Climbing A Mountain In The Middle Of The Night

[rox]

Ola. This weekend we finally pulled off what I was planning for a month before, climbed a 1200 meter high mountain in the middle of the night and waited for dawn. I've been to this mountain 5 times before so I knew the way, it's my second favorite place in the world. It's the mountain "Klek" 6-ish kilometers west of the town Ogulin here in Croatia. (if you find it on google earth you can click the panoramino images, the majority of which are mine from previous climbs).

We arrived at the base of the mountain at 00:30am, and immediately found out that the wind was blowing insanely fast, the sound of it blowing through the woods was literally like standing over a big waterfall. There's a sign with pretty much useless text at the beginning of the trail. The shape is supposed to be that of a witch, not that of a chicken, folk rumors being that witches meet on top of the mountain.

something ate the second paragraph

First 2/3 of the climb is through woods. Going through the dense dark forest where wolves and bears live was interesting. Having to stop all the time for my fat friend to get some air was not. I was packing a glock knife and starter gun with CS rounds in case of a bear encounter, not that I thought it would help much at all since I would most likely not be able to even draw the gun if I saw a bear charging me. Ironically, when I got home there was a hunter on the news who was nearly killed by a bear elsewhere in the country.

Friend was bringing firewood from below in a plastic bag.

this is my failed imitation of the Borg

more accurate lighting

things start getting steep, a fall into the darkness to the right means tumbling down a very steep and very long slope of sharp broken rocks.

after some 45 minutes we passed the mountain lodge without stopping, didn't want to wake the people inside as it was about 1:30am

Continued onwards towards the summit, from the mountain lodge onwards the trail is more and more dangerous, conventional forest is replaced by cliffs and very steep slopes. The wind is freezing us to death all the time, we pass a large but short cave and rest inside, drink warm tea and energy drinks.

Continuing onwards, walking along the base of a 200 meter high cliff, then upwards along the cliff on some very steep makeshift "stairs" (will post a daytime picture later)

very near the top now, there is a part where you need to use all fours, a rope is provided for convenience

try falling here

Following this steep ascent we can again climb without the use of hands. Very near now, the trees are gone, now it's just grass and rocks, and the wind trying to literally blow us off the mountain, we were a bit edgy about walking over some parts of the trail very near the 200 cliff we had just climbed under and were now on top of. After some more climbing, we get to a very basic and small concrete helipad, the top is in sight, 5 more minutes and we are on the summit, it is past 3am

the concrete blocks were the base for a communications instalation during the war, when I first climbed the mountain in 2001 it was still there but they took it off eventually. In the background is a small unmanned metereological container-house-thing.

success! by the way the summit is surrounded by high cliffs from 3/4 sides

nearby town of Ogulin

We had planned to stay on top or near it until dawn, but the wind changed our mind. We backtracked for 15 minutes back to the tree line 100 meters below, jsut before the rope part where you have to use your hands

In the cover of trees and a big rock, at 4am, we find shelter from the wind. We make ourselves cushions from fallen leaves, wrap ourselves in blankets and sleeping bags, light a small fire and keep ourselves warm with some rakija while waiting for the dawn (if you don't know what rakija is, be glad). Then a friend decides it would be a good idea to drop 10 boxes of matches, a box of fire starting cubes and 2 small packs of firecrackers into the fire which was half a meter from us. The next hour spontaneous explosions threw sparks, ash and ignited wood all over us and the heaps of dry leaves around us (which were thankfully semi-wet and didn't really burn well). My sleeping bag got burned, and we all almost died from the continuous smoke blowing into our dirrection yed refused to reposition ourselves because that would mean a) getting up and losing precious body heat. So we settled for choking, eyes burning and possible carbon monoxide poisoning. The smoke wasn't blowing at us all the time, just some 60% of the time.

When the fire, which was not that big, ran out, we almost froze to death.

Some pictures of these 2 hours of utter silliness

tooth ache?

inventory check

a friend thinking he will emerge as a butterfly in the morning and just fly hope to a warm bed, you wish.

As the sky started getting lighter we return to the top for the sunrise

On the way to the helipad

taken from the helipad looking at the top

[rox]

a steel cable fence that doesn't reassure much as the wind could probably push me right through it

the mountain from near the top, the way we came, the red light is a transmitter near the mountain lodge 200 meters below

a bit more light

aaand the rest of the mountain in daylight, the small peak (there are actually two, the other is behind this one) is often used by alsinists as vertical climb training, as are the cliffs of the summit itself

summit

soon alien light started shining through the fog, and then the fog itself lifting. Soon only a dense cloud ceiling some 20-30 meters above the summit remained. The sunrise was utterly unreal, but having already seen the sunset above the clouds on this mountain before, I knew what to expect. These pictures do little justice to this spectacular show of nature.

my camera has been through a lot and the specks are due to lens and light sensor damage

mountain shadow

the transmitter near the mountain lodge, this time in daylight

helipad from the summit

[rox]

this

I named this bush King of the mountain 2 years ago

packing our stuff that we left at the camp site

this is the way we climbed

funky tree

remember this?

a year ago

on the way to the car

this is her, another folk tail is that the mountain is a sleeping giant, the summit being the head and the two small peaks on the right the legs. It's interesting that the summit looks very different when viewed from different sides

The night ascent was one of the more fun and exiciting things I did in life, especially due to the harsh wind, it was as if the mountain didn't like to be disturbed so late

We got home at 11 am, I proceeded to smother myself with the warm sheets of my bed and sleep until 8pm.

