Four hobbits' holiday on the Lespezi Peak (2517m), Făgăraș

Date: 5^th July 2017.

Team: Myself, Dragoș, Rareș, Adi.

Route: Piscul Negru—Lespezi Peak (2517m)—Piscul Negru.

First of all, I want to thank Matei for translating this article. 
Also, Matei added what is written in red. 

The idea for this route came during the Winter when I went through some other mountain journals, during my exam period. I was desperate to see with my own eyes Roza Vânturilor (The Wind Rose) and the whole landscape one can admire from the 4^th tallest peak form Făgăraș Mountains and the 5^th highest from Romania. The only peaks that are higher are: Moldoveanu (2544 m), Negoiu (2535 m), Viștea Mare (Big Viștea) (2527 m) and Parângul Mare (Big Parâng) (2519 m). I knew that it wasn’t a technical road (with chains and cables) but the altitude gain was nothing to joke about: 1350m. We ”hunted” good weather and as soon as we got a gap without some rain, off we went.

We began our trip from Bucharest very joyful, at 7 AM, after hard and long fought battles to leave so early in the morning. Halfway through București-Pitești (A1) motorway, we found out, by chance, the minor fact that Dragoș forgot his boots home…We were all somewhat worried by this precious piece of information, when Dragoș uttered his famous words: ”There is a Decathlon in Pitești, can we stop there for a moment? I needed new boots anyway”. We laughed all the way to the store, where we were forced to wait for it’s opening. But this delay wasn’t long as the process of choosing and buying the boots took only 10 minutes.

 Vidraru Dam

I was amazed by the Transfăgărășan Road. I’ve never been there before by car and I believe I was too loud in sharing my excitement once every 2 minutes (in between taking pictures and sticking my head out of the window).

The mountain trail begins from Piscul Negru (Black Peak), an area situated near the Transfăgărășan at approximately 70 km of Curtea de Argeș, right from behind the Cota 1200 Hut.

Sign 1

Sign 2

I feel like there is the time to talk a bit about this route: IT IS AN ONGOING ASCENT. Always when we walk on the mountains, Rareș is complaining that we ascend then we descend and then we go up again. Well, after this trip, even he must admit that on a mountain trail, your feet won’t like at all to follow the geodesic. Returning to the description: there is a continuous ascent for 3h 30 min; there isn’t  1m when you can walk on an even surface. This is why I recommend this road only if you feel prepared to climb ”stairs” for 3 h straight, with a few good kilograms attached to your back. But the reward is huge if you decide to walk this trail.

We started our ascent from behind the hut, at 14 PM.

Piscul Negru--Lespezi Peak (red dot, 3h 30 min)

We follow red dot

For the first 45 minutes you climb up through the woods, until a sheepfold is reached where you can see the peak looking menacing at you. I must admit, Iʼve never seen such a scary forest in my life. The unsettling part was that my friends shared this feeling with me. I was starting to feel like I was the protagonist of a horror movie and this is why I was urging them to quicken up the pace. I was also trying to keep bears away by singing (off-key of course) about pan-cakes with love and dor (NO!!!).

Dragoș

From the beginning of the trail, a shepherd’s dog started to follow us. ”He will protect us from possible dangers”, I was thinking. Nonsense. We were walking (apparently) with no worries in mind, when all of a sudden we heard the dreadful sound of dogs barking. Then we saw a shepherd with a horse and his 2 huge dogs that were charging towards us. It seems that they had a problem with our guide, `Doge the Defender`, who was hiding behind us. Luckily, the shepherd calmed them down with a few words, but I was still shaking. That shepherd told us something but all I could hear was: “Bear, Bear”… We gathered up all of our courage and we walked further.

Dragoș, pet Doge the Defender!

When we left the clearing, I was so relieved, but this feeling didn’t last long; I barely managed to take pictures of the sheepfold.

