Tatra mountains (original) (raw)

Tatra or Tatras (in Polish and Slovak Tatry, which is a word in plural) is a mountain range on the border of Poland and Slovakia, the highest part of the Carpathian Mountains. The major part and all the highest peaks of the mountains is situated in Slovakia. The highest peak is the Gerlachovsk�, with 2,655 m, located in Slovakia.

The area is a well known winter sport area, with resorts such as the (Town of) High Tatra(s) (in Slovak (Mesto)Vysok� Tatry;created in 1999; includes former separate resorts Štrbsk� pleso, Star� Smokovec, and Tatransk� Lomnica) and Poprad in Slovakia, or Zakopane in Poland.

The Tatra(s) consists of the "Western Tatra(s)" (in Slovak Z�padn� Tatry) and the "Eastern Tatra(s)" (in Slovak V�chodn� Tatry). The Eastern Tatra(s), in turn, consists of the High Tatra(s) (in Slovak Vysok� Tatry) and the "Belianske Tatra(s)" (in Slovak Belianske Tatry). High Tatras with its 24(or 25) peaks higher than 2.500 m above sea level provide the only mountains with an Alpine character in the whole of the 1.200 km length of the Carpathian Mountain range

The Tatra(s) should be distinguished from another Slovakian mountain range, the Low Tatra(s) (in Slovak N�zke Tatry), situated south of the Tatra(s). Sometimes, however, the term Tatras freely refers to both the Tatra(s) and the Low Tatra(s).

The Tatra(s) National Park (TANAP) in the Tatra(s) was founded in 1949.

Tourist website: http://www.tatry.sk/Priroda/priro_en.html