheep.

The two famous lakes of the Black Valley

As I said, there are only two lakes in the Black Valley. But they are much better known.

Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy is the biggest lake in the whole Gąsienicowa Valley. Its maximum depth is 51 m. A mountain hut once stood by the lake, built in 1885.

It is an important tourist spot. Trails start here to Orla Perć (the Eagle’s Path, more exactly to Skrajny Granat), to Kościelec and to Świnica.

If you take the blue-marked path from the lake, you will reach Zmarzły Staw. It sits at the crossing of the trails to Zawrat and to Kozia Przełęcz. It is much smaller than Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy, and it is remarkably shallow, only 3.7 m deep.

Best views: from above

All of these lakes look wonderful from above. The best places to enjoy this beautiful area are Skrajna Turnia, Świnica, the ridge of Orla Perć, Kościelec and Karb.

My tip: mountain weather changes fast, so check the forecast and wear proper hiking shoes before you set off.

This text was sent to me by our friendly partner site natatry.pl.

More in the Tatras: Czarny Staw Gąsienicowy and the Karb pass. All guides: Kraków & Małopolska in English.

Łukasz, Niezwykła Małopolska