When Zeus, the father of gods, looked from his mountain back then, he must have been afraid and afraid. Fog at your feet and an abyss that extends down to the sea. One step too much forward, and it would be the last that the Behrrscher will take of everything and everyone.
Yes, from the top of this mountain called Mytikas, the top one in heaven has the best view of good old civilization. An unbelievable view in all directions. Seven and a half billion people live down there today. But up here there are no longer gods who look at what man strangely calls “earth”, even though the thing is over three-quarters covered by water.
After our hike through the Enipeas Gorge (read here) and the climbing of the giants of the Olympus, now follow me on the rest of the path. Down to earth, like Justin Bieber sing's.
Red and yellow markings mark the route over the so-called Kakoskala ridge. The rock face requires absolute surefootedness and a head for heights, as slipping inevitably leads to a long slide over the scree. A maybe deadly slide. Everywhere you can see scratches from crampons and remains of ropes. Even to the pre-summit of the Mytikas it is a challenging ascent from here. But after climbing the pre-summit most of the work is done and it only takes two or three minutes to get to the summit.
We checked. Where Zeus lived, there is a rock plateau waiting for brave climbers, which is reached by climbing the last 200 meters almost vertically uphill. Behind you the sea, above you even more rock. But then you are already standing on the mythical Mytikas, which is not a real summit, even if it carries a Greek flag made of sheet metal.
In reality, however, with no god's the mountain peak is a narrow ridge that leads towards Skala, a shorter secondary peak. There is not much to do up here, take a look around, and see if a god does not appear somewhere. It's cold and windy. But nobody who is up here wants to go back down quickly, because every visitor realized what will happen to them at the end of the tour, at the latest when conquering the last few meters. The whole way down again, this time with a clear view of nowhere.
The descent to the hiking trail E4, which passes below, takes place through the same narrow channel as the path up. You could also climb over the Skala and its 2866 meter height, but the view down when descending is so beautiful that our expert would like a return trip into the valley over the crumbling scree traverse. What a horror! What a threat! What a anxiety!
Those who do not have a helmet have to fear rolling stones. If you don't have a rope, you have to slide down on your bum. The hands cling convulsively to the red rope, two hikers are strapped together - and everyone in every two-party rope team is undoubtedly wondering whether they will be able to hold their rope partner if they slip. Or whether he'll pull him down with him.
There are sweaty minutes down, almost more exhausting than the ascent. Finally the Skolio is reached, 2911 meters high. Then it goes to the scale, called the stairs. The highest peak of Greece is now high up, but you can now see the other three peaks Stephani, Skala and Skolio with the head back in the neck in addition to the Mytikas.
The Zonaria path, which runs below the summit towers, now leads back to the Plateau of the Muses at 2,760 meters. They must have had a strange taste, those ancient Greek gods, because this is a bare, empty space, as romantic as a supermarket parking lot, only less overgrown.
After all, from this height and so close to the sea you can see a sunset that is more beautiful than anywhere else. A great natural spectacle in shades of orange and red that brings a memorable day to a close - and all of them survived.
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