Those-who-touched-the-Apex, Negoiu Peak (2535m), Făgăraș-Part II
Also, Matei added what is written in red (Thank you for that, too!).
This follows the previous article. With a grave gesture, Matei took THE bottle of Pepsi out of his backpack.
Before we engulfed the hefty amount of sugar from the ”Black Gold”, we took the
already traditional selfie.
Our greenhorn moment
How foolish from me to take my eyes away from the bottle. The boys left
a few drops on the bottom, for me, but it’s the gesture that counts, isn’t it?
During our little talk about how adequate is to carry with you liquid sugar on
the Negoiu Peak, Dragoș concluded philosophically: “Your boots don’t make you
an expert”.
We were well and truly amused, although we weren’t aware that this saying
applied to us to some extent. We sat near the flag and had our lunch at 2535 m.
There are no words in the dictionary to describe that
type of hunger. Soon followed lots of pictures and discussions about
which trip was more difficult: Negoiu or Moldoveanu.
Sooo happy
That view
Far away
The curtain rises
Stolen from Matei. About the history that is not learned in school
Our dear flag...
The neighbours: Lespezi and Cornul Călțunului
The ever looming rain finally made its move. The few droplets that we
felt on us and the extremely cold and strong wind convinced us to leave the
peak behind. We were all calm and somewhat free from worries. We began our
descend.
Negoiu Peak (Vârful Negoiu)--Călțun Lake (Lacul Călțun) (yellow strip+red strip, 2h )
Stone age
Not proud of how I descended that part
Dragoș, Rareș and Sebi
Scrambling towards the funnel, first from the left side
Dragoș and Rareș
"Can you stop taking photos, please?"
"NO"
Towards the funnel
A look behind
We reached the funnel and the lake safely. Sebi still had pain in his
back and all of us were feeling tired after all those hours spent on the
mountain.
Călțun Lake
Călțun Lake (Lacul Călțun)--Grigore's Trail (Poteca lui Grigore)--Bâlea Lake (Bâlea Lake) (blue cross, 3h 30 on the indicator, we would say 4h, our time is not to be mentioned)
Having avoided the dangerous rain on the ridge, we found another problem
to worry us further: we had to reach the end of the trip as soon as possible to
be able to travel towards Piscul Negru (The Black Peak) before 9 PM, because
the road closes then and we would get a fine. RETARD
ALERT. Matei apologises for this. We may laugh about it now, you may
laugh about it now, but then, it was a real problem. For this reason, we took
an incredibly short break at the mountain shelter. It was 17:15 when we started
on Grigore’s Trail, trail that would have led us right at the entrance of the
tunnel (from the other side of Bâlea).
Dragoș and Rareș running away from the fine
The little fingers on my feet started hurting me, because of the steep
descent. Probably, the bandages I put on them had moved and now my finger was
in a constant friction with the sock and the boot. Also, my knees smelled the
steep descent and started to hurt me. I was terrified by the fact that 4 hours
of mountain trail stand between us and the car. I was trying to stay as close
as possible to Rareș and Dragoș, who were having an incredible pace. Of course, no one cared when I started to complain.
Meanwhile, Matei was walking with Sebi and they were pretty far behind.
I heard them calling us. It seemed that Sebi slipped on a wet rock and hit his
back (coccyx, for all human-anatomy-lovers out there). This
happened because they were trying to keep up the pace imposed by the non-human
that is Dragoș. We stopped to wait for them but again, we didn’t learn
and we kept our pace even after we met up. We had already passed the fork that
split the trail towards The Black Peak (Piscul Negru) because at that moment we
were sure that we will reach Bâlea in time. Also, that
road would take us through the woods that we travelled in our Lespezi trip….
BEARS BEARS BEARS.
Matei and Sebi
What is waiting for us
Tired but happy
The gap between us grew again. Rareș and Dragoș were going really really
fast and I had to think my steps to keep up with them. Shouting. Sebi hitting
rocks again. Twice…and that was just the beginning of the end. We stopped to
wait for them again, thinking about the time we had to reach the destination on
time to avoid the fine.
Waiting...
Sebi and Matei in the right side of the big rock
Aaaaand, that is the last picture taken on that day.
