Visiting with the Greek Gods

The long awaited climbing of Mt. Olympos has finally taken place. A visit with Zeus, Hera, Hermes, et al. was an experience I am not likely to forget, and hope to repeat. Captain Canadian, the Mutt, the Genius, Svengy and I took off early on a Friday morning to conquer the 2,918 meter mountain. Of course we took a little pit stop at the beach along the way. Even though the weather wasnt the greatest, we still took a dip and listened to the waves for a while before heading to our hotel at the base of the mountain. We gorged ourselves on Greek food, as it is fantastic stuff, and went to be early to prepare for the long walk ahead of us. We had a good 6 - 7 hour walk the next day to get to the refuge on the top of the mountain where we would spend the night before summiting on Sunday. As we approached the mountain, it wasn't looking to inviting. A heavy crown of dark clouds masked the summit from view. All we could do was hope for better on Saturday.

When we awoke, a little disappointment set in, as we realized the mountain was still shrouded in clouds, but it didn't feel like rain. Closer to the coast the sun streamed down, and we had high hopes that the clouds would burn off later in the afternoon. After all, we did have 7 hours for conditions to improve. They didn't. The whole march was a little surreal, and nearly the whole climb was shrouded in eerie mist. The forested areas seemed like something out of The Village totally silent, moss hanging like icicles from tree branches, and fog swirling through the thick trunks.

At one point near the end, were walking along a narrow ridge and I'm sure it was nothing but a sheer drop off on either side, but we really couldn't tell since it looked like we were floating above a bowl of murky soup. When we finally arrived at the refuge, we almost missed it in the mist. One minute we were walking along in complete whiteness, and the next there was a cabin in front of us. Complete exhaustion and cold had settled into all of our bones. We were so thankful for the warmth of the fire inside our cramped quarters. Thirty people would be sharing space in a 3 room cabin for the night - 17 beds upstairs, 5 in the dining/sitting room, and then there was "Alaska", our room. The one with 4 beds and no heat. LOTS of blankets kept of from dying of hypothermia overnight. After a hearty, rambunctious dinner (the majority of the people there were, after all, Greeks), we played a little Crazy 8's and went to bed, but not before everyone went racing outside to catch a glimpse of the first snow flurry of the season. Yep, it was COLD.

The next morning we got up to hit the summit, another 1 1/2 hours hike from the refuge, and we treated to splendid views for about half of that - then we watched as the fog rolled up the side of the mountain, spilling into the valleys and up the walls of the cliffs. Incredible. By the time we got to what we thought was the summit trail (we missed it by one ridge) things were getting a little sketchy. The last 150 meters is straight up a large crack in the rock face, with flaky holds, and unsure footing because of all the loose rock. I made it about halfway up (by myself, everyone else chickened out) before I decided it was too dangerous. The fog had turned to a thick mist and the rock was getting slippery, making holding on a difficult task, aside from the fact that my hands were going numb from cold. I just sat down in the gravel and slid back down to the trail. Kinda fun! I'm a little disappointed that I didn't make it all the way to the top, but I'll go back in the spring when the weather is better and I will summit that mountain!! Besides, I had left Pisser behind on accident, and that would just be a crying shame to leave him out after all he's see with me.