The Christmas adventure in the Bistriţa Mountains.

After a very long break I write this journal about the ultimate adventure of the 2012.

This year (2013) is quite an anomaly for me, because I happened to get out almost every weekend. Thus I had no room for writing here since the beginning of the year.

No let’s get back to Christmas of 2012! I left home on December the 23rd, to meet with Ioan at Grinţieş (Munţii Bistriţei) in the morning of the 24th.

Day the 1^st.

At about 5 o’clock I got off the train at Topliţa in the Mureş River valley below the Căliman Mountains. It was freezing (about -10°C) and the skies were clear. It was a good sign.

Meanwhile, Ioan woke up in Piatra Neamţ on the outer side of the Carpathian Mountains. He took a bus to toward a route intersection by the Lake Bicaz; from there he hitch-hiked to Grinţieş, where we met inside a coffee room.

Ioan spent a couple of the days before in the Ceahlau Mountains with several friends in common. But this was another story, which you can find here by Ioan: http://ioanstoenica.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/rasaritul-mult-dorit-iarna-in-ceahlau/

And here by Adelina: http://www.carpati.org/jurnal/scrisoare_catre_chiriasii_de_ceahlau/2904/

I took a bus headed to Târgu Neamţ and after two-hour ride I got off at Grinţieş.

After having a cake, coffee and a beer in the cafeteria I was ready for the adventure to begin. The Grinţieş is quite a big commune, as we saw it from a lateral ridge, where we started to ascend toward Bistriţei Mountains.

                            At Grinties on Christmas morning. photo by Ioan

We wore snowshoes since the begging of the climb, since snow layer was rather deep. At first we experienced powder snow, as we expected it. Though later in the day I noticed that the snow somehow got stacked to my gaiters. I started to see difficulties with walking for the days to come! A little later, having arrived at an abandoned house, we saw writing on a wooden bar inside its room. It read: “Zilele grele te aşteapta!” which roughly means in English: “Hard days wait for you!”

                                            Grinties seen from a ridge.

                                                 Hard days wait for you

                                      Hard climbing in wet snow. Photo by Ioan.

                                 Reaching an adapost. Photo by Ioan.

                            Wet snow got sticked to my boots and gaiters.

                                                Ioan in Muntii Bistritei.

                                    Myself in Muntii Bistritei. Photo by Ioan.

                                           Both of us at rest at noon.

Winter scene typical for the Carpathian Mountains. A haystack with snow topping.

After rest: let'go further...

And higher...Photo by Ioan.

Here wild boars fed on dry grass, hidden under snow cover. Photo by Ioan.

                                            Climbing higher and higher..

                                                 Through thick forest.

The climb toward the main ridge was remarkably long, though still a part of the village, named Grinţieş Mare, still was visible in the basin beneath us. Skies become cloudy and winds were strong. Heavy rucksacks (mine had 20 kg) and wet deep snow took their toll. We were thirsty and weary. In the end we managed to walk until it got dark, searching for a sheepfold as a shelter. It was because we did not want to sleep in the tent. Usually sheepfolds are more comfortable than any tent, if they are in a good state. In the first mountain pass we find a couple of them. 

                                        A saddle with abandoned house.

Looks good. Actually, it was not in good condition. An adoapost, where pointed an arrow had collapsed years ago...

                                                   So on we must go...

          Hopping that we will be lucky to find a good place for the Christmas Eve...

They weren’t in a good order, so we moved on uphill through a short portion of the forest. There on a large meadow we spotted several wooden buildings. It was a real pleasure to discover that the first house had two single beds inside. It was on the Christmas evening December the 24^th. Outside the wind was blowing, and snow layer on roof melted. Although we had not extra food to celebrate the Christmas Eve, we felt perfectly comfortably all the evening and night.

                    Christmas Even inside a sheepfold. Melting snow for water.

Day the 2^nd.

