Breathtaking Hike in Old Mountain Part 1/2

Hi there Hive Family,

This weekend is going to be very rainy so I would be chilling most probably in a SPA center with inside pools. This gives me the time to share with you my whole hike and experience to peak Big Kupen and all of my mishaps during my 2 days stay.

In Bulgaria we have our famous Old Mountain traverse which is the hardest and most energy consuming route and is usually completed for at least 2 days. We wanted to complete 1/3 of it in 1 day. That was the plan. As usual, we got acquainted with the weather forecast beforehand. So we knew that there is 25% chance of a storm at around 17 o'clock that day. Nevertheless, we decided that we will take our chances and try to summit Big Kupen. Hopefully these 25% are not 75% and the storm will not catch us.

We parked the car new the village of Black Eight (Cherni Osum) and checked out the surroundings.

This is the river of Cherni Osum. We also drank some refreshing water from the spring next to the car.

Our first stop was the Lodge Ambaritsa. The signs were well placed.

Translating - How to reach Lodge Ambaritsa: 3 turns, 2 denivelation slopes, half an hour more, and your are there 😆. That was supposed to be encouraging but we knew that if there are such anecdotes, this means that the trip will be longer than usual.

I bought a portable speaker as I knew that we are going to need extra motivation. That was going to be one hell of a hike.
I will also incorporate videos from now on for all of my hikes so that I could immerse you in my experience the best way I can.

We were passing thorough green plains and forests, but then every 20 minutes, the nature landscape altered.

We reached our first viewpoint. Amazing! And we are just getting started.

Some trees had fallen. I guess due to harsh weather conditions. Probably this has accumulated during the years.

The mountain is the best cure for any pain.

Next viewpoint. Even more spectacular. We are getting closer to the lodge.

I love that decade tree. Seems like it is immortal.

We are headed to the snowy parts. This is the Old Mountain Traverse.

Brutally stunning. My adrenaline keeps pumping. In 5 hours, we will be there.

Nature changed. The real deal starts soon. We were walking over icy snow.

Careful! One wrong step on this icy path and you are done.

Snow keeps accumulating approaching the lodge.

We keep moving. The weather is wonderful for now. It is hot and there are no signs of any disturbance or dark clouds. There are actually hardly any clouds at all.

360º view. My friend collapsing in a hole of icy and beautiful just bloomed flowers. Help me out in the comments section if you know the name of these beauties 🙃

Here they are again. Violet beauties. I think that these are called Crocus. Let me know if you know better.

We reached our first destination. Lodge Ambaritsa.

Little that we knew, we were in for a big surprise.

The lodge was cosy with fireplace, but there was no food. As the lodge is very high in the mountain and the pathway is not suitable for any vehicle, the provisions must be transported with horses. Unfortunately, it was still cold and icy so no horses were sent and therefore we couldn´t replenish our energy the way we wanted. This will later prove to be essential lack which will impact us directly. There was also another hidden stone that further impeded us. I will share it later on in the blog.

View from the Dining Hall's window. We took 45 minutes to freshen up and eat what we had already taken in our backpacks and headed up.

So the sign says 2:30 minutes to Peak Big Kupen. The last sign. Not too far, but realistically, it was going to prove very very challenging.

And just as we started our real journey, the dark clouds started to appear. Warning signal? Nah, we do not scare that easy. We keep moving 😅

Do you see that highest peak in the distance? This is the Big Kupen. Very intimidating! If we are caught by a storm near that region, we are done. There is nowhere to hide and we have metal things and phones. Perfect conductors for electricity in the high vicinities.

Here is a live video of the current moment. Things are not looking promising. Nevertheless, we continued. After checking my videos on a fresh head, it is obvious that this is a No-Go but at that moment we were too consumed of feelings and did not even think twice.

Failure is not written in our books. The camouflage outfit of my friend says it all 💂

Big denivelation before new heights. We took a small rest. Weather is not looking good at all.

We were following the posts. At least, it was all plains and there was no way that we could get lost or lose the trail. But no trees and no shelters means interesting times when a storm approaches. And in spring and summer, storms come and go just like that. In a blink of an eye. Super dangerous!

We ascended all of this. Ain't no way we are turning back just yet. I guess we are just 2 fools looking for trouble.

We are getting closer to the peak!

Let's go! Pick up the pace man, we are gonna make it!

Let the snow part of our journey begin. We had to put on our Gaiters because it was very deep and our boots started to fill with snow.

It is just around the corner. We can make it. Or so it looked. Very deceiving!

Another big denivelation before reaching the mighty traverse itself.

Here in the video you can see what it means to be in an absolute open space. The wind is blowing like crazy. The snow is serious because there is no chance for warming up and melting in such conditions.

We are almost on the top where the Traverse is located.

A glimpse to the final destination. Oh God, this sounded like the horror movie... Well not far from the truth eventually...

That is it! We are finally on the Traverse. We just need to overcome like maybe 5 6 denivelations. And the big summit will begin.

It is beautiful. The perspective is just out of this world. So much descending and ascending. This is not a route for beginners for sure.

Unfortunately, being near the top also makes us most vulnerable and the clouds look really bad right now.

The video here is in Bulgarian. I also recorded an English version and did a brief vlog like a week ago. You can check it out by clicking here.

It is visible that the clouds are not friendly anymore. Big thunderstorm is approaching and there is nowhere to hide. We must retreat and head back to the lodge. We can't stay in this region because we will get electrified.

This is the entry point to the Traverse and my God, it is already storming very close to our location. And the wind is blowing it towards us. We must hurry before it is too late.

My friend was very serious and the matter was life or death. As you can see, he was already like a kilometer ahead of me, while I was recording the happenings. I guess he just lit up his motorcycle legs and gave full power up 😆

I took my chances. It was very close but I did not feel any fear or sense to be running from it. I don't know, maybe there is something wrong with me 😅

These are the images that I captured during my descend. The last 2 show the rain pouring from the sky. My friend said that a thunder lit up just like 500 meters away from him. Very close and there was a chain reaction. It made a circle and traversed a very big distance. That was the point when he just dropped his walking sticks and ran like crazy to the lodge. I did not see any lightenings but also could not find his sticks and they got eventually lost. There was too much wind which I think blew them into the hollows below.

Maybe the craziest video I have ever made. It was raining hail at some point. I consider myself lucky to have survived this.

I was able to catch my friend eventually and we headed to the lodge together.

The skies were much brighter and clearer on the lower parts. We took a big breath and continued towards the lodge.

Here the peak again. We will try it another time.

We are back and will spend the night in the lodge. We decided that we will attack the peak again on the next day.

My boots have suede material and got wet while I was running from the rain. I was able to dry them with the help of this fireplace. My friend prepared himself some tea. We are almost out of food but will attempt the peak one last time. I am going to leave the details for my second part. I promise that it will be even more interesting.