Lodowy Szczyt (2,628 m a.s.l.) is the third highest peak in the Tatra Mountains — a massive, rugged giant that remains surprisingly under the radar compared to its more famous neighbours. Poles once considered it the highest summit of the High Tatras, and one look at its towering walls explains why. This is a place for those who want the real, raw Tatras.
The peak sits in the main ridge of the High Tatras, between Široká veža and Baranie rohy. Its northern and north-western faces are the most dramatic, draped in permanent snowfields and firn that gave the peak its name — 'Ice Peak'. These walls are rarely climbed due to their long approaches, but the eastern face above the Basin of the Five Spiš Lakes, close to Téry Hut, is a favourite among mountaineers. The summit rewards with a sweeping 360-degree panorama: countless High Tatra peaks, the Belianske Tatry ridge, surrounding valleys, and on clear days even parts of the Poprad Basin and mountain ranges stretching across central Slovakia and southern Poland.
How to reach the summitThe first recorded winter ascent took place on 28 December 1891, achieved by Theodor Wundt and mountain guide Jakub Horvay. The peak's old German name 'Gans' (Goose) came not from any bird, but from the creeping avens (Siverzia reptans) growing abundantly here, which early visitors mistook for silverweed.