Breathtaking Hike and Epic Sunrise in Old Mountain Part 2/2

Hi there Hive Family,

As promised, I am going to share with you my second attempt to summit Peak Big Kupen. The first one was a failure due to a Thunderstorm that caught us off guard and we had to bail quickly in order to save our lives. If you would like to read it, please click on this link.

So after returning to Lodge Ambaritsa, we decided that we are going to wake up at 2:30 in the morning and attempt a sunrise summit. We had never done that before and it was going to be very challenging due to the still winter season climate and the peak covered with snow and ice.

But that was not the worst part. The worst part was that we ran out of food and the Lodge did not have any because only horses could reach that high and it was still Winter. We knew that this is going to be a big problem but nevertheless proceeded with our plan.

Here we are, the crazy duo. It is 3 o'clock in the morning. Temperature is moderately cold and anything could happen. There are a lot of animals that inhabit the region. Including wolves and bears.

It is at least a 3 hour walk to the peak and the wind is very strong in the plain naked areas.

Unfortunately, the lack of food and sweet things and the fatigue from the previous day and waking up very early took their toll. We were not as fast as we had calculated before. The Sun was rising and we were not even near the peak. So we prepared ourselves to enjoy the sunrise close to it.

Here we see most of the Sun already risen. Despite the clouds, we could see it.

And maybe my best image yet. The sky became pink as the Sun was rising higher so I took another picture.

We were very tired and Big Kupen was all covered up with ice and snow. I felt very faint and told my friend Tony that the summit may take up to 2 hours in this condition and there is no guarantee what will happen next as I am out of any strength. Fortunately, he was also very tired and we decided that it is best to just forget about it and do it another day.

That is the closest we got to the peak. It was a matter of going down and summit it but we just did not have the strength to do it.

The city of Black Eight (Cherni Osum) was waking up and we headed back to Lodge Ambaritsa for another brake before descending all the way to the city.

The beauty of the Traverse covered with snow. Now we could see it clearly.

We still had a long way to go. Most of it descending but there were also a couple of ascends as the denivelation was everywhere.

Here it says 1 hour and 15 minutes to Lodge Ambaritsa.

Last climb before we start descending for good.

Big Kupen Peak in the distance. We made it through. Time to gob back to the Lodge.

Much easier to descend but more strain for the ankles and the knees. Have to be extra cautious not to sprain anything. Thanks to the snow, it is easier because of the softness.

We leave the beautiful mountain not because we want to, but because we have to.

No more snow. Just beautiful plains.

Some crocus inviting the Spring to come. We found them in many places. They are the symbol of the Spring in the mountain.

At was 10 o´clock in the morning. Time to take a nap before descending all the way to the city.

Time to go back. The nature will be changing as we go to lower altitudes.

Approaching lower altitudes and the greenish colors start to appear.

Last sight over to the higher mountain.

And we have like 10 minutes more to the city. The epic hike is finally over.
We are super hungry and exhausted. I also sprained my left ankle and need to take a brake.