Carpathian Bow. 4 months in the mountains

With Dominika Księski, the author of the book "Fire is the second water, or the Carpathian Bow", we talk about what a fewer months of life looks like on a journey, how to prepare for specified an expedition and what is most crucial in it. We besides mention the first Polish conquerors of the Carpathian Arch.

(Interview is simply a edited and completed version of the podcast Are you aware? p. Carpathian Bow. Fire is the second water).

Rafal Górski: Mr. Dominic, if Alfred Hitchcock were alive and wanted to make a movie about your expedition with the Carpathian Arch, what should be the first scene of this film?

Dominik Księski: It is the beginning of October 1980, I am 21 years old. At the end of September, I returned from the Beskid way from divided to Chantoria. In the dormitory I open a letter from Zosia Shanter [the past of art, ethnographer, investigator of Carpathian culture – ed.] from Warsaw and find a three-page typography with the text of Jurek Montusewicz [a individual of Lublin University of Technology, associate of the first expedition that passed the Łuk Carpathian – ed.] entitled “Łuk Carpathian defeated”. I'm impressed.

Why was it specified an earthquake for me? due to the fact that it never occurred to me before that something like this could be done! That you can – first, come up with the thought of a three-month hike, second, plan and organize it, and third, go through this way successfully!

And yet the Warsaw Student Guide ellipse (SKPB) did so. So Hitchcock definitely, although I don't know if the next scenes of this movie will be more exciting. Rather, we focused on affirmative work at the base and prediction than on surprises and dramatic episodes.

What is the Carpathian Bow?

The Carpathian Bow is simply a mountain scope forming a water division between the Baltic Sea and Black Sea sinks.

It starts at the bank of the Danube in Slovakia, in Poland it runs, among others, through Beskid Żywiecki, along the border in Beskid Low, through Bieszczady, and further through Ukrainian and Romanian Carpathians and ends on the bank of the same Danube.

The Carpathian Łuk is besides – proposed by Andrzej Wielocha [the surveyor, president of the Carpathian Society – ed.], who was the originator and head of the first crossing of the Carpathian Łuk via SKPB – the thought of a dorsal crossing through the mountains along the watershed line so as to descend to rivers as poorly as possible. If we take the russian point of mention Gorny turism, that is, the trails led by valleys and passes, then the Carpathian Arch will be his negative. Russian Gorny turisty all pass they approach, we go down to all pass. They go down valleys, we avoid valleys. It's specified a pictorial comparison.

This thought of dorsal passage is worth pursuing, due to the fact that by holding the ridge we have minimal contact with the civilization of valleys, which we want to change to the civilization of mountains during our journey. Slovaks call specified a model of wandering "hřebenovka". In the context of the Tatras, we are talking about borderline – this is the way of the Tatras' Main Borders, the concept of "back" in relation to the routes leading to the lower mountains is most likely not used.

Of course, compromises are essential for all idea. Władysław Cywiński in the description of the Main Grani of the Tatras writes that the thought of "one hand, 1 leg on the main edge of the ridge" is insurmountable. That means we don't always go back. There are trawlers. In the Carpathians, the roads that were designated by shepherds tend to bypass the summits, go down the slopes, economically. I tried to lead our way so that it would not lead along the streams. And it was. possibly 2 or 3 times we just walked a short time along the stream. As crucial as the passage of the Carpathian Arch was to me the kind of passage.

What is the dimension of the Carpathian Bow?

The routes are different. Ours was over 2,000 kilometers. Warsaw SKPB passed it in 3 months. We went for 4 months due to the fact that we wanted to stay in the mountains as long as possible. We did 20–21 kilometers and 1000 meters of approach all day.

We had 4 or 5 days to remainder in connection with crossing the border or replenishing supplies.

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Where did the title of your book come from?

The title draws attention to the 2 most crucial elements during this journey – water and fire. Our way led through the breakthroughs of 5 rivers: Dunajec, Poprad, Wielkie Byska (Bâsca Mare), Bodza (Buzau) and Aluta (Olt). We were walking on our backs, so we mostly drank water from the springs, and during the hike we gotta make certain that the water does not run out. Here's the water in the title. She was like fuel for a car.

