Climbing Mt Olympus

Today we got back from a two day climb to the peaks of Mt olympus.We started yesterday from a carpark where the trail started. We filled up our water bottles and took bad weathergear with us after our highway experience. The weather was perfect and maybe a bit hot at 27 degrees. Especially with all the gear and water, it was sometimes pretty tough climbing. We spent the night in a refugee cabin on the mountain, just for 10 euro’s per person. The basic but well equiped place is the base for exploring the peaks of Mt Olympus. We left the cabin which is situated at an altitude of 2100 metres at around 8 this morning. We headed to the top with bright shiny weather and the views were excellent. When we nearly got the highest peak we decided to check the weather before taking the steep ridge towards the highest peak. Getting there meant some vertical climbs. But a few dark clouds at the horizon made us decide not to go for it and not risk any injuries. We decided to head for the second highest peak, an easy walk and later a very wise decision. After we hiked to the second peak and went down via some snowy slopes….(we sledded down on our ……) the weather changed rapidly. We decided to head back and when we had just passed the cabin, hell broke loose. Lightening struck a couple of hundreds metres away and rain bucketed down. Carrying our North Face gear prooved to be a wise decision as we stayed dry but the lightening was scary as it was pretty close. Fortunately the lightening stopped pretty quickly as we had no place to go. We headed down and arrived back at the car at around five. Not bad for a full day of working/walking!! With some wobbly legs we drove back into town in search for some nice greek food. Believe us, when you ever climb Mt Olympus, skip the spaghetti with meatballs at the cabin and keep a close eye on the weather!