Waking up at about seven in the predawn light, we grabbed our cameras; tripods and ND filter and ventured outside for morning photos. It’s our routine to go out before breakfast for photographs, whenever light and subject matter cooperate.

                                 A group photo taken a dawn. Photo by Ioan.

Before sunrise on a veranda. Perfect place for the Chrismas morning. Any presents...? Photo by Ioan.

                                In our room before leaving. Photo by Ioan.

                                                    Really nice view...

The weather was still windy and warm. Water was pouring from the roof continually.

After visiting a sheepfold nearby, we discovered that that house was really comfy! It was with mattress on beds and walls were well isolated.

                                              Thick spruce forest.

                                               Thick spruce forest.

                                First portion of the day led through a forest.

                                       In the mid-morning...Photo by Ioan.

                                         Higher up the ridge vistas opened.

                                               View toward Ceahlau.

So further we went. The first portion of the day was to ascend to Grinţieş Peak. Skies were clear, with some clouds only. Behind us, on the other end of the valley famous Ceahlau Plateau was rising toward the sky. It was where I had been two months ago on a workshop led by Dorin Bofan. I was happy that I could make pictures of Ceahlau from this rarely seen perspective, since not many people come here, in this part of the Bistriţa Mountains.  The climb was really fatiguing, due to wet snow, which slow down our progress. Whenever I meet with such bad conditions I have a dream about spring and summer-time hikes, because I really love walking on clean trails with no snow or mud on them.

Ceahlau Plateau seen from Grinties Peak; on the left Toaca Peak, on the right Ocolasul Mare Peak.

A photo taken on Toaca in Ceahlau two months earlier with Bistrita Mountains in backdrop.

                                                Wading through wet snow.

                                                Climbing was so long...

                             Ceahlaul again, seen from a better perspective.

                                           Reaching first level portion...

                              To get to the peak was not easy...Photo by Ioan.

                                    Finally on a summit plateau...Photo by Ioan.

                                                 Ioan below a summit plateau.

                                              Deep snow below the top...

                          We took an advantage of g´good view for orientation.

                         Atop Grinties, with Budacu in bacground. Photo by Ioan.

                                                        Budacu masiff.

                                        Leaving Grinties...Photo by Ioan.

At noon we arrived on upper plateau of the Grinţeş Peak. In the back stayed Ceahlau Plateau and in front of us opened a new vista toward the highest peak of the Bistriţa Mountains, named Budacu peak. Between us and the peak was winding a lower forested ridge. It was hard to tell, whether we would arrive under Budacu today or tomorrow.

On the other portion of the day a heat was our enemy. We had almost no water with us and my thermos flask contained only 1 l of hot tea. It’s one litre content we distributed among two thirsty hikers. Out of thirst we begin to melt in our mouths wet snow which covered spruce tree branches. It brought us a little relief. I thought that I would rather experience dry and freezing conditions instead of humidity and several degrees of temperature above zero.

                                     Sucking wet snow...Photo by Ioan.

The path dropped abruptly from the top of Grinţieş peak. It was quite difficult to walk in those wet and deeps snows even with our snowshoes on our feet. There were no markings on this ridge, except for a short portion, where there were some marks painted on trees several decades ago.

                                         Old tourist marks-red stripe.

                              Three types of marking: a stripe, circle and cross.

                              Forests were wild and beautiful at this stretch.

                                              Walking through a forest.

An animal's track. I thought it could be a wolf print. Now I think that it wasn't a wolf. Prints were too small and to round.

             This is a real wolf print. Photo is taken recently in mountains of Slovakia.

The end of the day caught us somewhere in the middle of a forested ridge. Reaching a pass, we spotted a sheepfold next to a forest. We discussed among us whether we were going to pause here in order to check the building. After that we decided to see what the building’s condition is. A short portion of descend led us through deeps snow. Especially for me it was difficult to imagine starting to climb back. Moon was rising on eastern horizon, so I grabbed two images of this lovely scene.

