The higher we went up, the more we got into frozen streams and small rivers. At first glance, this did not pose too much danger, but it was a deceptive feeling. In fact, very often the ice was covered with fresh snow, and when someone's foot stepped on such ice, the slip began. It should be borne in mind that we had heavy backpacks and were very backwards, so crossing the frozen stream had a very high chance of ending the fall. Honestly, each of us has fallen at least once. And one day it almost ended tragically - one of my friends fell and began to slide down, toward the abyss. We were able to help him and pulled him out with the help of ski poles.
Since it was the end of autumn, in fact winter was already knocking on the door, these frozen streams did not melted even in the afternoon when the sun was shining. It is possible that we were climbing from the north side, where the sun's rays just didn't get directly. But there was one place when we were climbing a mountain slope where the water was not completely frozen. There we were able to get plenty of drinking water, of course, while observing all the necessary safety measures.
Part of the road ran through damp and dark spruce forests along the rocky path. Truth be told, the spruce grew directly on the rocks, and their roots seemed to snake into the cracks of rocky cliffs, trying to reach the fertile layer of the earth or just to get fixed, so as not to fall under the strong winds which often blow here in the winter.
After the forest, we went to a more open space, which was also did not devoid of vegetation - there grew short carpathian pines, the height of which did not exceed the height of an adult. After passing these thickets, we came to a rock called the Eared Stone. The height of the mountain - 1864 meters above sea level - it is located in the southeastern part of Chorhogora, on one of the slopes of Smotrich mountain, which extends north and descends into the valley of the village of Dzembroni, where we came from.
After the Ear of Stone, there is little left to climb the main part of the ridge. There were also some rocks on the ridge, but they didn't seem to have any name.
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