Today’s goal was to reach the tallest
point of Romania, a path that would lead us from the lodge, up into a saddle
and across 4 small summits before reaching the top, Moldoveanu peak, at 2544m.
Unfortunately the weather hadn’t improved much since yesterday, so the clouds
were covering the saddle, effectively preventing us from seeing where we would
be going.
Almost half the group stayed back in the
lodge while we made the attempt to get to the summit. It didn’t rain but the lack
of sun meant that the ground was in areas moist and slippery. But up we went,
and the further up towards the saddle we came the more rocky it got, so the
moisture became less of a problem.
Standing in the saddle we realized that the
weather wasn’t with us today. Visibility was less than 50m with light rain and
high winds. But we wanted to see how far it would be possible to go, so we
continued on over the first small summit. The weather didn’t really change and
it was generally pretty sully. A small trekker’s hut was placed after the
summit which we quickly entered to try and wait until the weather improved before
continuing on.
We ended up spending an hour or so in
the hut before deciding that we might as well be heading down again because
there was no indication that the weather would improve. Back over the first
summit, down to the saddle and down from there went without problems – the descent
when nearing the bottom wasn’t near as muddy as I had feared due to the rain so
the walk down ended up being easier than expected. And you couldn’t really
complain about that.
So no, the tallest point in Romania was
not reached; the altitude of the top we passed was around 2100m so it wasn’t
too bad. But this was the first trip I have been on where the summit was not achieved,
but I am glad that it was on this and not on some of the taller mountains I
have been climbing.
Looking upwards in the morning it looks promising.
Looking down from where we came.
Weather changed, though.
On the way down towards the saddle, this is where we came from.
Looking down towards where we were going.
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