It is almost August again, it’s been a year since my first actual mountaineering experience and once more after the yearly mathematical boot camp under Greece’s highest peak we embark on a journey filled with adventure.

The goal in short is to summit the 10 highest peaks of Greece before i leave for university, a goal that is not easily achievable with the time constraints that i currently have. Some of the peaks sit far away more than 8 hours away and some other at least a flight away, thus this goal not be completed soon.

We left Litochoro on Friday the 28th and drove upwards of 4 hours to the village of Pades near Konitsa. The village lays under the south face of Greece’s second highest mountain; Smolikas at 2637m, it is also the shortest route to the top (around 5 hours round trip). The ‘hotel’ of choice was the Munti Smolikas Inn, the only thing remotely resembling a hotel in the village. Jokes aside the Inn was perfect as it proved to have many great modern comforts and a villag-y and mountain feel.

On the morning of the 29th we woke late (around 7am) and left the hotel after a nice warm breakfast. By driving from the village (1250m) to ‘Stani’ (1890m) you cut the trip upwards of two hours but you will be needing a 4×4.

After reaching ‘Stani’ around 8:30am we geared up and started our hike towards the lake, named ‘Drakolimni’ or ‘Dragonlake’ in English. Its name comes from the Alpine Tritons (lizard like amphibious creature) that inhabit the lake. The hike was a short 1 hour with a gentle gain of 260m, the section is quite scenic with views of the summit and many, many river crossings that are a testament of the precipitation that this mountain gets.

After around 1 hour and some very fast 3.3km we made it to the lake and well, saw what we had to do next. The weather was perfect and the views stunning so we quietly ate our snacks and drank our water on our 10-min break.

The rest of the climb would be grueling as the temperature rose and the sun rose and rose at a point where the entire route was under sunlight.

The route can be seen in the following picture. The path traverses many corroded now dry riverbeds, until it reaches the upper planes under the summit pyramid. You should be wary of bad soil conditions that might result in a nasty fall.

From the lake on you will be interestingly hike for around 1:30h, the hike is pretty tiresome but is rather technical easy so no problem hiking it with limited experience.

We left from the lake worried about our time and the heat although the weather was perfect and we progressed slowly but steadily until around 2300m. Up to there the trail was steep rocky switchbacks on corroded rocks. At around 2300m it meets the grassy plains under the summit pyramid, there just 15 mins after the summit trail break we had a problem. My brother was unwell. A combination of malnutrition, overheating and/or general bad form , he almost blacked out and stumbled down to rest on the grass. After some seconds of talking we decided to get a quick break before heading up, whilst we also concluded that leaving my brother to wait on the trail wasn’t wise, we waited for 3-4 mins and then continued.

After 2:56h we finally summited Greece’s second highest peak, a mountain that seemed to not be all that ‘scary’ and wasn’t all that difficult. One more mountain off the list and one more peak in the bag. This peak is highly recommended if you are looking to climb something remote, huge and a general good peak to bag. With difficult access but great routes it is a no brainier climb if you are in the area.

View of Timfi mountains from 1900m The last large switchbacks under the summit The summit ‘crater’ to the east View of the summit pyramid from the lake The nearby Timfi mountains from the high trail