links with the blue trail below the summit; elevation gain ca. 1,360 m (4,460 ft.). Hikers starting from Štrbské Pleso follow the red-marked trail towards Podbanské only to its intersection with the blue-marked trail at Jamské pleso from where they follow the blue trail to the summit; elevation gain ca. 1,150 m (3,770 ft.). The historical winding road built by miners for horse-drawn ore carts and used by hikers in the past, including the participants of the revered 1841 excursion, is between the green and blue trails and links up with the green trail above the timberline below Priehyba Ridge. The road is not marked, the Tatra National Park management decreed it off limits. It is partly obscured by shrubby mountain pines at higher elevations. Kriváň has been favored by those appreciative of its aesthetic and historical allure, as well as by those who seek vistas from the top. Polls of nature lovers at large as well as of connoisseurs have consistently rated it as Slovakia's most beautiful mountain. The 360-degree view from the top is among the best in Slovakia with the scenery ranging from the populated valleys of upper Liptov, Spiš, and distant parts of Podhale, to the rugged drops of its north face, and many of the notable peaks of the Tatras including Giewont over Zakopane, Rysy, Lomnický štít, and Gerlach, the highest peak of the Carpathians. The panorama is framed by the Western and Low Tatras, and by mountain ranges beyond them in good visibility. Cultural images Early development The mountain is mentioned by Nikolai Gogol as the abode of two Cossack brothers, Ivan and Petro, in his short story 'The Terrible Vengeance', written in 1832. After lower nobleman Gašpar Fejérpataky Belopotocký (1794-1874) published an account of his 1835 ascent of Kriváň in the literary journal Hronka in 1837, its editor-in-chief Karol Kuzmány (1806-1866) wrote the novella Ladislav (1838), whose title character, taking the long way home from Italy via Germany and the Polish Podhale, hikes to the summit of Kriváň where he and his friends talk about brotherhood among the Slavs, sing arousing songs, and imbibe Tokaj wine. Both works may have motivated the hike by Ľudovít Štúr and friends in 1841 that inspired him to write two poems published in 1842. Romantic poets soon became fervent admirers of the eye-catching mountain. Eugen V. Šparnensis (1827-after 1853) called Kriváň a marker of his homeland, the