I shall be there in April, snow willing I will go cross country skiing. It is snowing now! So hopefully there will be still some decent amount in a couple of weeks. Its a pity that I'm leaving Slovakia before summer, as this is the best time to go.
Last time I was in the Tatras (October 2008), there was a lot of snow - making the high passes and peaks out of reach.
I ended up visiting the Slovensky Raj for a few days and stayed in a chalet at Podlesok, which was very cheap. Not mountains here, but steep, forested gorges with impressive waterfalls.
My best experience of hiking in Slovakia was in summer 2003, when I did a trek from Poland over Mount Rysy to Strbske Pleso and hiked back to Poland via the Velka Studena Dolina and over the Prielom pass. Was my first proper trek and a great adventure.
Yes, I did the Orla Perć in July 2005, it's a bit different than the classic British routes like Liathach, Aonach Eagach, etc. in the sense that it has some "Via Ferrata", but you don't need any equipment and if you're ok with ladders and fixed chains you'll be fine.
It's quite a big day out, think it took me around 4 and half hours just to do the Orla Perć itself, (from Zawrat to Krzyzne) and it took me 2 hours to get from the mountain hostel at Murowaniec up to Zawrat and about the same to descend from Krzyzne.
Unfortunately, the batteries in my digital camera had died, so I have no photographs of this day.
