Hrebienok
The ski lifts above Starý Smokovec in the High Tatras, three Tatrapoma tows including a one-off model, silent for many years while the funicular that fed them still carries walkers up the hill.
- Region
- Prešov Region
- Country
- Slovakia
- Status
- abandoned
- Year opened
- 1960s
- Reason for closure
- Not documented in accessible sources. The three Tatrapoma lifts at Hrebienok have been out of use for many years, with skiing in the High Tatras concentrated at Tatranská Lomnica and Štrbské Pleso; the Hrebienok - Horná lúka line in particular is recorded as no longer operating, and a piste at Starý Smokovec would be some 600 m longer if it still ran.
History
Hrebienok sits at about 1,280 m above Starý Smokovec in the High Tatras, reached by the funicular railway that has run up from the town since 1908. Three Tatrapoma drag lifts served skiing on the terrace - an H 80, an H 130 on the Horná lúka line, and an H 40 described as a one-off of that model - built between the 1960s and the 1980s and out of use for many years now. Tatrapoma, the Kežmarok manufacturer that built them under Poma licence, supplied most of the ski lifts of socialist Czechoslovakia, and the High Tatras are full of its abandoned work: the first electric ski lift in the country ran under Solisko at Štrbské Pleso from 1943 until 1969, a tow begun at Skalnaté pleso in 1946 was never finished and had its supports wrecked by an avalanche in 1958, a Transporta VL 1000 single-seater at Jamy in Tatranská Lomnica ran from 1967 into the 1990s, and a two-person Transporta VL 500 of 518 m near the Kežmarská chata was lost to fire. Skiing in the range is now concentrated at Tatranská Lomnica and Štrbské Pleso. The funicular to Hrebienok still runs and the place remains busy with walkers, so this is a ski area that has gone quiet rather than a mountain that has emptied. The lifts' build and closure years are not individually recorded in accessible sources.
Lifts
| Name | Type | Manufacturer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hrebienok - Horná lúka | Surface lift | Tatrapoma | Tatrapoma H 130. Out of operation; its loss shortens the Starý Smokovec piste by about 600 m |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | Tatrapoma | Tatrapoma H 80, one of the three installations at Hrebienok, built between the 1960s and 1980s and inactive for many years |
| Unnamed lift | Surface lift | Tatrapoma | A Tatrapoma H 40, described as a unique example of the model. Inactive for many years |
Sources and further reading
Location
49.1586, 20.2247