                                       Moonrise in the Bistrita Mountains.

                                            Winter "balmy" evening.

                       By a fire. It winter its not as easy to make a fire as in summer.

                                              View out of a sheepfold.

Because it was almost dark we chose to reside here for the night. The building had no beds, thus we erected a tent next to it. As a result we had a large living room inside a sheepfold; and comfortable bedroom in the tent. The only thing which was not there was running water. To support our bodies’ water needs, it was essential to melt a lot of snow. To do so more effectively we build a fire next to the building. It was truly pleasant and calm winter evening under clear skies.

Day the 3^rd.

The morning dawned vague, with no vivid colour in the sky.

 Our tent in the morning. It turned to be the only night spent in a tent. It's weight is 3 kg!

                                 The night was spent comfortably in the tent.

                                                   Our "living room."

                                                 Packing a rucksack.

We simply put our snowshoes on and started to walk uphill. After reaching back to the saddle and short climb after it we got to the first top. There we grew doubtful in which direction we would need to go. After checking a map and a compass for several times, we got a little lower on the wrong side of the top. From there opened a view toward a forested ridge on our left. This was it! It was not necessary to climb back all the way; we just traversed those steep slopes horizontally.

                                              At rest...

                                         Getting oriented in deep forests.

There were not many changes in the landscape. Only spruce forest was around us. At one point an animal track led in our direction. Prints looked like that of a wolf. I was uncertain whether the traces were left by a wolf, because they were quite small and round.

Without any events which would interrupt our quiet mode of just walking uphill and downhill, we reached the first place which announced a change. It was a small meadow with a spring! It was a sign that a saddle beneath Budacu peak is nearby. We filled some bottles with fresh water and continued toward the saddle. There we found a shelter in a sheepfold. 

                                      Reaching a sheepfold below Budacu.

                                           At rest inside a sheepfold.

                                           A track of a brown bear.

Outside wind was blowing. The wind was quite strong and luckily some portion after the saddle was naturally protected against it, being i a lee side of the crest. Also there we crossed paths with a bears track. Prints were melted and probably several days old.

Here we were one third through our proposed track. Originally we wanted to climb the Budacu Peak and then descend back to the saddle. Our next stretch of our planned trail led to the north. However, under the fact that we met with difficulties, it was clear that for reaching our planned destination (Panaci), we would need another four days. We didn’t have so much time, so we took a decision to continue on a lateral ridge, leading from Budacu to the east.

                                    View from a side of Budacu Peak.

                                      In high winds atop Budacu Peak.

The decision we made was good. Even the lateral crest was beautifully wild! And it was pretty long, as we discovered en route. The weather was cloudy, with the sun appearing then a now. And the wind! It was so strong that I had to add another pair of trousers and an extra polartec jacket in order to stay warm. Ioan was equipped far better this time. He wore a new Patagonia gore-tex shell, which perfectly blocked the wind-chill effect. There was almost no snow cover on the crest. All snow was blown away by eternal winter gale. Even though we walked on the grass, it was better to continue to wear snowshoes. It takes some time to take them off and they add extra weight to a backpack, especially when they are attached on outer side of the back. The extra weight on the rucksack functions like a lever and two kg of snowshoes convert to be at least five kg. Down here at my comfortable room, where I am sitting right now, it doesn’t seem to be a problem, but up there on the wind exposed ridge it was a serious difficulty. Atop Budacu we hastily took some photographs, explored a ridge, where we wanted to go tomorrow and headed toward a sheepfold which was visible in the right in a distance. It took us almost an hour to get there. Arriving there at dusk, we hoped to enter the shelter and crawl to our sleeping bags to rest. Wrong! The new-built cottage was locked! We saw comfortable bed through a window, standing in the chilly wind. Even the corral, standing next to it was wind-exposed. I took-off toward an old sheepfold, which was only 200 m away. I rapidly descended across a snow field and opened the door. There was a double-bed with a cubic metre of snow on it! No problem! Snow can be removed. I hastily returned to the new cottage to tell Ioan about it.