When we met up, we found out that Sebi felt excruciating pains with
every step he took. A blind man could see that he was not well at all. He was
very tired and was constantly asking how much was left (the answer was around
3h 30 min for healthy people…). We were somewhat scared and we tried to walk at
a slow pace. We managed to pass some donkeys but we had a break, again. It was
18 PM.
Sebi was in pain. He was laying down as we watched him helplessly. Rareș
remembered that he had a Wonder-Gel with him, for sore and pulled muscles,
which froze up the affected area. He gave Sebi a massage, but it didn’t do the
trick. Everything was going downhill for us, except the
trail in front… we had to climb up the road in front.
It was already too late to go back and head towards
The Black Peak; we couldn’t climb again the slope that we’ve just descended. To
go back even further to Călțun Shelter was again out of the question. Moreover,
a night spent alone in the shelter, without sleeping bags (!) wasn’t the way to
go.
For a moment, we thought that what was way down in the
valley was the Transfăgărășan and we had the idea to split up: some will go
take the car and the others will go straight down and wait for the car on the
road. The idea was stupid (see any horror movie), because we also realised that
what we believed it was the road, was in fact, a river.
We had to follow the trail. To go up. From that
moment, Rareș and Matei carried Sebi’s empty backpack alternatively. We moved
on, but slowly. I was feeling awful, as if everything was my fault. (Which isn’t !)
Following the old saying: “If it can go wrong it will”, it started
raining. It began slowly, with big droplets and it started to fall more and
more. Some put on their raincoats, but Rareș, who was walking with Sebi didn’t
so I wanted to be a try hard as well. Dragoș saw that we were crawling at an
awful pace and concluded (with Matei’s help) that he should reach the top of
the slope to tell us what should we expect further. Everyone agreed and he was
gone. Later that day we found out that when he found out what was next he
realised that there is no chance that we could reach Bâlea while the sun was
up. So he started to run, trying to reach the Salvamont, by phone or by foot.
Somewhere along that ascent that Sebi walked with great pains, we saw a
rock that was coming out from the mountain and was giving us some shelter from
the rain. As Sebi was laying down on the ground, he was livid and we realised
he had no more dry clothes. Rareș gave him his sweater to keep him warm. He and
Matei forced him to eat something, a croissant I believe, while they were
taking his boots and socks of (needless to say, they were all wet). In that
moment Rareș, Matei, and I were completely numb, we couldn’t feel any pain,
probably the adrenaline kicked in.
The boys discussed different possible plans. We all concluded that
somehow we had to reach Salvamont, as we couldn’t reach our destination before
the night kicked in. I took my phone out. There were 2 lines of signal, but it
wouldn’t connect even at the tenth attempt. Matei’s battery was long gone,
while Rareș’s phone was out of battery because someone took some pictures with
it (don’t look at me). The situation was critical.
Another idea I had was to send a message to my family, maybe that would
somehow be sent, to tell him to call the Salvamont. I left with them a clear
sketch with our trip’s plan and intermediary points, it would have been easy
for me to describe to them our exact location. But Rareș was there to knock
some sense back in me: to tell my parents (any parents) in that situation where
we were would have been anything but a good idea. Another extreme solution was
that someone should climb back to Călțun Shelter (where there was signal). But
we were already split from Dragoș (we weren’t aware of his decision to reach
Salvamont by himself) and we had to give up to this idea as well.
As I was walking up and down the small trail near our shelter and rain
was falling down, trying desperately to contact the Salvamont, I asked myself for
the first time: why do I keep going on mountains? Why did I wanted to come on
Negoiu, why I left the comfort of my home for this? I was upset for thinking
like that, but to be honest, I had no answer to these questions.
I strongly believed we will remain stranded there all night, under that
rock. All I could see was darkness, imprisoning us, with our backs on the wall,
bunched up one to another … and nothing
further. Rareș told me after the trip was over, that he thought at everything,
even how to calm me down in the eventuality that I would start crying or
screaming. (I am sorry, but this is bullshit. He was
scared, and I won’t believe anything else).
