Climbing Mount Olympus
Mytikas
The summit of Mount Olympus.
I started at a little beach hostel on the coast 8km north of Litochoro- waking up to a warm red sunrise and watched as people frolicked into the morning sea. I had a short breakfast, and started later as I decided to follow the recommendation of the hostel owner and began my morning at 7:30. The total distance will be 60km.
Chris recommended some hitchhiking but I was skeptical and I seemed to be correct for the most part. 1 hour in and I was picked up by a man with a crutch and two watermelons in the front seat. I did my best to describe what I was doing but he clearly already knew and he told me he’d take me to the beginning of the road to Pironia. Another 2 hours of hiking later and I was picked up by a family of three who were here for a morning coffee.
I departed from Pironia and started to make my way through the trail. I overheard some Canadians insulting the US, passed by a sweaty man grumbling to himself in a language I didn’t understand, and families with children that I didn’t think would continue much further.
The cold rain came hard and fast, causing some worry to hit my mind. I stripped down into only my shorts, shoes, and backpack and I passed people in full waterproof gear. It was still very warm outside.
I passed by Spilios Agapitos….¯\_(ツ)_/¯ … a refuge with some hot food. I had not realized this was an option so I excitedly ate a vegetable noodle soup and a hard boiled egg with a plate of Tzatziki and bread (I only had rations of 10 granola bars and a squeezable pack of Greek honey).
On my way past the refuge I was warned by two people of rain at 15:00, and by two more separate people that there was hail on Mytikas… fantastic… more cold rain. I wondered if they had seen the rain in the lower part of the valley that had soaked me an hour prior.
I carried on, watched carefully as a Chamois crossed the trail in front of me, I said “YAHOOO” when the hot sun came out for a few minutes, I said “awwh fuck” when the hot sun came out for a few minutes, and pushed to the ridgeline near the summit.
There was a 100 meter decline and a 145 meter incline to reach the proper peak of Olympus. The erratic wet rain was already distressing and the Hitchhiker-Supporting-Watermelon-Crutch man from the morning had warmed me that “every 8 to 10 days you can see on the news that someone gets hurt”.
No big deal… 🥸
I started the descent determining that I was, at least, “safe enough”.
It felt fine. I noticed some bolts drilled into the rock faces and realized that I would definitely be safer with my climbing gear. (I did bring my helmet for any rockfall as I had read that there was a decently challenging scramble.)
About 70 meters away from the summit I found a view of the valley to the northwest. A dark storm was coming and I considered turning around. I already had to go back down, up, and down again to leave, I was cold, and the wind was picking up.
I thought for about 45 seconds, hid behind a rock to escape the wind, stripped out of my wet clothing, put on my thermals that I packed (which I had also completely forgotten about until then) and then decided to make a push for the summit.
I felt warmer and more confident and realized that the clouds that I had seen just a few minutes before had split into two and were heading for both sides of the mountain and not directly at my face.
GREAT.
WE GO NOW.
Within another 6 to 7 minutes I was at the peak. The highest point in Greece. One of my personal accomplishments that has made me feel extremely strong.
The summit of Mount Olympus.
(and then two German lads picked me up from Piraeus and drove me all the way back to my hostel — I fucking love you guys)
~45km, ~2500m elevation gain ~13hours
