Location: North 38.17469, East 023.71649 (GPS on the summit)
Athens Greece
Difficulty: (YDS) class 2
Climbed October 16. 2021.
Information:
How to get there:
This peak is located very near Athen, it is a good peak to visit
on the way to or from the airport.
Drive to location N38.16926, E023.71734, elevation about 1210 meter.
(Ask Google to help with directions). There is parking on the left
hand side of the road.
Route description:
Take the trail that starts just behind the big sign posted at the roadside.
This trail is marked with yellow squares. Follow it until the trail fork
at location N38.17256, E023.70813, elevation near 1250 meter. Go right,
slightly uphill, there are some wooden signs near the fork. Follow this
trail to location N38.17427, E023.70690. This is immediately before the
(main) trail meets another (main) trail. This trail is small, marked with some
small cairns and some red paint. It goes directly right sort of on
a minor ridge line, (under some branches..) Follow this trail until you
see the fence near the radar. From here, follow the fence (the fence on your
right hand side) to the summit.
There is a concrete summit marker. The highest
point is just a few meter before you hit the marker right next to
the fence (small rock outcrop).
The terrain along the fence is rather ugly,
lots of waste and somewhat steepish in places. It may pay to descend a little,
then ascend to the fence when closer to the final few meter.
Comments:
Heidi and I was on our way from Metsovo to the airport in Athen. A good stretch of
legs to climb this peak before checking in at the airport hotel.
It took me about 40 minutes from the car to the summit. This involved some initial
bushwack after leaving the trail as well as rather careful hiking along the fence near the end.
I walked with my travel (not hiking) clothes, so some extra caution was called for.
On return, I decided to follow the marked trail all the way until it hit
the bigger trails marked on the maps. This worked well and after 25 minutes I was back
by the car.
The only thing left on this trip to Greece was driving back to the airport. However, in one of the
very first downhills, a black Mercedes car suddenly pulled out from being
parked on the left side
of the road, intending to go downhill, but
without looking uphill to see me coming in that lane.
A crash was unavoidable, fortunately the
speeds were low and the driver of the Mercedes turned left
when she understood what was happening. They were American tourists
in a Hertz rental car. At least
no language problems as could have been the case with a Greek driver.
We quickly agreed on the facts,
hopefully the insurance companies will sort this out afterwards.
