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This is the second part of the four-part series about skiing in Slovakia, especially in the Jasna ski resport in Low Tatras (Nizke Tatry). Before reading this article, check out my first article on Skiing in Slovakia – Part 1: Introduction.

In this post I will discuss the lift systems, slopes and off-piste skiing in the Jasna ski resort area. In the next post I will give some practical tips of what it pays to do (IMHO) and what not to do at the Jasna ski resort. The last post of the series includes more thoughts about Slovakia and skiing in Slovakia in general.

Jasna ski resort is probably the most developed ski resort in Slovakia. Jasna has vertical meters of about 1100 meters (~3300 feet) and a quite modern lift system with four-person Doppelmayer lifts. The new Poma lift offers ride to the top of the Chopok mountain, linking two previously separated ski resorts of Chopok-South and Chopok-North. This gives the skier in Jasna ski resort a lot more options as e.g. the snow situation can vary a lot between the two sides of the mountain (mainly due to current wind direction). Anyhow, before the new lift (pre-2007) you had to hike some 170 meters of vertical to the top, which most people cared not to do – leaving plenty of seldom-skied off-piste possibilities. The good news, as heard from a friend that spent five weeks in Jasna ski resort last winter, is that locals still don’t rush to the off-piste in large masses.

The top lift basically allows you to get on the Low Tatra (Nizke Tatry) ridge and hike horizontally along the ridge – giving plenty of possibilities for nice backcountry skiing both sides of the Ridge in Jasna ski resort. North facing aspect even has some really steep (~50 degrees) shortish chutes/couloirs of about 250 meters or 700~800 feet of vertical. Beware of the conditions and rocks though! South side offers mellower and longer descents, often in more “corn” type of snow, given its aspect towards the sun.

Jasna ski resort has even officially named freeride zones (see map 1 and map 2). Officially you are only allowed to ski in these “zones” outside of the slopes. Other parts of the ridge belong to the national park and are protected. However, we never got any attention/notes for exploring the ridge further. You also see some local ski tourers here and there. But please pay attention and respect the nature: in the ridge line you often see wonderful Tatra Chamois, of which only about 250 still exists in the whole Tatra area (and in the whole world of course!). I really hope the growing tourism and ski area will not disturb the peace of those beautiful creatures or the whole high mountain biotype of the ridge. I see some more regulation coming in the future as an obligatory way to protect the very small and fragile area. So, go now, respect the locals, don’t leave any trash/other marks behind you, and move fast…