Olympus

Climbed Mt Olympos the other day. It's a 2000 m climb on a well marked path with several refuges, that the guide books recommend doing in 2 days. As usual, my plan was one day. Managed to find a loop path, some 20 km horizontal in total. Yes it was doable in a day (10:40 in my case), although at the top I did have to answer surprised questions about whether I really wanted to go down today and if I had a torch and a radio. I did have the torch, but it was not needed as I reached the bike soon after sunset.

Most of the climb was dull (1st pic), but then from the Skala summit, when the view to Mytikas opened, it became really frightening, a "YDS class 3 rock scramble" according to Wikipedia. There were rope attachment places and views straight down on both sides, and the general feeling of being about to fall off the mountain. But the weather was unbelievably favourable, sunny and no wind, so I decided to go anyway, despite wearing my Salomon town shoes. Most other people had proper boots and helmets, some also ropes, and the guidebooks say that most people climbing the mountain never even attempt the actual summit. In retrospect it was a very enjoyable "class 3 scramble".