Now the sun was coming out from behind the clouds, but the rain was
still there. A rainbow (not in the dark) greeted us, but we have no picture of
it, we had our minds a bit busy. I had the idea to message Dragoș to call the
Salvamont as soon as possible, if he gets signal, to tell them that we are just
before the area with dwarf mountain pines. I wasn’t aware that this was what he
planned. I was hoping that he would receive the message soon.
I don’t know for how long we were under that rock. After the rain
stopped (some good news after all) Rareș and Matei talked with Sebi and they
concluded that with or without the Salvamont he would have to walk on his own
feet. We were ready to go again, even if we were to move as slow as snails… it
didn’t matter, we had to move.
What followed was the area with dwarf mountain pines, with a lot of high
rocks that weren’t that difficult to pass, in normal conditions. But Sebi had
problems even when he was moving his foot up a bit; I don’t want to know what
pains endured there. Matei was guiding him, encouraging him and I was going in
front of them. When there were bigger obstacles we both gave Sebi a helping
hand to relieve his pain. Rareș was walking at about 20 m in front of us and
was blowing from his whistle. He had other fears. A few small steps, a break.
Three more steps, a break. And so on…
Sebi overcome every physical limit then. He transformed into pure will
and every step was a battle won by his mind against his body. Only he knows
what he felt.
…
Finally, we reached a normal trail, with no boulders. Somewhere above
us, a helicopter passed and we were trying to catch its attention. Then I
realised that my flashlight (the only light source form our group, beside
phones) was broken. Its battery leaked and I carried it with me for
nothing. Also, then I wanted to send my parents a warmer message then: “17:15 we
start our walk on Grigore’s Trail” but I gave up on this. We walked on.
I believe it was 19:30 when we saw a shepherd coming our way. We told
him in a blink of an eye our situation (he was the first human we saw in 3
hours), even that Dragoș was ahead, asking him if he saw a non-human running on
the trail. He said no, but he told us that, if we don’t have an alternative, we
could come down to his sheepfold, down in the valley. We found out that there
were at least 2 hours until Bâlea. We thanked him and continued our trip. That
was the moment when all of us received messages from Dragoș, who was telling us
that some people from Salvamont were on their way. That was a huge relief for
us. Later we found out that, not knowing the phone number of the Salvamont,
(0SALVAMONT = 0725 826 668) he called the general emergency number, 112. It
seems that his call alerted the Police Force, the Ambulance Service and the
County’s Hospital.
We saw the trail was going up steadily for the next hour or so (that if
we were fully fit) and we were pretty discouraged by that fact (we were in
Valea Paltinului). We continued walking in the snail rhythm, “few steps, few
minutes break”. Probably from the top of that hill we would see the tunnel, and
that was motivating us. I don’t know how we travelled through Izvorul
Paltinului. I can remember I’ve seen a black goat around there, but I didn’t
have the power to tell anyone.
At around 20:15, we saw somewhere on that slope that awaited us, three
red dots, which turned out to be the people from Salvamont. We threw our
backpacks and began shouting and whistling towards them. They answered with a
short whistle and we continued to get closer and closer. In that moment we knew
that it would be alright.
As they were walking towards us, they were evaluating our equipment
(boots, backpacks etc). We passed the boot test, but some of us had cotton
clothing and that attracted some comments from them. After they reached Sebi,
they found out his problem and gave him a tea which I believe it was mainly
sugar. And chocolate. They also gave us chocolate and Rareș firmly states that
there hasn’t been and there won’t be a better tasting chocolate than that. We
all started walking slowly, but CONSTANT, at around 20.30.
I don’t have enough words to describe how nice the three people from
Salvamont Argeș and the people from the Police Force treated us. They also gave
us flashlights that you put them on top of your head to light up the way in
front of you. WE THANK THEM AGAIN IN THIS JOURNAL, if they are to ever read
this. We would like to tell them that we will be more responsibly when we will
walk on the mountain again and that we will always have those flashlights with
us (Yes, tents without isoprene, very responsible).
We will always cherish them.
Exactly when we started moving, my phone began buzzing. It seems that
the mobile signal was on… and that was my dad. I had three seconds to decide
whether to lie or to tell the truth. Taking into account that we were about to
reach Bâlea so late in the night, I couldn’t avoid:
“-Hy dad, don’t worry, I am alright! We are with the Salvamont tough …
Sebi hurt his back a bit, not a big deal. All aside, we are well, but we will
reach Bâlea late, I will call you then!”