Bear Grylls would have cried like a pussy if he was with us.

[JensenPark]

sweet...

crazy, yes...but sweet.

[Pooka]

Thanks, enjoyed your photos over my morning cup of coffee in a warm house.

Its a memory you can always recall and enjoy, after a while you'll forget how cold it was.

Pooka

[Streak]

Cool

[fruitbat]

nice pics Rox, sounded cool when you were talking about it last night.

still by my reckoning, i've still got you by about 4700m for dawn on the top of a mountain, lol.

[DD_Arthur]

Climbing a mountain in the middle of the night? Rox, have you ever considered a career in the Royal Marines? You know you'd fit in quite well.

Before I'm too old I want to go climbing in the English Lake District with you and FruitBat. You'd love it.

[fruitbat]

Climbing a mountain in the middle of the night? Rox, have you ever considered a career in the Royal Marines? You know you'd fit in quite well.

Before I'm too old I want to go climbing in the English Lake District with you and FruitBat. You'd love it.

anytime mate, i love it there. Snowdonia as well.

when i was in the TA at lancaster, quite often a few of us would pack are bivvy bags and get the train/bus up to Ambleside, hide up our rucksacks somewhere, go to the pub, and then walk halfway up somewhere and wild camp up there. not strictly what your supposed to do, but we figured no other idiots would be up there, and it was fun to look at the looks of people when we were coming down in the morning after having breakfast at the top, as they were going up

something else i want to do, but can't talk anyone into doing with me, is to park up the car one side of the newforest, and somehow get to the other side by bus/train, and then yomp across on a compass bearing wild camping on the way, interested?

[Kimosabi]

A certain song comes to mind.....

[rox]

If you're wanna be dumb, you've gotta be tough?

Well when I come to the UK, which will certainly happen, whether for Duxford or in another time, I'm all for climbing anything you have there.Or do the forest thing. Though if that involves carrying a 20-30kg bag uphill, it's not an experience I'm looking to repeat in this lifetime

I'll also post pictures of the mountain I took on previous climbs a year and two years ago, during summer, and some awesome pictures on the top above the clouds, practically the most beautiful thing I ever saw in my life, sober at least...

[fruitbat]

Shhhhh, keep it quite, but Kimo's got a secret crush on Miley Cyrus, and his favourite song 'the climb'

[Kimosabi]

[fruitbat]

[Snacko]

Great pix Rox!

Why didn't you plan this for the summer or spring? Or maybe the guy with the firecrackers was in charge? LoL

[DD_Arthur]

If you're wanna be dumb, you've gotta be tough?

Almost but you've got it the wrong way round. "If you wanna be tough, you gotta be dumb?" Thats how you get into airborne forces!

@Fruitbat; never been up Snowden! Not too sure about the New Forest. I know the area quite well and it's muddy, bushy and er, kinda flat We've gotta take FT for culture shock purposes too.

How about coast to coast via the English Lakes. Start with the guided tour of Sellafield then via Ambleside, Windermere and Kendal. Onto Richmond via the Dales, then give up at Catterick garrison and home on the M1!

p.s, when you were in the TA did they ever take you down to Lulworth to go BANG! with the Tank Brigade? I think Sid's boy is there now.

[Cold_Gambler]

Very cool!

Thanks for that

[fruitbat]

@Fruitbat; never been up Snowden! Not too sure about the New Forest. I know the area quite well and it's muddy, bushy and er, kinda flat We've gotta take FT for culture shock purposes too.

How about coast to coast via the English Lakes. Start with the guided tour of Sellafield then via Ambleside, Windermere and Kendal. Onto Richmond via the Dales, then give up at Catterick garrison and home on the M1!

p.s, when you were in the TA did they ever take you down to Lulworth to go BANG! with the Tank Brigade? I think Sid's boy is there now.

Snowdonia is great, been back there several times since my dad first took me there when i was about 9. for mountains its much better than the lake district imo. Its got my favorite mountain there, mount Tryfan, which i've climbed more times than i can remember,

taken about halfway up

plus snowdon itself, which if you go up Crib Goch is particuarly cool, although climbing along the knife edge ridge in a total white out on all fours was not one of my better ideas

if you've never been before, thats where we'll have to go.

As to Lulworth and tanks, the closest i ever got to tanks was listening to them on manurers in the next valley somewhere in cumbria, and boy are they loud. Did get to play around alot in warriors though, over in Germany, when i was attached to the Green Howards at Sennelager, and they are great fun to drive, less fun in the back though....

[rox]

Why didn't you plan this for the summer or spring? Or maybe the guy with the firecrackers was in charge? LoL

nope it was ny plan, because I already climbed the mountain in summer daylight 3 times in the last 2 years

[BadAim]

Great pics ROX! I'm LOLing heavily because I have a place called "Sleeping Giant" just a few miles south of me, though the terrain is not so rugged. Beautiful country you live in, I pray it remains so. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Sweper]

Nice hike and pic´s Rox!

[SkyPup]

Nice, Rox!

[DD_asas]

nice climb, Rox. Do u Rock climb as well?