Malá Fatra (; also Little Fatra or Lesser Fatra, , ) is a mountain range in the Western Carpathians in the north-west of Central Slovakia. In the geomorphological system, it is a part of the Fatra-Tatra Area.
It is situated approximately halfway between the localities of Nitrianske Pravno, StreÃÂno, Martin and Zázrivá. TurÃÂianska kotlina (Turiec Basin) and the Oravská vrchovina mountains are situated to the west of the range, and à ½ilinská kotlina (à ½ilina Basin) and the Kysucká vrchovina mountains arw located to the east.
Malá Fatra consists of two subdivisions separated by the Váh river near StreÃÂno: LúÃÂanská Malá Fatra and Krivánska Malá Fatra.
The highest peak is Veþký KrivÃ¡à  at 1,709 m AMSL in Krivánska Malá Fatra.
Malá Fatra is basically one large karst feature. It is made up of crystalline rocks and complexes of Mesozoic strongly folded rocks.
The main peaks of LúÃÂanská Malá Fatra are Veþká Lúka (1,475 m), Kþak (1,351 m) and MinÃÂol (1,364). The main peaks of the Krivánska Malá Fatra are Veþký Rozsutec (1,610 m), Malý Rozsutec (1,343 m), Veþký KrivÃ¡à  (1,709 m) and Malý KrivÃ¡à  (1,671 m).
The 12 km long pass between Krivánska Malá Fatra and LúÃÂanská Malá Fatra separated by the Váh is called StreÃÂnianska tiesà Âava (StreÃÂno Pass), located below the ruins of StreÃÂno Castle. The Dierový potok stream created a complex of canyons, waterfalls and cascades in that area. à  Ãºtovo Waterfall (à  Ãºtovský vodopád ) is the highest waterfall in Malá Fatra and has a vertical drop of 38 m.
Popular centres for winter sports are Vrátna dolina and à  tefanová. Other tourism centres are the villages of Terchová, where the Slovak national hero Juraj Jánoà ¡ÃÂk was born and Zázrivá, where the traditional Slovak sheep cheese delicacy known as korbáÃÂiky is made. One of the most popular ski areas in Slovakia outside the Tatras is the Martinské hole resort situated between the Veþká lúka Mountain and the town of Martin.
Krivánska Malá Fatra is protected by the Malá Fatra National Park.
In addition, Malá Fatra includes the following small-scale protection areas: