Thanks for all the replies. We are walking from Podbanske to Hali Ornak crossing at Gaborovo. Hopefully the weather cooperates as we are booked into Hali Ornak. After that we go down to Kalatowki for one night then up to Pieciu Stawow for another then back down to Kalatowski for the last night before heading back into Slovakia. We had a great deal of difficulty getting reservations in the huts and we lucky to get the one at Pieciu Stawow. We are looking forward to our visit to the Tatras.

Closing of Tomanovske saddle was confirmed by Ministry of enviroment and Forest company of TANAP (National park High Tatras). We have also information directly from the place - our friend Tomas was there recently and told me that on the signpost in Ticha dolina was "Tomanovske sedlo" painted out.

I also think this is not true for Tomanovske, but maybe true for Kasprov Vrch. Even if they don"t go until Podbanske, tourists from the lift (i mean bad tourists, not hikers...) are able to walk few hundred meters for fun on the slovak side and leave their rubbish...
There is a very interesting document about all these cases about the borders in Tatras :
metla.fi/…/mwp002-61.pdf

Eric

I think it is not true,
for the reason you"ve mentioned, they have closed the Tomanovske saddle, so hikers are not encouraged to pass through Ticha valley to challet Hali Ornak. Right now, it should not attract too much attention, since hikers would need to go as far as Podbanske or Strbske pleso through Koprovske seddle to get actually somewhere. For polish dayhikers, it would sound insane.

In some polish forum about tatras. According to the etxt, TANAP wanted to prevent polish crowds of tourists from the chair-lift to enter the fragile Ticha valley. I don"t know if it"s true.
In my opinion if Kasprov vrch if open and Tomanovske sedlo not, it is a bit illogic...

What I know, the border is open. I"ve checked it also on the official website of national parks"s administration, but there is no information the passing should be forbidden. Where did you read it?

Are you sure Kasprov vrch border point is open ? I read it is forbidden for the same reason than Tomanovske sedlo.
To answer more precisely Rosemary, I would say the reason why there is not more crossing points in High Tatras is due to the fact offtrails is forbidden in both national parks, and there are very few places where trails are joining (Rysy for example).
For West Tatras in the list of crossing points I think you forgot Volovec/Wolowiec

Eric

Hi,
I"m sorry to disappoint you, but as far as I know the trail from Ticha dolina to Tomanovske sedlo has been closed recently due to conservation/nature-protection reasons. More information (in Slovak) is available here

hiking.sk/…/schengen_a_turist…

Hence you cannot cross the Slovak-Polish border there. The only point in the High Tatras where one is allowed to cross the border is the top of Mt. Rysy (2499m). There are more crossings in the West Tatras, namely:

• Kasprov vrch/Kasprowy Wierch
• Gáborove sedlo/Gaborowa Przelecz
• Končistá/Konczysty Wierch
• Rákoň/Rakon
• Lúčna/Grzes