Mount Olympus - Climbing Mitikas |
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My story should begin with "Mitikas, the highest peak on Mount Olympus, was first conquered on August 3rd, 1913...". Hold on! 1913? What, they were busy doing something else and didn't have time before that? Read on and find out why.
After hastily securing resources for the climb locally on Saturday, 7:15am Sunday morning found me in Prionia (1100m) at the end of the road leading into the Mount Olympus national park. As I was alone I was determined to find climbing partners locally as the Mount Olympus path is reputed to be a very busy one. Its reputation came through. As soon as I started (around 7:30am) I teamed up with Ilias and Angelo, two Greek guys from Larissa planning to go much the same way as I did.
3.5 hours later we were arriving at Spilios Agapitos - Refuge A (2100m). We talked to the people who were already there, Lithuanians, Estonians, Ukranians, Israelians, New Zeelanders, many of whom had attempted the climb the day before, to get updated information on the weather and on recommended routes. Weather conditions were less than perfect, the top was shrouded by heavy fog and it had rained till 5:00am, so there was nothing to do but wait. We had lunch and we slept for about an hour in the mess hall of the refuge.
A couple of notes on what a refuge means on Mount Olympus: Refuge A was actually a fully equiped challet, with kitchen, reception desk and souvenir shop. Had we been there 24 hours earlier spending the night would have been impossible without a reservation.
At 1:30pm, better news on the weather at the top was starting to come in so, we decided to have a go at it. Our chosen route would take us to the Skala summit (2866m) and then through Kakoskala (the bad ladder) to Mitikas (2918m). Along the way to Skala Ilias started to feel increasingly tired so I left my two Greek colleagues behind in order to save my own strength. I arrived at the top of Skala just before 4:00pm and waited for Ilias and Angelo to catch up for about an hour. When they arrived at Skala Ilias did not have the physical strength needed to continue so we decided he would head back to Refuge A and Angelo and I would continue. 20 minutes later the difficulty of the terrain broke Angelo's resolve, as he remained stuck on a ledge, so he decided to head back as well. I decided I was too far gone not to finish what I started so I carried on by myself.
I swiftly crossed the Kakoskala and was at the top of Mitikas at precisely 5:30pm. It was very late so I was most likely the last person to make it to the top on Sunday. 10 hours had passed since I left Prionia, of which about 3.5 hours were breaks.
Crossing the Kakoskala gave me the opportunity to experience some of the most impressive sights I have ever seen and strong eerie feelings, created by a combination of the extreme heights and the fog surrounding everything and dancing around me. As you climb up and down the narrow path and the stair-like rocks of the Kakoskala the wall to the left opens up in several spots onto a straight 500 metre drop towards Kazania, a giant caldera said to be the home of the God Hephaistos in ancient Greek mythology. The path is marked by very dense yellow and red markings but following it is still less than obvious in a few places. It just seems to end in thin air and you only understand where you need to go if you lean out and look around the rock and into the next seemingly unsurpasable void. They didn't conquer this peak until 1913 because it was DIFFICULT!
At the top I signed the log book and took pictures for 30 minutes. I was planning to descend from the top via the alternate path named Louki but as I did not find the start of the path and it was marked as being even more difficult than Kakoskala I had to double back.
My aim was to arrive at the Giosos Apostolidis - Refuge SEO (2700m) before sunset. Knowing the route through Louki to the refuge was estimated at 3 hours, and knowing I was taking the longer way down I had to find ways to cut down on my hiking time. I found a shortcut leading from the Kakoskala onto the Zonaria path and followed the Zonaria around another huge caldera to the SEO refuge. It proved to be an excellent choice as my total travelling time from Mitikas to SEO refuge was less than 2 hours.
I enjoyed the sunset resting my feet on the porch of the SEO refuge and looking out towards the Mouson Plateau and the Christos Kakalos - Refuge C, less than 1/2km away. There were only 6 guests and 2 staff spending the night at the refuge. I had dinner, tried the local wine, followed a conversation in Greek between the rest of the guests about first aid techniques and went to bed. Best sleep I've had this year.
I woke up at 7:50am on Monday morning without the alarm. I started the day by climbing to the little stone church at Prophitis Ilias (2803m).
At 9:25am I started on the 18km path leading from Refuge SEO (2700m) to Gortsia (900m) were I was planning to be picked up. As I was crossing the Mouson plateau I ran into a large group of mountain goats, who posed for me for a few brief moments. The top of the mountain was foggy for most of the time. Without the fog I expect the sharp edge at Lemos provides some pretty extreme scenery.
Just as I was approaching the top of the Pyrgos peak (2485m) I crossed paths with the mule caravan taking supplies up to refuge C and refuge SEO. I encountered an unattended herd of sheep, dogs, birds and lizards. At 1:30pm, after only 4 hours I arrived at Gortsia where I was greeted by my very happy Mother.
We spent the rest of the day visiting Agios Dyonisios, Litochoro, Panteleimonas, Platamonas...
LATER EDIT: You can see over 80 pictures from the climb here
A few words of advice for would-be future climbers:
- Greek people don't know a lot about hiking, many don't even know you can hike up to Mitikas. If you ask for information they will try to be helpful by telling you something, anything.
- All the information you need to hike can be found on the Website of the Management Agency of Olympus National Park.
- You should have a map with you. You can buy a 1:25000 map in Litochoro for 8 EUR but the one on the National Park website is better. You can download it straight from them by clicking here.
- If your balls are really so big they don't fit in any of your pants anymore and you have to use Louki as an access route to Mitikas you should go up Louki and down Kakoskala.
- There is almost no phone signal on the entire mountain. I had maybe 30 minutes of weak phone reception on the entire trip on the Cosmote network. It was barely enough to send a few SMSes.
Should anyone actually want to hike up Mitikas after reading this you should contact me either by email or through the Contact page. I might be able to help.
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