                                        Cleaning the bed. Photo by Ioan.

                              Cooking a dinner inside a sheepfold. Photo by Ioan.

Feeling perfectly comfortable! Don't forget there were no lights inside. The photo was iluminated by a camera strobe. Photo by Ioan.

Soon we were cleaning the bed and cooked our dinner. Inside was no wind, and the temperature was not so low. It would be much worse to stay out in the wind inside my not wind-proof tent.

Day the 4^th.

In the morning the sky was foggy. Later it cleared rapidly and sun alternated with clouds. Getting all the way back to Budacu took us less than an hour. After taking some photographs with fog and sun we rapidly descended to a pass. 

                                      Ioan going uphill on Budacu Peak.

                                 We felt as if we were on a polar expedition.

                                     Reaching the Budacu Peak again.

                                                  Atop Budacu Peak.

                                                   Atop Budacu Peak.

                                         Waiting for the sun to appear.

                                                  Finally it appeared.....

                                                         Going down....

                                              Snow alternated with grass...

                                  There was no reason to put snowshoes off.

                     It was easy to go on a meadow and it was difficult in a forest.

                                                      At lunch pause...

There was no wind and the sun was shining. We left the heights and continued on a winding ridge, covered with forests, which alternated with meadows. This alternation of meadow and forest is a gift from old times, where the Carpathian Mountains were heavily used for keeping sheep and cattle. This period is called “the Walachian colonization”. In between the 14^th and 18^th century shepherds with sheep moved along the crest in search of a new home. They started in Walachia and after several hundred years they arrived in Austria (on a territory of today’s Czech Republic). They mixed with local population en route and left behind Romanian names of landscape features. Thus mountain peaks in our part of the Carpathian Mountains are named like those mountains in Romania: Kytchera, Magura, Prislop, Grúň (Grui), Gigula.  Other landscape features are named Sihla, Grapa and polana (poiana in Romanian) in the local carpathian idiom. Sheepfolds are named salaš, koliba. Sheepherder is called bača (baciul in Romanian). That is why I feel at home anywhere in the Carpathian Mountains. In our parts keeping sheep in a Walachian style had ceased roughly in the middle of the 20^th century. I wish Romanian mountains to be long spared of that fate. Abandoning the pastures means that meadows (poieni) start to be overgrown with a thick forest. In result good look-out points disappear etc.

Sheep in mountains of the former Czechoslovakia. A period photograph.
Today those places are overgrown with forest.

         A peaceful scene. It is a little deceptive. It was hard to get there in winter.

                                          Again climbing in deep snow.

                                             Walking was laborious.

                                                       One by one..

                                                      Our tracks...

                                     Grey-headed woodpecker in a forest.

                                                 Wild view opened.

                                                At a saddle after sunset.

At noon we took a break for a lunch, sitting on grass, enjoying the sun’s warm rays. We also find some raspberries, leftovers from the autumn. They were really delicious.

After the lunch we followed the ridge toward Cerbului Peak, from where we descended on abrupt slope into a pass. On the ridge we wallowed through deep snow and walking was awfully difficult. Also to descend was wearing. In the saddle we hit a forest road, where walking was easier. Nevertheless, this open portion was very long. In plus my leather double-boots soaked with water from melting snow and became heavy. 

                                                         In the saddle.

                                              Finding a spring. Finally!

                                                          At a spring.

                                               At rest inside a sheepfold.

After the saddle, there was a short though steep ascend to Gâina Peak and from there we descended for the second time to one more saddle. At sunset we reach a meadow with scattered cottage here and there. We checked those buildings one after one, although we couldn’t find any shelter with beds.

Meanwhile, a full moon rose on eastern horizon. It created such wonderful scene that I almost had forgotten how tired I was.

