The Mountain of the Gods

Yesterday I stood on top of a mountain. Today I feel like I was hit by a freight train.

Almost a week ago Ginette and I left to comfort of Nizar's apartment and headed for the tiny town of Litohoro, the closest town to the epic Mount Olympus.

We had enjoyed the comfort of the Greek beaches for days. (By this I mean I crawled around in the sea trying to catch interesting sea life and Ginette and Nizar tanned on the beach).

We arrived in town late at night and headed to the bar where our Litohoro host, Nikos, was working. Nikos is something like a Greek hippie, he actually told me he is searching for inner peace. He has long hair and is ridiculously beautiful. Unfortunately he also seems to exist to give me grief and tease me, mostly about being an American which to him is unforgivable. I can't seem to hold my own in an argument with him which is incredible infuriating. He gave us free drinks at his bar and then devoted himself to making me as pissed off as possible, despite the fact that I had just met him. Greeks do NOT like Americans and this has pretty much killed my game here. I can't believe how many people judge me before they even know me just because of the country I come from.
Also Lotohoro is a small town so within minutes the entire town seemed to know we were here to climb the mountain and everyone had advice for us, most of which came from older men who were trying to hit on us. However after an hour or so of getting mauled by men offering advice, Nikos quit the bar early and rescued us to go to the house of his friends, where Ginette went to sleep and I stayed up to watch the sunrise and try to convince Nikos that America actually isn't a bad place. (I still believe it is a bad place but when someone else insults your country then you suddenly get all defensive about it, even if you were saying the exact same thing earlier). That morning Nikos showed me my first real look at the mountain we were about to climb, rising up almost endlessly into the sky. I had a thought that for the first time that I had bitten off more than I could chew. There is snow on the top year round. Nikos pointed out the little dip in the snow impossibly high up on the mountain and told me that is Refuge A, which we would be using as a base camp. We would be heading up there when the sun came up. I didn't tell Ginette (who had never climbed a mountain) that we were going to be over our heads. The point Nikos was showing me was above the tree line, thousands of meters above our heads. 

There are two ways to get to Refuge A, you can leave from Litohoro and walk the extra 6 miles up the valley to Prionia, the last point cars can reach. However Nikos said that would take us days so we hitchhiked to Prionia and started from there which is what most people do.
The hike up to Refuge A is pretty much a steep climb that took us 4 hours. After hanging out at sea level and lying on the beach for a week, the altitude hit us like a ton of bricks. After hours of forcing ourselves to take a hundred steps then rest for 5 minutes, we began to reach the top of the tree line. It's a really nice path but I am in incredibly terrible shape and it felt like we needed two breaths to get one breath worth of air.


The path is well marked and easy to follow, you just keep going up and up and up for what seems like an eternity. At first we talked, but after a while the only air we had left was to breath.
This path goes through the valley leading up to the summit so most of the time we could see the peak we were trying to reach towering a million miles above our heads. Also most of the people we met on the trail were carrying climbing equipment and ice axes. We were in jeans and I felt very out of place in my EMS boots.
We only made it by telling each other we would walk to the next point, the next big rock, the tree that looks like a penis, etc. By the way, when you reach the Penis Tree you know you're only a quarter of the way.

However after hours of walking we saw the Refuge high over our heads and not so long after we were staggering into the courtyard. We were prepared to sleep on the floor but the woman there told me they had two beds left. The refuge is on the top of a cliff at the top of the tree line. The food is hot but the showers come from the snow above and are ice cold. We didn't care. We ate and took a picture and fell into bed, sore but triumphant.

The first casualty of the voyage was my crappy Turkish sunglasses. I had the foresight to keep them with me and tape them up because we were heading for the snow and I didn't want to damage my eyes. Plus Harry Potter has taped glasses so they're cool enough for me.
Also there are a lot of interesting creatures on the trail. Ginette is a little offended by bugs and crawly things but she was more than willing to let me stop and take pictures of the huge bugs and black slugs that populate the mountain. 

The next morning we woke up at the awful crack of dawn... OK actually it was about 9 am but it felt like the crack of dawn. We loaded up on water and headed up the mountain towards the still distant summit. The trees end after the refuge and you're walking pretty much entirely on rock. As we left the trees (and fortunately most of the flies) behind we were no longer able to see the summit through the clouds.


We trudged around snow banks and ice in an alien landscape looking a lot like Mordor. When you enter the clouds everything else disappears and all you see is the rock in front and behind you.  All that grows there is this depressed tufty yellowish grass. It was so depressing that we stopped to make a Blare Witch-style video of our last wishes.
A funny thing happens when you're climbing a mountain. After a while you forget what you're doing there and all that matters is the top. You have to get there because it's there and nothing else matters. You get quiet and can't think of anything else but that next step. I need to climb more mountains, it's addictive.

