Lesser Fatra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lesser Fatra or (other translations:) Little Fatra, Small Fatra (Slovak: Malá 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.
Lesser Fatra consists of two subdivisions separated by the Váh River near the hill Strečno:
- Lúka Lesser Fatra (Lúčanská Malá Fatra)
- Kriváň Lesser Fatra (Krivánska Malá Fatra)
The highest peak is Veľký Kriváň (1709 m) in the Kriváň Lesser Fatra.
The Lesser 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 Lúka Lesser Fatra are Veľká Lúka (1476 m), Kľak (1351 m) and Minčol (1364). The main peaks of the Kriváň Lesser 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 Kriváň Lesser Fatra from the Lúka Lesser 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 Lesser Fatra is called Šútovo Waterfall (38 m high).
Popular centers for winter sports are the picturesque Vrátna dolina and Štefanová. Other tourism centers are Terchová (the place where the Slovak national hero Juraj Jánošík was born) and Zázrivá. One of the best ski areas in Slovakia outside the Tatra is the Martinské hole situated between the Veľká lúka and the town of Martin. This ski area is very popular in Slovakia and provides an excellent view on the Turiec Basin.
The northern part of Lesser Fatra, the Krivánska Malá Fatra, has been declared a national park – the Lesser Fatra National Park. In addition Lesser Fatra includes the following small-scale protection areas:
- national nature reserves : Chleb, Minčol, Krivé, Šútovská dolina, Sokolec, Suchý, Starý hrad, Prípor, Šíp, Šrámková, Rozsutec, Tiesňavy, Veľká Bránica, Kľačianska Magura
- natural reserves: Dubovské lúky, Goľove mláky, Hajasová, Hrabinka, Hrádok, Kraľoviansky meander, Močiar, Paráč, Pod Rígľom, Veľká Lučivná
- natural monuments: Bôrická mláka, Domašínsky meander, Krasniansky luh, Šútovská epigenéza
- protected site: Hate
[edit] See also
