MONDAY MAY 25
After what she would characterize as a noble effort, Everlie left the group and descended down the mountain (see previous posts). The rest of us pushed on to the top...pics below.
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| Everlie returns to base camp. |
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| She's outta here... |
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| Following the marked trail on the way up...terrain getting more rugged |
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| About half way up we got socked in by clouds |
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| At "Refuge A" (basically a small hostel with a restaurant at ~4500'). Still socked in with clouds. We filled our water bottles from their snow melt tank and bought a snack (bananas delivered via donkey the day before, 1 Euro each--we suspect a subsidy within the National Park!). |
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| Most of the snow was gone but as we went higher we discovered larger and larger collections in the valleys. |
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| Above the tree line the terrain got rougher, the trail steeper, but the clouds started to clear. |
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| Rewarded with a beautiful view. |
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| Consulting the Map...Just in Case |
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| At the Summit looking down the westward slope |
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| Mountaintop Selfie |
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| We were standing on "Skala", at 2866m, technically the highest point on Mt. Olympus is Mytikas (pictured) at 2919m. To get there you take something called the "Evil Staircase;" we decided to give it a pass.
The ascent took a total of 6 hours, we were back down in 3. Total distance was 12 miles, but we climbed up over a mile to reach an altitude of 9,404'. Not bad for an old man and a bunch of kids who live at sea level, but boy we felt it! We were bone tired when we arrived back at the parking place at Prionia at 7:30 pm. There was some misunderstanding as to whether our projected return time of 6 pm was a "best guess" or a "firm commitment." Someday we'll laugh at that little misunderstanding...
ON TO METEORA
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ΚΑΛΗΝΥΧΤΑ! (Good Night)
These pictures are definitely worth your climb! Beautiful!
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