After three hours we reached the rocky top of the lowest of three summits. It's called Scala. There were a lot of people there, apparently this is the place to hang out. We collapsed on the rock and ate our well-earned summit chocolate while we decided if we wanted to try for Myticas, the top of the mountain or Scolio, only 5 meters below Myticas but a little safer. Both the higher summits were invisible in the clouds but when we checked out the path to Myticas it was a steep climb along a sheer snow covered face. I wanted so badly to make it to the top of the mountain but the path was just too treacherous and we forced ourselves to head for the second highest summit. I am still a little frustrated that we couldn't make it all the way but I think the hardest part of climbing a mountain is to know where to stop and the people coming back from the summit told us it was tough going. We gave up the summit in favor of our safety and headed for Skolio, 5 meters below the top and only slightly safer. Boosted by our chocolate and the thrill of reaching the top of Ginette's first mountain we arrived at the second highest peak at 3 pm in the afternoon and stood looking into the mist and pretending to stare off at the view. We could see nothing and the picture we took was in no way proof that we were standing at the top of a mountain but we were thrilled to be there. 
We stayed on the summit for only about 5 minutes, long enough to write our names in the book. On out right side was a sheer drop off a cliff into the clouds. On our left an almost vertical drop down a snow filled valley curving almost all the way back to the refuge a thousand meters below us.

At least we thought it went back to the refuge but we could see nothing in the mist. Ginette wanted to launch ourselves into midair and slide down the snow into the valley. She is Canadian after all and they are used to a little more snow than us wimpy Californians but it didn't seem like a good idea to me.

We did it anyway.

We made it down the mountain that had taken us 4 hours to climb in about 10 minutes. There are no pictures of our insane 1000 meter slide down a snowy cliff because within minutes we were soaked head to feet and covered with snow. It was totally worth the climb to the top of the mountain and the next time I climb it I need to bring a plastic bag and waterproof clothes. Apparently us sliding down the mountain caused quite a sensation, because when we got back to the refuge everyone had video and said they had seen the crazy English speaking girls leap off the snowy cliff and run, slide and roll screaming off the edge of a precipice.

We stayed at the refuge another night because the lady there said there was no way we could make it the 10 miles of steep downhill to Litohoro starting at 4 in the afternoon. We prepared for the long hike the next day. As a final addition to the success of our climb, the manager of the refuge told me to call her in a month for a possible job. I would be working at the refuge August, September and October. It's not for sure yet but I might consider it. It means backing out of my commitments for Burning Man which I have to think about but the money is very good.

By the way downhill is just as hard as uphill. The path down the mountain almost killed my knees and after not so long even though we could breath easier I felt like every step was breaking my legs. Especially when we decided not to hitch from the trail head at Prionia but to take the extra 6 miles of trail to Litohoro.
The Prionia-Litohoro path is beautiful, it passes a monastery and caves and a beautiful river. When we headed out I was fascinated by the beauty of the trail and the huge green lizards that live on it. I spend a lot of time trying to catch them but had to settle for a picture, they were too fast. The monastery was amazing too, despite being pretty much destroyed by Nazis in the second World War. It has a clear spring and the water is good to drink. 
The path weaves back and forth across a dozen bridges over the clearest water I've ever seen. It's well maintained but it still feels wild, at one point we passed an abandoned car that had drove off a cliff high above. It was a long way up to the road and I'd hate to see the driver after a fall like that. 

Along the way we met an English man who called himself an amature botanist. He reminded me of my dad because he got really excited about plants and kept whipping out his binoculars to look at something interesting. We had lots of interesting talk about the wildlife on the mountain, some of which is found nowhere else. And also he had a lot of advice  about life and marriage. Travelers have the greatest insight into the world.

On the path after about an hour you pass the Holy Cave. This is a huge cave that an old monk built a shrine into. It's quiet and cold and the stream falls over the rocks in just the right way to shine in the light. It was so amazing and as we sat there it seemed like the most peaceful place in the world. When I'm in a place like that I get the sense I have the whole world figured out. The key to my understanding of the world is just for me to have less noise and chaos in my life. Maybe I should meditate more. I guess as an EMT I handle more  stress  than a lot of other people and it's such a relief to relax in a quiet place every now and again. I can see why the hermit/ monk dude liked this spot. You can't hear anything but the water, no cars, people, nothing of the outside world.

The trail was worth it just to see the monastery and the Holy Cave but after that it dragged on and on until we felt like our feet were falling off. Also it was getting dark and we needed to get out of the woods so we had to pick up the pace to avoid hiking in the dark. However after hours we reached the top a a ridge and saw down the valley to Litohoro and beyond to the sea. Not long later we were staggering into the town as dark fell. As we headed into the village we passed the graveyard where someone had put a lighted candle on each of the graves. This must be the best place to be buried in the entire world.

So I climbed the mountain that 6 months ago I pointed to on a map at Greg's house and said, "hey, I could climb that!"

Maybe I can do anything I want in the world.