Kids in Snow Desert
Finally, three days of spare time this winter. A perfect time for reaching "vryh Botev" - the highest peak in "Stara Planina". I have gone there only once 4-5 months ago, but it was summer time. Now everything is different.
We left Sofia at 4:30 AM, third of March (happy holiday). The roads were icy and sleepy. Successfully arrived at Karlovo at around 7:20 AM (~30 minutes later then expected), prepared the equipment and bags and were ready to go at 7:30.
The weather looked terrible it was cloudy and windy. It was still an early morning and was most probably going to get better later the same day. The first 2-3 hours of walk there was no snow and it looked like summer. After a four hours of walk we reached the Levski lodge. The lodge looked neat and tidy, we liked it at first site. The next moment we got dissapointed when they said there was nothing for lunch. It was 11:30 and we were wondering if we can reach the peak today. While wondering I fell asleep :) and woke up at 12:00. The hosts adivesed us not to try to climb the peak in this weather - the wind was very strong. They said that in summer conditions the peak can be climbed for 3.5 hours. That ment that in the winter we could reach it no sooner than 17 o'clock. Having in mind that sleeping on the peak is not officialy possible, it was really not a good idea.
There were around 7 hours of daylight left for today. In this case staying in the lodge was unacceptable. I'm not sure about Vasko, but for me it was very important to test my new tools in my equipment set and gain basic experience with it. I had a new ice axe, climber's most important equipment (according to the books). Also I wanted to try out the anti-balling plates for my crampons that I manufactured last night.
We decided to spend 3.5 hours climbing up and then go back to the lodge. The idea was to first check the route and the conditions. Second to make a path in the snow. The Levski lodge is aroung 1430 meters above see level. At this height still there are trees. According to the maps and the hosts there was a bit of walking in the woods before reaching a small peak and then continuing on top of a large ridge.
We left the lodge at 12:30. And ... it was terribly hard walking in that much snow. I think on some places it was around 2 meters deep. Being infinitely hard to make the next step in these conditions we were walking sooo slowly. We got out of the woods after 3 hours, and this is a very small part of the route to the Botev peak. We did not know the exact way up, so we decided that going straight is ok, as this way we were about to reach the ridge. It looked avalanche free as there were trees and rocks. The snow was not as deep as it was in the woods but the slope was high, so walking was still very hard. After 4 hours of walk from the lodge we could not reach the ridge ... We had to go back. This was a real fun. Descending by slipping downhill was a very fun and fast solution. The problem was that no tracks were left in the woods and wlaking through was as hard as when going up.
In the night the lodge turned to a night club. It was terrible. We went to sleep at 7:30 PM and got up at 6:00 AM, I could not sleep well. It was noisy.
A man from the lodge was also heading in the same direction so he joined us. Unfortunately he was 43 years old and got tired very fast. Walking in the woods was easier as our tracks from the previous day were still there. We reached the ridge for about 4 hours. From here on we expected easier walk on the top of the ridge. This is the place one would like to spend a life. The weather was just perfectly clear. So, why kids and why desert? I felt so unexperienced. I felt like a kid that sees the world for first time. Why desert? It really looked like a desert around. Instead of sand, there was snow. Just like in the desert the sun shines on you and you get swet. Sometimes it was terribly hot. If I get my shell open I get cold if I close it I get hot. If I put on my gloves it is hot, if I take them off, my hands get really cold. In the desert the wind picks up sand in the air, on that ridge the wind was picking up snow in the air.
Just before the peak there is a large slope to clime up. I mean a really high slope. Walking this thing up was very exhausting. I was climbing with very small steps. The building on the top was non-stop in my view, I was only thinking about reaching it and how to make the next small step more efficiently.
What was interesting to me is that when we reached the peak I was thinking about going back. I think I'm really keen on climbing peaks, not staying there. On the peak, in the meteorological station the man was really kind. There were other climbers which also turn to be cool.
We headed back at around 14:00. The plan was to reach Sofia today. The high slope just below Botev peak was so easy when descending. We used the same thenique that we trained the previous day - just sit down on the snow and raise your legs. Good job by the ice axe to act as breaks :). We were back at the lodge at around 16:45. Got some tea and left it at 17:00. We were expecting around 4 hours of walking down, so it was about to get dark. We had lights and used them. In Karlovo we arrived at 20:30. Reached Sofia at around 24:00.
There are ideas for more adrenalin while descending the peaks. These will be included in a future post after they get applied (if I survive :)).