What about the fire? That's the second basis for our journey. It was not only utilized to cook but besides to warm up in cool July evenings or dry our clothes after the rain. By the fire we rested mentally, singing and talking in the evenings. He was besides scaring distant animals. Jacek Kwieciński, [one of the students, a associate in the Zniński excursions in the 1980s], said the words “Fire is the second water”. In winter, he came out of Wiercica Cave in Jura, faced a tiny fire lit by Gienia Dobachewski [one of the founders of the weekly “Paluka”, a tourism organizer in Żnin – ed.], stretched out his hands and said, “Fire is the second water”.

It can besides be said that the synthesis of fire and water is the boiler plate in which we cook at the tea campfire – on 1 side there is fire, on the another there is water.

In his book “Luk Karpat. 84 days of lonely hiking,” writes: “The Carpathians are many kilometres of elevations and diverse mountain ranges and peaks. This is an interesting challenge for all ambitious mountaineer. I am no different from others. For me it was besides an adventure of life.” In this kind of expedition there is no swimming in the sea, hotel comforts or sightseeing. So what's attractive about her?

Władysław Krygowski [a lawyer, activist of Polish tourist organization, journalist, expert of Polish Carpathians – ed.] wrote in the 1970s that the improvement of mountain tourism is progressing on the incorrect path. The tourist wants to stay at the hostel on top of the mountain, and the tourism manufacture pulls it down. He is to spend as much time in the valleys, and as small as possible on this dream summit. This is the kind of tourism we have today. There must be a shower, infrastructure, ice cream, attractions. And that's why we're going to the mountains to be in the mountains, not in the valleys.

At 1 time, my friends and I agreed that we were brook tourists, unlike shower tourists. We go to mountains for inconvenience, but we get accommodation in a shelter at any place, sunset, morning dew – pleasures we will not get, going to Turkey on all inclusive. This is simply a different way of interacting with the mountains than is proposed by tourism companies. We lead the trail, not the way of us. We choose where we go.

When choosing the route, did you usage only a map, a sky and a compass, or did you have electronic devices?

GPS made our orientation a lot easier. In the era before GPS, erstwhile man had only a compass and a map, 1 had to watch out for landmarks, measurement time, take into account the pace of the march, and inactive only about knew where you were. With GPS, the answer is for sure: we're definitely here. Before we left, we developed a way and uploaded it into a signal receiver to have our own landmarks. It wasn't always a way that truly had to be taken, due to the fact that in many places the data is so inaccurate that I sometimes drew a hypothetical line and it was already essential to draw a hypothetical line, with the aid of a map and what we see in the field, to figure out which way to go. GPS is simply a help, but surely not a guide.

I realize that students from Warsaw SKPB, who, in 1980, were the first Poles to pass the Carpathian Łuk, had only a map, sky and compass to help?

Yeah, what's in the field, on the compass and on the map. Yeah, head! Your own head, and this is the most crucial center for processing conflicting or incomplete information, usually reaching a traveler. Since it was 1980, maps of the area of Romania in many cases came from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and sometimes there were no specified maps. They walked for 3 months, each day crossing 30 kilometres and 1,000 metres of approach, carrying backpacks weighing about 30 kilograms.

In 2017, my backpack weighed 20 kilograms, and all day I walked on average 20 kilometres and 1,000 meters of approach.

They frequently estimated where they were most likely. My GPS always showed me where I was. So compared to the efforts of colleagues from the Moscow Olympics, my transition took a lot, much little effort.

Two years ago, at the age of 50, I was on the blue Carpathian way with a backpack weighing 23 kilograms. It was a challenge for me, and I walked very slowly. What was your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge for certain was everything that happened before the start of the hike: getting out of many systems – work, family, another activities, getting that time to leave. Notary powers, entrusting their average duties to the people who replaced me. What kind of wife would let her husband go distant for 4 months? So first, you gotta get married well and have a good wife as large as mine. Here I will quote Alexander Doba [a traveler, a kayaker, sailed alone across the Atlantic Ocean—red], who said to journalists, “The wife must be against!” I'm not amazed my wife wasn't precisely in favor. I hatred to say it, but she took over my duties. Setting up replacements for me was a smaller problem, I received support from colleagues and employees. Another thing: who to go with? I promised Dorothy I wouldn't go, and it's sad to walk. It was expected to be a social party. And she was.

