Monday, 10 Sep: Piatra Craiului (Curmatura Cabin – Plaiul Foii Cabin)

We all (4 Israelis and me) left at 8:40. From the very beginning it seemed that the group were much slower than me (granted their packs were a bit heavier and they had no tracking poles). For example, it took me 17 minutes to get to the first saddle (crapaturii), while it took the last of them 27min. I walked with them up to Turnu Peak (1911m), while heaving to wait for them continuously. I arrived at this peak at 10:45 so it took over 2 hours instead of one hour and 20 minutes, i.e. 50% longer than it should. Since I was worried it was going to rain (due to some unfriendly clouds in the sky) I decided to split from the group and take off on my own in a much faster pace with no distractions. So I told Ehud (who was the first to show up) that I was splitting. This came as no surprise as we had already talked about this possibility before. This would be the last time I’d see the folks. I’m a little ahead of myself here, but they never made it to the cabin, and I’m not sure what became of their day. In fact, I saw absolutely no one until nearly the end of the day.

I did the rest of the crest up to a place called La om Peak (2238m), which is the tallest peak in this mountain ridge and arriving there meant I covered nearly the whole crest. The hike was even more dangerous than Fagarasii mountains as it entailed going up and down peaks (over 10 for sure) and the descents almost always required the use of my hands. The terrain was very rocky and the path was rather narrow. Anyway, I arrived at the peak at 15:30. After some photos I continued a few more minutes to a place called La Lanturi (The Chains), where I had lunch and finished all my food with the exception of garlic (garlic is brilliant – it makes everything taste great). I left at 16:30. La Lanturi, was without a doubt the hardest and most dangerous part of my entire trip. It was a 600 meter descent over a distance of not more than 600 meters. It required extreme care and the nearly continuous use of my hands. There were many places where chains were attached to the rocks to enable one to descend or ascend. Without a doubt this place would have been 10 times easier going the other way. So I took my time in order to avoid the unpleasantness of falling off the cliffs. I arrived at a point called La Zaplaz (1640m) at 18:30, which was the end of La Lanturi. From here things were easy and simple and fast. At 19:00 I arrived at Spirla Refuge (1440m), where I met the first two people – a couple who was staying at the tiny refuge. I continued on arrived at Plaiul Foii Cabin (849m) at 20:45, which made this my longest day – a 12 hour hiking day.

The cabin was really good and I got a good meal and a hot shower!