So what is next? Still not sure what is best for this level of experience, but these are in the list: Vihren (2914m very dangerous in the winter), Mont-Blanc (4807m this is serious), El Brus (very serious)...
We left Sofia at 4:30 AM, third of March (happy holiday). The roads were icy and sleepy. Successfully arrived at Karlovo at around 7:20 AM (~30 minutes later then expected), prepared the equipment and bags and were ready to go at 7:30.
The weather looked terrible it was cloudy and windy. It was still an early morning and was most probably going to get better later the same day. The first 2-3 hours of walk there was no snow and it looked like summer. After a four hours of walk we reached the Levski lodge. The lodge looked neat and tidy, we liked it at first site. The next moment we got dissapointed when they said there was nothing for lunch. It was 11:30 and we were wondering if we can reach the peak today. While wondering I fell asleep :) and woke up at 12:00. The hosts adivesed us not to try to climb the peak in this weather - the wind was very strong. They said that in summer conditions the peak can be climbed for 3.5 hours. That ment that in the winter we could reach it no sooner than 17 o'clock. Having in mind that sleeping on the peak is not officialy possible, it was really not a good idea.
There were around 7 hours of daylight left for today. In this case staying in the lodge was unacceptable. I'm not sure about Vasko, but for me it was very important to test my new tools in my equipment set and gain basic experience with it. I had a new ice axe, climber's most important equipment (according to the books). Also I wanted to try out the anti-balling plates for my crampons that I manufactured last night.
We decided to spend 3.5 hours climbing up and then go back to the lodge. The idea was to first check the route and the conditions. Second to make a path in the snow. The Levski lodge is aroung 1430 meters above see level. At this height still there are trees. According to the maps and the hosts there was a bit of walking in the woods before reaching a small peak and then continuing on top of a large ridge.
We left the lodge at 12:30. And ... it was terribly hard walking in that much snow. I think on some places it was around 2 meters deep. Being infinitely hard to make the next step in these conditions we were walking sooo slowly. We got out of the woods after 3 hours, and this is a very small part of the route to the Botev peak. We did not know the exact way up, so we decided that going straight is ok, as this way we were about to reach the ridge. It looked avalanche free as there were trees and rocks. The snow was not as deep as it was in the woods but the slope was high, so walking was still very hard. After 4 hours of walk from the lodge we could not reach the ridge ... We had to go back. This was a real fun. Descending by slipping downhill was a very fun and fast solution. The problem was that no tracks were left in the woods and wlaking through was as hard as when going up.
In the night the lodge turned to a night club. It was terrible. We went to sleep at 7:30 PM and got up at 6:00 AM, I could not sleep well. It was noisy.
A man from the lodge was also heading in the same direction so he joined us. Unfortunately he was 43 years old and got tired very fast. Walking in the woods was easier as our tracks from the previous day were still there. We reached the ridge for about 4 hours. From here on we expected easier walk on the top of the ridge. This is the place one would like to spend a life. The weather was just perfectly clear. So, why kids and why desert? I felt so unexperienced. I felt like a kid that sees the world for first time. Why desert? It really looked like a desert around. Instead of sand, there was snow. Just like in the desert the sun shines on you and you get swet. Sometimes it was terribly hot. If I get my shell open I get cold if I close it I get hot. If I put on my gloves it is hot, if I take them off, my hands get really cold. In the desert the wind picks up sand in the air, on that ridge the wind was picking up snow in the air.
Just before the peak there is a large slope to clime up. I mean a really high slope. Walking this thing up was very exhausting. I was climbing with very small steps. The building on the top was non-stop in my view, I was only thinking about reaching it and how to make the next small step more efficiently.
What was interesting to me is that when we reached the peak I was thinking about going back. I think I'm really keen on climbing peaks, not staying there. On the peak, in the meteorological station the man was really kind. There were other climbers which also turn to be cool.
We headed back at around 14:00. The plan was to reach Sofia today. The high slope just below Botev peak was so easy when descending. We used the same thenique that we trained the previous day - just sit down on the snow and raise your legs. Good job by the ice axe to act as breaks :). We were back at the lodge at around 16:45. Got some tea and left it at 17:00. We were expecting around 4 hours of walking down, so it was about to get dark. We had lights and used them. In Karlovo we arrived at 20:30. Reached Sofia at around 24:00.
There are ideas for more adrenalin while descending the peaks. These will be included in a future post after they get applied (if I survive :)).
So what is next? Still not sure what is best for this level of experience, but these are in the list: Vihren (2914m very dangerous in the winter), Mont-Blanc (4807m this is serious), El Brus (very serious)...
posted by pesho at 1:13 AM
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