                                                       Moonrise.

In the end we came along a stable with was filled with hay. And inside a cottage nearby was a clean room opened, where we could prepare our dinner.

                                  Comfortable shelter for making a dinner.

After the dinner we slept on hay. The night was comfortable without a doubt. I even erected a tent inside the stable. I had a trouble with wet boots and wanted to keep myself as warm as possible. Ioan slept in open space, straight on the hay layer, with only a plastic tarp and mattress underneath him.

                                      Looking out of my sleeping bag.

                                            Ioan's place for bivouac.

Day the 5^th.

Morning dawned clear and cold. My outer leather boots were frozen solid. Inner boots were soaked with water. Overnight I had them inside my sleeping back to keep them warm. Ioan woke up, put his dry boots on a headed out to take pictures. I wasn’t following him. Seconds later Ioan shouted in my direction: “Hey, move on! There is beautiful light outside! Or have you carried your tripod all the way for nothing?!”

                                                      Dawn colours.

       Grinties Peak. There are two Peaks named Grinties in the Bistrita Mountains!

                                              Masiff Rarau-Giumalau.

     Grinties Peak. There are two Peaks named Grinties in the Bistrita Mountains!

                                                Our previous day track.

                                   Sunrise colours in the Bistrita Mountains.

I said to myself: “No way! I must overcome difficulties!” I put plastic sacks over dry socks, then put on those wet inners, and finally added heavy and frozen outer boots. It wasn’t so bad. I got out just seeing a beautiful predawn light. My feet were cold, but I managed to stay up there for more than half an hour. The morning light was incredibly beautiful and in result we both got nice pictures. When the sun rose higher in the sky it hid in the clouds and the magic was gone. All become gray.

                                                    Bistrita River valley.

                                     Village of Borca seen as if from a plane.

                                                     Facing the last portion.

We were on Secului Peak above village of Borca. The only thing we had to was to descend to the valley and hitch-hike to Târgu Neamţ of Piatra Neamţ to meet with Ionuţ, who was going to give us a lift to Bucharest. But still we were high above the valley. We descended in a beeline. Slopes were quite abrupt and when we had a village already in sight we entered in a forest, where gradient of the slope was so steep, that it appeared almost vertical. Carefully, however quickly we come down and found another obstacle: a fence. Ioan shouted in the direction of a man who appeared on a court, if there is a free way. The response of the men was positive, so we pass through the court and emerged on a street. The adventure was almost over.

                                                 On a street in Borca.

View from a bridge across the Bistrita River. Arrow shows the last portion of our descend.

After crossing the bridge, we stopped on a street by a road and tried to hitch-hike. Meanwhile I bought a coffee in a nearby bar. I felt like in a paradise, having no need to melt snow to get a liquid. Surprisingly I didn’t have problem with wet boots, because I warm up in effort and my feet were warm.

Hitch-hiking went easy. At first we were driven to an intersection just by the Lake Bicaz; from there we were driven by a second car to Vânatorii, where we met with Ionuţ and his girlfriend Isabella.

All the afternoon we spent in the car. Bucharest was over 400 km away and we arrived there at dark.

I stayed at Ioan’s aunt Silvia. We had a great victory dinner, and I remind myself how tasty Romanian cuisine is!

Day the 6^th.

First half of the day I stayed at my bed, reading a history of Ioan’s aunt family. It was written in Romania, but I understood it perfectly. In the afternoon I went to the Cora shopping mall, where I arranged a meeting with Cristina. I felt strange being in the shopping mall with double mountain boots, which still were wet!

Later come along Ioan with his sisters, Irina and Maria. We did some shopping and went back to their aunt where we played a card game all evening.

In this time my Romanian adventure was not over yet, because we planned to go to mountains again. At this occasion it was for the New Year Eve. Thought this is another story to tell sometimes later.

                                   Romanian mountains on New Year's Eve.