Vrátna Valley- National Park Malá Fatra
Malá Fatra (Lesser Fatra ) is a mountain range in the Western Carpathians in northwestern central Slovakia. In the geomorphological system, it is a part of the Fatra-Tatra Area.It is situated appr. between the cities of Nitrianske Pravno, Strečno, Martin and Zázrivá. The Turiec Basin and the Orava Upland are situated to the west of the range, and the Žilina Basin and Kysuce Upland is located to the east.
Malá Fatra consists of two subdivisions separated by the Váh River near the hill Strečno - Lúčanská Malá Fatra and Krivánska Malá Fatra.The highest peak is Veľký Kriváň (1709 m) in the Krivánska Malá Fatra.The Malá Fatra is basically one big karst object. It is made up of crystalline rocks and complexes of Neo-Palaeolithic and Mesozoic strongly folded rocks.
The main peaks of the Malá Fatra are Veľký Rozsutec (1610 m, considered by many the most beautiful mountain peak of Slovakia), Malý Rozsutec, Veľký Kriváň (1709 m), Malý Kriváň and Stoh.The place where the Váh separates the Krivánska Malá Fatra from the Lúčanská Malá Fatra is the 12 km long Strečno Pass (Strečnianska tiesňava) below the Strečno hill with the ruins of the famous Strečno Castle. Similarly, the brook Dierový potok created a complex of canyons, waterfalls and cascades in the area. The biggest waterfall of the Malá Fatra is called Šútovo Waterfall (38 m high). The northern part of Malá Fatra, the Krivánska Malá Fatra, has been declared a national park – the Malá Fatra National Park.
The most atractive part of the mountains is Vrátna Valley –one of the most beautiful valleys of Slovakia.
The ideal starting point for hiking the Mala Fatra is the village Terchová. The village lies north-east of Žilina. The village was first mentioned in 1580. Its inhabitants were involved in sheep raising, forest works, some of them worked in the local quarry. At the end of the Second World War it was burnt – 120 log houses with farm buildings were destroyed. The village was restored after the war. Terchová is the birth place of Adam František Kollár, scholar and reformer in time of the Enlightenment,who worked at the Imperial court in Vienna.The village is known for its typical folk music.The traditional folk festival „Jánošíkove dni“ celebrated in August,annually atracts thousand of visitors. One of the most visited attractions is the commemorative room of the folk hero and legendary robber Juraj Jánošík.
Beyond Terchová the road passes through impressing entrance to the valley, the canyon of Tiesňavy with the Vrátňanka brook. It has many rock forms skirting the cascading brook. This National Nature Reserve consists of the proper canyon , the mountain ridge and the adjacent slopes of Sokolie and Boboty Mountains. There are numerous bizarre and attractive rock forms similar to different animals or human figures, such as the Camel, the Crocodile, or the Monk. In the narrow gorge on the slope of Boboty Mountans above the brook there stands the little statue of Madonna and a sign marks the level of the water in 1948 floods. The Zbojnícky chodník (The Robbers Path) starts in Tiesňavy and leads through the very interesting parts of rock landscape.
At the head of Stará dolina valley is the tourist challet Chata Vrátna. Not far away from the lower station of the cabine lift to Snilovaské sedlo is the Symbolic cemetery dedicated to victims of mountains. Hikers also like to stop at the Skok waterfall. The Chata Vratna serves as the starting point for trips to the main ridge of the Mala Fatra Mountains with its highest peak Velký Kriváň (1709 m).
At the head of Nová dolina valley on the foothill of the Velký Rozsutec Mt. is the village Štefanová with numerous typical structues of folk architecture and modern buildings remade to tourist cottages and pensions offering accommodation for tourists.There are abundant options for hiking in more or less demanding terrain, which can be combined. They mostly start in Štefanová which is also a good starting point to climb the Velký Rozsutec Mt. (1610m). The area of the Rozsutec Mt. is the National Nature Reserve where the complex consisting of several gorges,ravines, waterfalls and rock faces are protected. The Reserve is known for great amount of rare plant and animal species including several endemic and relic ones. Part of the reserve is the system of gorges called Diery. It consists of three independent parts. The Dolné diery is the gorge accesible by ladders and footbridges. The Horné diery is another gorge between the Velký and Malý Rozsutec Mts. characterised by spectacular rocks, waterfalls and rich flora. The Nové diery is the third gorge, which protrudes from the Dolné diery up the stream of one of the tributaries of the brook. The passage through the most attractie parts of the Dolné diery and Nové diery follows the instructive path, which stats in Štefanová.
In the locality Starý dvor there is a Ski centrum with chair lift to the challet Chata na Grúni and ski lifts.
