I’m driven by the thrill of the experience, not by money—and I’m really glad I went.
Before this, I’d gone on day hikes from Kuluar to Pip Ivan and Hoverla.
I also did a day climb up Shpytsi and a training hike to Yavirnyk-Gorgan; the last two were part of mountaineering courses, also organized by Kuluar.
Except that at the beginning of the year, I went on a hike with a friend to Khomyak in -10°C weather, so I basically knew what to expect on winter hikes.
That’s why I wanted to go with tents—especially since this was my last chance to do so this winter, and I didn’t want to miss it.
I knew my level of physical fitness, but it turns out I wasn’t the only one who knew—our group leader, Oksana, knew that I like to break away from the group and lead the way.
So she suggested we leave the snowshoes and crampons behind, since there wasn’t supposed to be much snow, and even if there was a little more, we could count on me because I’d blaze a trail.
I received such a pleasant and encouraging compliment right at the start of the hike.
In the end, the decision not to bring snowshoes was made collectively by the whole group, and it was the right call, since our backpacks were 3 kg lighter, and we only encountered snow-related issues on one section, which we successfully navigated.
I didn’t fully grasp the complexity of the route myself; I thought it would be an easy hike through the Gorgany range, but already on the first day on the way to Osmoloda, along with the other participants, I realized that the route was indeed challenging, and that added even more excitement.
We were very lucky with the weather—it was sunny, with almost no precipitation throughout the entire route. There was light snow with strong winds, but considering the risk of getting soaked in the rain, I think we were still lucky.
We did get wet in the rain on the last day, though, but that wasn’t a big deal since we were staying in houses that night.
Overall, I think we had a “light version” of the “Snows of Gorgan” trek because the temperature ranged from -5 to +5 degrees, whereas it’s usually between -5 and -15 for this program.
Now let’s go through the days.
The first day was pretty ordinary. We gathered with the group at the warehouse, picked up our gear, and drove to Osmoloda. Everyone got to know each other on the bus. At the drop-off point in Osmoloda, we had a snack and shared our food.
Before the hike began, my backpack weighed 18.5 kg; they gave me an additional 5 kg of food—cans of stewed meat that fit perfectly into my Osprey Kestrel 68.
For these hikes, they recommend backpacks of 80+ liters, but this wasn’t my first time traveling with mine, so I knew how to pack it efficiently to 85 liters while actually having a volume of 68.
One of those life hacks was that I simply carried my tent in the side pocket of my backpack, which saved space inside.
After sharing our food, we set off on an adventure toward the mountain hut on the Matagiv Ridge. After crossing the small bridge, there was a steep climb, but we managed it fairly quickly. The route was fairly standard.
Along the way, we came across animal tracks. Overall, the group was great—everyone was well-prepared, focused, and knew exactly where we were going, so we were even ahead of schedule.
I didn’t want to spend the night in the hut, so I pitched my tent outside, because personally, I need fresh, cool air for proper physical recovery.
But it was very warm in the kolyba, and the stove gave off a slight smell of smoke, so I decided it would be better to experience all the beauty of the Gorgan Mountains from my tent. For dinner, we had ramen, which was quite impressive.
The next day, I woke up early to pack up the tent so as not to hold up the group. We had a hearty breakfast and began our ascent further along the ridge.
We were treated to some truly beautiful views.
Then came a difficult stretch with snow, which we successfully made our way through; after that, we had a good snack—though I’d already had two snacks of my own before that.
The thing is, I have a good understanding of my energy expenditure, so I pack extra food for myself. For this hike, I brought an extra 1.5 kg of personal food: 6 Monsters protein bars, 4 Monsters
protein bars with salted caramel, 3 Vale protein bars with banana flavor, 3 packs of Granolla toGo cereal, 6 packs of OM-NOM bars from Yidlo, 2 packs of jerky from Ryabchuk, 5 brownies from ATB, a pack of Maria cookies, and a can of condensed milk.
I also took 2 Yidlo freeze-dried meals just in case, but I didn’t end up using them. The food on the hike was good, very good, and most importantly, delicious; I was completely full, since I ate the most of anyone, but because of my fast metabolism, I knew I’d get hungry before everyone else and
needed to plan for that.
So, let’s get back to the hike. After a good snack, we began a gentle ascent up Mount Vysoka.
It was the first peak our team conquered—it was awesome, with beautiful views.
We had a snack there too and continued our hike up Mount Igrovets. There, for the first time in two days, we ran into other people, which was quite a surprise since it was completely unexpected.
After that, we descended to the Borevka mountain pasture, where we set up camp for the night. We had a fun time sitting around the campfire, talking a lot.
At one point, Oksana had to cut us off, and it was the right decision, because otherwise the group probably wouldn’t have slept until morning—the conversation was so interesting and lively.
On the third day, we began our ascent of Velyka Syvulia. It wasn’t easy, especially since my body had become a bit fatigued over the past two days, so at first I walked at the back of the group to ease into the climb.
About halfway up the climb, I broke away and took the lead. Beautiful views opened up from the rocky massifs we were traversing; along the way, we stopped at a World War I-era dugout, where we had a snack and continued our ascent to Velyka Syvulia.
We were met there by a favorable wind, which added to the Cossack spirit, so we decided not to linger and pressed on.
The climb up Mala Syvulia was special. For some reason, it reminded me of Nepal—with its steep ascent and narrow trail—even though I’ve never been there.
A strong wind blew around us the whole time, adding to the thrill and making us feel like we were far away from civilization.
As we climbed, beautiful views unfolded before us, and we continued our descent. The next three days were also great; we ate well and heartily, joked a lot, saw many beautiful sights, and were happy.
True, on the fourth day I started showing signs of dehydration; the team leader helped solve this problem, but I had to slow down my pace—also a first for me—and later, even in photos, I could see how swollen my face had become.
From this trip, I picked up a lot of habits for my everyday life: I finally developed the habit of waking up in the morning, something I’d never been able to fix before.
I started spending even more time outdoors, thinking less about stress, and paying closer attention to my diet, because I wanted to bring that high energy level from the hikes into my everyday life—something I’ve been missing so much.
After the hike, I had a lot of brilliant ideas and thoughts that I definitely jotted down.
I recharged my mental strength from nature; surprisingly, my physical strength wasn’t completely depleted, which was very surprising, even though I often went on hikes “on a whim” because I wanted to learn even more about myself and what physical feats I was capable of, and I discovered a lot of new things about myself in that regard.
I plan to go again next time in harsher weather conditions with colder temperatures, because on the edge of survival, you can discover a lot about yourself.
I go hiking not so much for the scenery—since I’ve done 15 hikes over the past year and the landscapes are all pretty much the same—but for the experiences, and on this hike, I gained many positive impressions.