Glade

Sheepfold and the peak in the back

We were long way from the little house when we heard other aggressive barking from the sheepfold. Our little unlucky dog was still with us, but when he heard the other dogs he turned back where we came from (we met again the next day). We regrouped and advanced slowly. Then, for the first time, I thought of going back, but we believed there was someone in front of the sheepfold. It was a tiny distant dot, but it seemed like it was moving. Our fear was slightly diminishing and we continued our walk, even though the barking wouldn’t stop. With each step we got closer and closer and the dot got bigger and bigger until we could see it was in fact a shepherd who was calming down all of his 8 dogs (most of them were lying down, but barking heavily). I don’t know how long it took exactly to pass the sheepfold, but it seemed like an eternity to me. And then, the joy came back :).

Dragoș. the sheepfold and peak Lespezi

 Free path to the peak!

 "Look! We will be there in few hours!"

The view from the right side

Looks like we get closer, are we?

The view from the left side

 "ADI, you can do it!"

When will we travel that part of the mountain?

After an hour or so since we passed the sheepfold, we saw a herd of goats in front of us. It was 15:45 when we talked with the man who was taking care of them.

“Where do you want to go?”

“On the Lespezi Peak!”

“You have enough time to reach it, but you have to move faster…be careful as there is an aggressive bear in this forest. Do not be around here when it’s darkness."

We found out that we had to walk another 90 minutes to reach the peak. We were right on schedule. We thanked him for the information and we went on.

Goat herd

Rareș and Adi

 Oups! They are now in front of me!

Selfie with the goat

There is Piscul Negru and a small dot, Adi

At some point after we passed the herd, the distance between us began to grow. Adi was feeling pain in his knees, so we decided to take a break for regrouping. I ate a chocolate for energy, but I couldn’t stand still. I told Rareș and Dragoș that I will continue walking a bit. To be honest, I was kind of stressing out because I thought we were running out of time in our quest to reach the peak and to come back in time, without meeting any bears. I told myself that no matter where we were, at 17 PM we stop our ascending and we turn around.

Boys talkin' near a big rock

The view from the right side...

Is it closer?

 Fluffy roof

I think it is moving away...

After the boys met again, Dragoș went after me, while Rareș went with Adi. He caught up to me quite quickly.

So small...thank you Dragoș for this photo

 A look behind...

 In the right side, Vf. Lăițel

Towards Lespezi Peak

A look behind

Between Heaven and Earth
In the center of the image is Vidraru Lake

At 17 PM I told Dragoș that if we don’t reach the peak at 17:30, we turn around. How quickly one can change his mind when he really wants to achieve something…To maximize our chances, we abandoned our backpacks. I took my fleece jacket and my phone (for pictures!) and we went on.

 We left our backpacks exactly in the center of the image

I have to confess, I was tired. It was a steep ascent and the peak seemed to drift away from us. It was one of my deepest desires to reach the top, but my feet had other plans. Then I applied the method of Tibi Ușeriu. After 27 steps I was taking a short break. And then another 27… and another 27 and so on. That’s it, stop. Another 27 steps, another 27. I strongly believe that there are very few the ones who weren’t swearing during that particular ascent. Or praying. I was doing both :)).

 The 27 method

Meanwhile, I saw a long way behind me 2 little dots, which were Rareș and Adi. I was sure that they gave up and they were waiting for us there. It made me quite sad, but I continued with my counting.

Roza vânturilor (The Wind Rose)...

When the clock showed exactly 17:30, we reached the top. I was dead tired, only my will pushed me forward and until this day I still don’t know how I did it. A not so typical for myself selfie follows, but it is a picture that shows exactly how I felt in that moment. Not my proudest face :)).

Dragoș exploring the heights

Quickly, I was surrounded by peak-fever. I WAS THERE! I tried to identify other peaks around and I am sure that I saw the trapeze Viștea-Moldoveanu. I took pictures in all directions, 10 times, without changing the position of the phone, just to be SURE I got them all. All effort was worth it. It would have worth it even if the effort had been double. 

