The village of Hrabušice should start removing fallen trees in the most visited gorge of Slovak Paradise, Suchá Belá, on Monday.
It has been closed since Thursday last week.
At the beginning of last week, there was a plan to replace the ladders in the gorge, but the weather complicated the situation and it is now uncertain.
"We don't know if the weather will allow it, because the trees are covered in snow. It's risky to fly a helicopter there, it might damage the trees. So, maintenance is not still uncertain," said Mayor Marcel Kacvinský.
Due to the difficult terrain, he could not say how long the gorge will be closed.
There are also fallen trees in other parts of the national park. For example, in the Piecky gorge.
Employees of the Slovak Paradise National Park Administration are also supposed to help with the removal of the fallen trees.
It's complicated, it cannot be done by just cutting the tree. It has to be done so that no one gets hurt, since the tree is up on the rocks. It's not an ordinary fallen tree, more people are needed," described head of the Slovak Paradise National Park Administration, Tomáš Dražil.
In the winter season, the gorges are not visited much and only a few tourists go there. According to Dražil, they are mainly hiking aficionados.
Ordinary tourists are more likely to go on, for example, a walk to the Tomášovský viewpoint.
A beech tree with strong roots also fell
According to him, the fallen-tree situation is a normal thing in winter, it's just that this year it occurred a little earlier.
"It cannot be said that it's strange, but not every winter does it snow so much at once. Moreover, the snow was wet and it's freezing. Now a beech tree with strong roots has fallen in the gorge, and it was not an unstable tree," Dražil said.
Since branches and trees are currently breaking under heavy wet snow in other places and the situation is not yet stable, Dražil advises against going on a hike to Slovak Paradise.
He emphasised that the surface of the hiking trails is snowy and icy.
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