Mount Olympus in Winter is generally physically challenging with a little bit of technical climbing at the couloirs of Stefani and Mytikas, or to try traversing from Mytikas to Skala following the exposed and, in winter, really technical and tricky ridge. Or, to climb the east face of Stefani in winter? Our plan for today was to climb Mytikas on a one-day trip. This time, we tried not to spend the night on the mountain, sleeping in a bivouac, but instead, to start very early in the morning when the darkness was still everywhere around us, and the cold chill temperatures were going even lower. It's winter time, early January, and we went for a day trip, car to car mountaineering, which we knew would take a lot of our energy.

Anyone who has climbed Mount Olympus knows that starting from the parking of Gorcia takes a long day of walking to the summit and back. But why? This route is the safest in winter because it goes way around the mountain and reaches the Plato of Muses and Giosos A Postolidis refuge, avoiding the direct and, in winter, almost impossible approach to the summits from Prionia. It was - 11 when I checked the temperature before we started. We were ready to go, but we waited a few minutes more so we could start our climbing day right on time. It's 03:30 AM; we started our GPS watches and went into the woods.

Because of the lack of snow in the lower part of the mountain, we were able to move very fast and gain enough vertical meters so that we could finally see the stars in the clear, dark sky. Now, we know that we are very close to the first mountain hut, Petrostruga, which is closed during the wintertime, and we noticed the first snow. In the past, I don’t remember the times back then, but I have read that the snow was covering the parking lot down there on the mountain. But it's 2020, and we are facing big changes in the climate, especially in the wintertime. We are the generation of mountaineers who witness rapid rises in the temperatures in the mountains, but, interestingly, this night was not one of them. This night was pretty chill, and we felt that. “It’s pretty cold, and probably it will be windy up on the ridge”, said Dejan, my partner for the climb. I silently agreed with him. I looked at my watch and checked our altitude. “If we proceed with this pace, we will probably meet the sunrise somewhere below the summit”, I said to Dejan.

Moving at night is not something natural for humans. We are not genetically used to move in darkness. It's a period of the day when people usually sleep in warm shelters, especially in winter. Mountaineering is one of the activities that push people to be different, to get up early, to face the cold, the wind, the route finding, to be economical with the food and the water, and finally, to learn how to enjoy the darkness. All of this takes a lot from us, and it’s hard. It was hard for us to get out of the car in total darkness and start moving in the cold, going to a place where we would find nothing, but we would find something. This “something” is why we go, and this “something” is different from person to person, from mountaineer to mountaineer, from explorer to explorer. We need to find our own “something”.

After we reach the ridge that will bring us to the Plato, we see the ice that was very hard, forcing us to put our crampons on. I don’t know why, but I refused to put them, thinking that I could pass this little ice passage, which was pretty steep and exposed. Dejan was smart enough to tell me, “You know the best. I will put them on”. Waiting for him to set up his equipment, I made a plan on how to move with my feet on the ice, where to put my hands on the rock, and how to place my body in order to have balance. I forgot my plan once I started moving. The first steps were quite easy, and I passed a big part of this icy passage, but here it came; suddenly, I stacked. I felt that if I made another step, I would slip off and fall from the mountain. I felt very disappointed with myself for not listening to my partner, but even more, I was disappointed about not recognizing the terrain well enough. I have never panicked in my life. Same here, I was very calm, and I was breathing well. Thinking for a while, I hit the ice with my ice axe and checked if it was placed well so I could transport my weight on the ice axe. With the other hand, I also took my crampons out of my bag and put them on my feet. This was not a straightforward process, and it was risky, but after some careful moves, I succeeded in putting only one crampon and passing this icy part. After we reached the Plato, I took them off again.

We reached the Giosos A Postolidis refuge. This refuge is open in winter but not functional. This means that it has one big room for bivouacking that is always open for mountaineers. We entered and saw two climbers putting on their harnesses. “Oh, good morning, guys. It looks like you have been climbing from very early,” they said to us. “Actually, we start pretty late if we take into account the traditional starting time. We started at 04 AM, and now it is 6:17 AM”, I told them. “Uh, fast, guys. We came here yesterday. We are from Bulgaria, and it’s our first time up here”. After a very short break, we went for the summit. It was very cloudy now, and we became somehow sceptical about whether we would see the sunrise as we thought. Moving on the snow, Dejan came first to the point where we needed to make the traverse towards the Mytikas couloir. There was snow, but not a lot, allowing us to move safely and enter the steep but wonderful coulair. The couloir is between 35 to 40 degrees steep, but with all the snow and the explosion that it has, it feels like siruous claiming. As Dejan was climbing on the snow, I turned my head back and saw something. I think I saw my “something” for what I came today. “This is it,” I said aloud. We both stopped. I took off my phone and camera and started shooting. After I shoot some pictures, I allow myself to enjoy the moment, to enjoy one of the best sunrises that I have seen so far. It was incredible.

On the summit, it was very quiet. All the clouds were down, and the only sea we can saw was the sea of the clouds, and not the Agean one. Happy and still fresh, with energy, we started our descent, meeting the guys from Bulgaria and no one else till we reached Litochoro.