Foreign tourist suffers fatal cardiac arrest on Poland's hardest trail; wet rocks and low clouds complicate Rysy climb

What happened

On Tuesday, July 28, a foreign tourist hiking the trail to Rysy, Poland's highest peak, suffered sudden cardiac arrest partway up the ascent. The incident occurred on the Polish approach, which leads from Morskie Oko toward the summit. Other hikers in the vicinity rushed to assist and were the first to begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation. TOPR rescuers reached the scene shortly afterward and deployed advanced medical procedures, but the man's condition was critical from the moment of collapse.

Despite the rapid initiation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation by witnesses and advanced medical procedures carried out by TOPR rescuers, the man's life could not be saved.

The victim's body and his hiking partner, who had accompanied him on the excursion, were airlifted by helicopter to Zakopane. TOPR duty rescuer Kamil Suder provided the official account to Polish media on Tuesday. No information about the tourist's nationality or age has been made public.

The Rysy trail

The Polish approach to Rysy is among the most demanding marked routes in the entire Tatra range. The path starts above Morskie Oko, crosses the Czarny Staw pod Rysami area, and then climbs steeply through exposed, rocky terrain secured with chains for handholds. The combination of significant elevation gain and technical difficulty means the trail requires strong physical conditioning and experience. An alternative exists on the Slovak side: that route runs from Szczyrbskie Jezioro through the Mięguszowiecka Valley, past Popradski Staw and over Przełęcz Waga, reaching the Slovak summit at 2,501 metres above sea level. The Slovak approach is generally considered somewhat less severe than the Polish one, though it remains a serious mountain undertaking.

Weather conditions

Conditions on Tuesday magnified the trail's intrinsic difficulty. Heavy rain on Monday had saturated the rock faces across the massif, turning the steep, chain-secured sections into exceptionally slippery chutes well into the following day. Through Tuesday morning a low ceiling of cloud enveloped the peaks, reducing visibility sharply and complicating route-finding for anyone already on the mountain. Only in the afternoon did the weather break: the cloud lifted and sunshine returned to the higher elevations. The improvement in overhead conditions did little to dry the rock, however, and the footing remained hazardous on the steeper pitches. The sudden shift from overcast to clear skies gave hikers on the lower sections a misleading impression of improving safety, while the rock higher up remained wet and treacherous for hours afterward.

Safety appeal

Tatra National Park renewed its standing safety guidance after the fatality. TPN urged hikers to select routes appropriate to their fitness and experience, to prepare carefully, and to consult weather forecasts before setting out. The park authority stressed that on exposed sections of the higher Tatras, even weather that appears favourable can conceal a serious risk of slipping and falling on uneven or damp rock. TPN further advised that anyone who experiences sudden symptoms on the trail, including shortness of breath, chest pain or unexpected weakness, should stop immediately and call for help rather than attempting to continue. The guidance is a standard seasonal reminder, but it carried added weight on a day when one of the range's best-known trails had just claimed a life.