I ... DID IT 

Then I saw that Rareș didn’t give up. I forgot all I said about 17:30 and I was hoping he can somehow receive some of my enthusiasm and carry on towards the peak. 

Rareș on his way

Just a little more! 

I believe I was feeling then exactly how he feels when he watches football matches (were Mignolet has to touch the ball). With helpless enthusiasm. Until he finishes, here are some pictures from up there.

Left: Cornul Călțunului Peak. Center: Negoiu Peak

Far far away, in the center of the image, one can see the trapeze
Viștea and Moldoveanu

 Happy selfie with Roza

 Rareș, Lespezi and a big smile

Peak Lespezi--Piscul Negru (red dot, 2h 30)

At 18 PM we were leaving the peak. We abandoned our initial plan, to come back through Șeuta Lespezilor (The Little Saddle of Lespezi). We began sprinting downwards because we had to catch the forest while the sun was still up. We found Adi alongside our backpacks and we took a well-deserved snack break. After that, off we went.

Just go to the mountains!

Adi 

 Through the shire

Passing by the sheepfold was problematic again, that’s why there are no pictures from this part of the trip. The dogs felt us relatively late and they were barking furiously. The shepherds signaled us to take it right down the middle, alongside the little house, surrounded by the 8 dogs. It was an interesting experience; one I don’t want to repeat ever.

Afterwards, another problem, the forest. We reached it at around 20 PM, so our descent from the peak took only 2 hours! But there were only 2 small issues. Adi was in great pain, from his knee, after the tough descent and we found bear traces on the trail. When I saw the first one, my heart sank but I stayed quiet. All I could do was to blow a whistle, because if we made enough noise, the bears would go away. I was looking between the trees and I was hoping that I won’t see anything suspicious. The boys were 20 m behind me, trying to help Adi (boosting up his spirit). At some point I couldn’t take it anymore and I showed Rareș a bear’s mark, hoping we could all fly away from there in that moment. Sadly, that didn’t happen. Rareș looked at me, and without any traces of a doubt, he told me it’s a dog’s mark. Also he told me to stop being so scared. Nonetheless, I continued blowing the whistle as often as I was breathing. When we finally reached the destination, I was the happiest person on the planet.

Again in the forest... 

What amused me the most was the meeting with the owner of the hut were we were going to sleep that night. The guys stopped at the car and I was alone. He asked me how it went and I told him that we reached the peak and it was awesome. He didn’t believe me, because he knew that we left quite late.

”Have you reached the top...?”

”If you want to see, I have pictures.”

I showed him Roza and other pictures of myself on the peak. It was a nice feeling, because when he first saw us I am sure that he took us for some greenhorns (Winnetou, Winnetou!!!), which we weren’t, obviously.

During that evening, when we all sat down at dinner, Rareș admitted that what I showed him in the forest was the trace of a bear. It wasn’t the only one he saw… I thank him though, that he kept it for himself until then, it was better like this.

We slept really well that night, and the next day we went by car up to Bâlea Lac (Bâlea Lake). The next pictures are taken during our trip there. 

 Not the most lady-like breakfast: Traditional Mici

Selfie with the team

Good to know

• From Lespezi Peak, one can admire Călțun Lake, by walking slightly to the right and looking down. I must admit, I completely forgot (and to look down from that height … I will say no to that).
• One can reach Negoiu Peak as a follow up from Lespezi Peak.
• There are 13 peaks with an altitude of 2500 m or more in Romania, 8 of them are in Făgăraș.
• An information that has neither rhyme nor reason, but I realise that you can learn geography only on the sight so it is my duty to tell: the rocks on this mountain are shale rocks.

It is a trip with a special place in my heart, which gave me confidence and made me realise this: on a mountain trip, you climb with your will, not (only) with your legs. Here is a link with the map used.

Also, this trip woke up inside me the desire to come back in Făgăraș. A burning one. It was so bad, I was doing research about routes towards Negoiu exactly next day. That's where we went next time. There we will also meet Salvamont for the first time, and I hope it will also be the last.