I went with Ivan (aka Arktus) on the “Grofa and Parenka” route from September 19–21. In short: if you’re choosing a trip leader, choose him.
He’s a true pro. Ivan starts the briefing right on the bus: the route, safety rules, how to behave in the mountains. He speaks with a sense of humor, so even those who usually don’t listen pay attention until the very end. At the first rest stop, he showed us how to properly put on and adjust our backpacks. We, grown adults with 2,000-meter peaks under our belts, realized we’d been wearing them wrong our whole lives. He told us which mushrooms grow here and which ones to avoid—he knows every type of fly agaric. Before setting out, he did a head count.
Ivan tailors the route to the group, not the other way around. He timed our sunrise hike up Hrofi so that we’d reach the summit as the sun rose and wouldn’t freeze there in the dark. When part of the group wanted to tackle Velyki Konusyaky and Parenky in a single day, he sketched out the options right on the ground, let everyone choose, and led those who decided to go further.
He’s a real person. Calm and patient. He put up with our long photo sessions and silhouette dances at the summit and only called us down when it was truly time. When the bus didn’t make it to the meeting point on the way back, Ivan calmly led the group through the rain to the nearest shelter with a roof over our heads. He knows and loves the Carpathians: he talks about the deer rut in such a way that we believed him; the roar of a bear at night is, most likely, a deer in the mood for romance.
My only complaint: Ivan promised to tell us by the campfire where the nickname “Arktus” came from, but he never did. I’ll have to go back again.