At first, we thought the 3 of us would go with our friends, but they couldn't make time. We shared the stages. all erstwhile in a while, my companions changed. It was beautiful due to the fact that we avoided being in our company constantly, which generates conflicts. The next challenge is supplies. It was easier with friends who helped with the commission. The last challenge is planning the route, getting maps. It was no longer a challenge, but simply an ant work – a kilometer after a kilometer you had to go through this way in your imagination.

As for the challenges on the route, the biggest was the scythe. Cossacks are very flexible coniferous bushes. Grows to the sides, folds and forms a broken bush, through which you gotta break through. It is simply a large effort.

If we came across a scythe that grew in the old path, it was easier due to the fact that we felt a way under our feet. You know how it leads, you just gotta keep the branches bright. Worse, how a man lost this way and walked through a surviving scythe, or how the way is no longer there, due to the fact that it was 100 percent obliterated. There were episodes on which I truly had to sweat to find the right path, mainly in Romania, but we were lost little. Two, 3 times was a longer time erstwhile I didn't know where to go. So these challenges were little during the trip. We were moving forward and it was pure pleasure. The biggest problems had to be overcome before leaving home. erstwhile I utilized to go on trips with young people, the most hard part was the way of the home – the railway station. And in the mountains – a sleigh.

To be honest, I was amazed by your answer. For any time now, I have been trying to prepare my wife, Magda, for a fewer years, that I would like to go on specified an expedition, and I hear from you that it is essential to get married well and have a wonderful wife. Moving on, I will quote Chamfort: “Happiness is not an easy thing, it is hard to find in itself, not a way elsewhere.” Did you find happiness on the trail?

I don't know if I'm utilizing the category of happiness. You can live in many ways, each will supply a man with both pleasant moments and worries. It's a substance of proportion.

I live in the city, I go to work all day. My friend Henio Mizak says we're like the hamsters in the circle: we run, and we're inactive in the same place. Can't we live differently in these 3 or 4 months? No shopping, no email correspondence, no wire transfers. But all night, sit by the fire, sing, talk, have a good cup of tea, without fear of being called to tell us that we're in problem in the morning. We succeeded, and as we went on the way to Mount Hashmash (Munții Hēmaș) Heniek, who is simply a specialist in summing up anecdotes, said: “Dominique, is there life on Mars? Of course, I knew the gag and answered with a point, "No too." Heniek said, "And this is what we intend to deny."

"But in general we are successful in life as a traveler, for whom objects take different shapes than from a distance, and they change even more as they approach them. Sometimes we look for something else, and we find something better. We may besides find what we were looking for, but on a completely different way than we went in vain at first. Often, too, in search of pleasure, happiness, joy, we receive instruction, explanation, and cognition instead. Persistent, actual good alternatively of transient and deceptive." These are Arthur Schopenhauer's words from “Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life”. Would you like to comment?

I agree with Schopenhauer that the planet exists in so far as it is perceived by us, that the planet is always a certain creation in our imagination, is just as we see it.

“Mommy, the chance to come is minimal. Stupid pharyngitis. There's something going on at the company, someone's not gonna make it, I'm gonna pull my knee, I'm gonna pull a deficiency of strength, injury, rain, storm, everything wet, problem at home, psych sits. I don't know if there's a 1% chance it'll work. Oh, no, don't complain, it'll all work out." That's how you compose in your book Fire is the second water, or Carpathian Bow. Were there any peculiarly hard moments during the journey?

It was hard, but we put up a tent, lit a fire, drank tea, and regeneration was instantaneous.

On the Ukrainian-Roman border between the large Budyjowska and Hnitesa there were 2 days erstwhile I was starting to deficiency strength. mostly mental.

