According to the statistics of the route Snows Gorgan - winter hiking in the Carpathians with tents on the Kuluar website, 11 groups and 36 participants have taken part in the entire history of the company, approximately one group per year.
It might seem like a small number, but according to simple calculations, there are a lot of emotions, experiences and stories. This is a story about our group, which was the eleventh, and for me it was the second attempt to complete this route.
Despite the hot summer of 2024, I often thought of climbing to the mountain peaks where the snow does not melt, frosts are always severe and cold winds rage.
After the last hike, the year flew by quickly but not in vain, I took into account my mistakes, thought about and prepared better and lighter equipment.
Thanks to Maksym from the spring hike for his advice to estimate the weight of equipment in “snickers”, I planned to reduce the total weight of the equipment, balancing it with comfortable travel because we were talking about spending nights in a tent in winter.
The new equipment that proved to be perfect was lightweight and compact downy items (sleeping bag, jacket, pants, socks, hat), lightweight carbon trekking poles, a moisture-proof cover for the sleeping bag, a collapsible aluminum shovel, and semi-rubber boots.
The first day of the hike coincided with my birthday. Knowing the difficulties with recruiting groups for this hike, I planned to be ready to go on any date where a group would gather.
Just imagine how nice it was when the team leader Oksana Tsan and the whole group immediately congratulated me on my birthday with a real delicious cake, blowing out candles, making wishes, the second of which later came true, and a gift - a branded bag from Kuluar. I was also lucky to have a team leader Oksana Tsan to lead us on this hike. After the last hike I had only positive impressions of her.
This hike made me even more confident that for her the participants become more friends than clients. Her work and care for the participants are worthy of the highest praise.
It was so nice to see her share her warm clothes, shoes, and hot water bottles with our participant, Victoria.
Oksana is very good at navigating critical situations, for example, she didn't turn the whole group around, but was able to figure out how to return only two participants who had left the route on the second day.
At this point, I would like to ask the Kuluar consultants to inform the participants as much as possible about the conditions of the hike and the difficulty of the hike during the group formation to minimize such situations.
Oksana is also very knowledgeable about the route, knows the best places for rest stops and when to make them.
She has extraordinary organizational skills, not many people can organize their own wedding for several dozen guests remotely from a business trip abroad. She has a positive outlook, interesting topics for conversation and stories.
She is strong-willed and strong, she doesn't drown in water or burn in fire, and that's literally what she means.
The first day of the hike ended just as well, in a tourist shelter in a meadow that was free, with a warm stove, acquaintances, communication, plans and expectations for the hike.
Later on, we were going to reach the mountain peaks. Each mountain peak greeted us with an icy strong wind, snow, low visibility, and an icy, slippery surface.
We tested ourselves over and over again to see if we would retreat. The higher we got to the top of the mountain, the more everything resembled an icy desert, where there was nothing alive except for the members of our group.
In such harsh conditions, it is impossible to stop and rest, and I wanted to take a break for a few minutes and drink tea. As we gained altitude, our fatigue increased, and our back and legs hurt more and more from the heavy backpack.
The maximum wind intensification and a solid ice crust let us know that the mountain peaks were approaching.
Ahead was an icy ascent, and on the sides were steep, slippery and seemingly endless descents with poor visibility. The higher you go, the more carefully you take each step, biting into the ice, afraid of stumbling and falling into the abyss.
You want to gain the last tens of meters as quickly as possible, but you take several small steps, I managed three steps between carrying the trekking poles.
Every three steps I took brought me closer to the goal, to the top, with a gasp and a moan that I was not ashamed of myself for, because only I could hear them because of the strong wind.
At each peak, it was so nice to hear the words of team leader Oksana congratulating me on the top, to feel satisfied with myself and the power of nature.
The third day of the hike was the most difficult and key day with the ascent to the highest altitude on the route - Mount Velyka Syvulya (1836 meters).
This mountain remained inaccessible last time, but this time it showed all its strength and beauty in a way that we will never forget.
So, before the top of the mountain, there was a narrow ice climb, no more than one snowshoe wide with no way to catch on stones, there was only slippery ice and the threat of stumbling and falling.
We all made it successfully, but that passage is unforgettable.
To climb all the planned peaks during that day, we walked for several hours without stopping, and the first halt was in the forest area when it was so dark that we didn't even have the strength to finish our frozen sandwiches and could barely lift and put on our heavy backpack.
After three extremely difficult days, we enjoyed the beautiful weather on the fourth day. It seemed that nature had rewarded us for all the trials we had gone through.
The morning greeted us with a beautiful sunrise. Since we spent the night in a low-lying forest, the first rays of the sun were seen on the tops of the surrounding mountains and treetops.
The sun was so hot that sunscreen came in handy.
We continued the route in almost windless weather, with visibility to the horizon, as if enchanted, we enjoyed the views and beauty of the Montenegrin ridge, Gorgan and others in the Peklo meadow for a long time.
Until the evening, nature and weather pleased us with their beauty and riches. And after an amazing sunset, a full moon appeared in the sky, which continued to illuminate the mountains and forest.
Combined with a big fire, it seemed that everything around us was for us.
For those who for the first time in the history of the Coulouard have completely successfully completed this route as a team of team leader Oksana Tsan, Victoria Viktorenko, Andriy Kubakhov, Igor Lytvyn and Serhiy Artsev, because we did not meet a single other person along the way.
I thank everyone for the successful trekking and wish Oksana, the team leader, family happiness, love and beauty.
Successful climbs, interesting hikes, and always recruiting groups with grateful, pleasant participants.
I wish Ihor family comfort, spiritual growth and new interesting trips.
Victoria - to return from hiking without a single scratch, to heal her fingers as soon as possible, and I hope you will read this review to the end).
To Andriy - to successfully develop his own business and to make those mountain peaks of the Carpathians, which we looked at at the halt and imagined the mountains of Nepal, not imaginary and to really appreciate the beauty of the Himalayas.
I wish Oksana and Kostiantyn, who left the route, new successful climbs.
For me, I wish my first wish, which concerns our entire country, to come true.
Friends, we often discussed why we go on such difficult hikes on cold evenings.
I really liked Victoria's version of this, but for me personally, it's a spiritual quest - hiking in the mountains helped me to derive the most important formula for myself - the less fear there is in me, the more room there is for love.
Why this is important can be answered by a quote from the movie Serenity's Mission: “You can memorize the charts, but if you fly a ship you don't love, you will one day be thrown out of the pilot's seat.
Love will keep the boat in the air when it should fall by all rights. Love will make your ship your home.”
And also because difficult hikes teach you the most important things, the things that will help you make the right choice in the most difficult situations, always tell you where to go and why, and what gives you the most pleasure - survival.
The mountains will teach you how to survive, and Kuluar will show you the way to the mountains.