Probably that wasn’t the most soothing conversation and in the next
moment, people from three different countries were aware of what happened.
Sebi’s mom followed and asked how is it going. Sebi (who was obviously in a
better shape) told Rareș to write her that we are very close to our
destination. Her answer was the best possible: “Fine! Have a blast!”… Rareș and
Matei also messaged their parents.
Coming back. The people from Salvamont made us walk extremely slow for
us to be able to walk constantly. We stopped few times, only to drink a bit of
sugary tea or to eat some chocolate. They were very patient with us and we
learned a bunch of things from what they told us then. The only thing we have
to disagree with them on is: Dragoș wasn’t in his best shape when they met him.
What nobody knew is that the non-human that Dragoș RAN all the way to Bâlea.
You can say anything you want about us, but he, he deserves many many beers.
When we reached Culmea Pisica, we could barely see the markers on the
trail; the night was settling in. I was ashamed beyond measure when I had to
make some light with my phone. After not so long, we met up with the people
from the Police Force who gave us some head-flashlights for us to use.
Only driven by his will, Sebi managed to cover all that distance to
Bâlea, inspiring us to walk on without complaining. There was a chain of 10
people walking on a narrow trail surrounded by pitch black darkness. Myself and
Matei were sharing a head-flashlight which I kept. Even I couldn’t see very
well with it, he was even worse. The illuminated tunnel could be seen at the
beginning far away, but then it slowly began to come closer. Then I had the
feeling I could touch it soon, but he was running away from us. And I believe
he was beating some world record with that running. There were some lights from
place to place on the Transfăgărășan and rarely a lonely car like a dot with
two antennas could be seen from the distance. In our few breaks, we saw
millions of stars shinning up above us…as if they were watching over us. My
feet were moving automatically and the backpack was dragging me down. That road
done with the lights from the flashlights seemed endless to me. I was tired.
…
We reached the Salvamont Hut at 23:40, after 17 hours of mountain
walking. Inside the hut it was hot and we could hear folk music in the
background. We got some hot tea in which we poured sugar generously. We gave
them (Salvamont people) our personal data and thanked them for the many-eth
time, but we still feel we can’t stress enough how thankful we are to them.
Rareș had the rare privilege to drive on the road way after its closing hours.
We met Dragoș, who was sleeping there in the meantime. We found out his story
and we thanked him... occasionally we call him “The Negoiu Saviour”. In the
warm and low illuminated hut was floating in the air, between us, a secret, a
memory which binds us and one we will never forget.
On that night, we were the only ones on the Transfăgărășan. Once we
arrived at our sleeping place in Piscul Negru, at around 1:30, our host was
extremely happy to see us because she was very worried about us. Then I realised
that my last meal took place 10 hours ago, on the top of the mountain. I had
the tastiest sandwich in my entire life, I am sure about that. I have to say,
Sebi was the happiest. With pains, but happier than all of us.
I want to thank the boys for behaving like a team (a stubborn one) and
that we have such a lively memory. We are somewhat proud that from the moment
that Sebi’s accident occurred, every decision we made, took place after detailed
debates, with arguments and that we chose the best decision on the spot. If you
haven’t done so, you could read Sebi’s fantasy description here(when it will be translated).
We saw a fox on Transfăgărășan!!!
Ambition, curiosity, power, determination, laziness. Vainglory,
stubbornes, fury, enthusiasm, contagious joy, silence, reliefe, pride. Worry,
pain, self-control, empathy, sufference, guilt, terrible fear, hope, fatigue,
gratitude, warmth, camaraderie... That’s what Negoiu meant for me. This is all
I’ve felt at maximum intensity in a single day and when I will always recall
it, a cold, warm, sweet and sour feeling goes through my heart.
When I arrived home, I really thought at that question that came with
furious anger in a moment of crisis: why am I going on mountains? I have
different answers in my mind but I want that phrase to contain them all and
explain everything I feel in an elegant manner. Some sort of grand unifying
force of my feelings. Because I couldn’t find this answer I’ve made up my
backpack again. And this is what I will do until I find the answer and mostly
after.