I remember a stormy day. 1 storm – it lasted for 40 minutes – survived under a scattered tropic. We picked up that tropic, we're moving on. I say, “Maciek, there will be another storm in a minute.” We're setting up a tent. I thought it was best to stay here. We lost 40 minutes, nothing rained. We're off, we're on our way. I look at the map and I say: “You gotta stop. We will not scope the Łostunska Pass today." We were already truly tired. And in the stupidest place in the world, on a steep hill 250 meters behind the summit of small Salmon, I say, “We are standing.” Maciek says he's not here yet. What is this place? And there was about 2 meters of consecutive grass for the tent. And the announcement of another storm. I took a bag of bottles to look for water, and at this point, I realized that, of course, Maciej was right. Am I expected to climb that advanced stone with water? Change of plans, we're coming down. After going down 20 meters, after 4 minutes, we found an idyllic link. We were truly tired. We had only 2 kilometres to the planned camp! But I didn't want to crash in a storm. I went to get any water, I was back in half an hour, we made dinner and tea. We were tired erstwhile we got to that campout, but an hr after we dropped our backpacks, we recovered fully. Mentally, mostly. And then it went down, and on the soft grass, we drink the last sips of citrus tea in the sleeping bags.

So that there are hard moments, we find something different than what we were looking for, we take a different way sometimes. But the most crucial thing is to believe in ourselves – that there are only specified difficulties that we can overcome.

How do you prepare for the Carpathian Bow or any long expedition?

When it comes to method matters, it's all in the book. intellectual preparation is the most crucial thing. It will besides be useful to experience, due to the fact that 1 should remember that if individual is simply a way tourist, i.e. they walk along a map in the hands of Polish mountains, then in Ukraine or Romania they will not manage immediately.

Those who want to pass the Carpathian Arch should go for a week in Gorgany [a mountain scope in the Carpathian chain, in the southwest part of Ukraine – ed.] or go for 2 weeks to Romania and cross the Fogara Mountains from Bran to Aluta. And preferably here and here. That's how you test your endurance, your immunity, your condition, camping in the rain.

Fogaraskie Mountains By Mleafter at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

The second crucial issue is orientation in hard terrain, where the mountains are low, there are no hiking trails, only roads, road roads and chaszcza, maps are weak and you gotta truly think hard which way to go. And get the essential skills to find and follow the way in a field where the signs are incorrect or there are no signs. A week on any episode between the Oituz Pass and the Tatra Mountains (Munții Tătarului) will warrant that people will not burn. I was so frightened we'd be stuck somewhere, we'd lose time, we couldn't find the right way, we'd have a schedule. Of course, we had bookmarks in case of unforeseen circumstances, but everything could be ruined.

It is besides worth practicing walking on a virtual trail. What does that mean? The way is on the map, but there are neither signs nor paths through the halls in the field; this is frequently the case in Romania. We know where we are, we see these lines on the map, we look at our feet, and there's no path. Now the question is, is the way badly painted on the map? Or did they decision it (they do) and on the map it is different than in the field, and the old signs did not fade? possibly we're wrong. possibly it's good on the map, but in the field, it's just gone. To believe in a map, in a field, or in yourself? Experience in solving specified problems will surely be useful.

And what question has no 1 always asked you about what we are talking about, and what is the answer to that?

What is more crucial on this trip: is what we take with us, going to the mountains, or our friendships, songs, or what we experience, already there, or nature, people who live there?

When it comes to this trip, it was more crucial for me to have this relation between us, between friends who had no time for each another all day than the attitude to search for contacts with people surviving in the mountains – even on their backs they are not frequently met. We did not want to abuse their hospitality or become a burden to them. We enjoyed each time we met someone, but more crucial was what we brought with us.

But the most crucial were the Carpathians, of course, due to the fact that these mountains were the ones that we yet chose for our journey! And so the planet we live in all day, we mix with the planet we came to, with the civilization of the mountains.

It is not that we are going to be among the “wild” nature. Nature in Carpathians is part of a mountain civilization that was created here during hundreds of years of shepherding, and foresters, soldiers, politicians, poachers, forest owners and halls have besides added theirs. Carpathians have a civilization. The mountains where there was no shepherding, no forestry, no roads, are completely different, and are different. There's no Carpathian civilization we've been with all day on our way to the Carpathian Arch. It is beautiful in these mountains that they are so friendly, they have many beautiful places, Polan, sources where it is worth to be, not just run in and run away, and in the evening sit in the guest home and change tv channels.

Thank you for talking to me.