Mount Olympus, 2918m

19th September 2015

After spending a fun evening chatting with Markus "with a K" (German) and Joel from Finland, I managed to persuade a young Israeli couple staying at Summit Zero Hostel to give me a lift to the Gortsia trailhead the following morning, which cut out 21km of tarmac, and 1100m of climbing.
So it was around 8am that I started up the trail, knowing I had a good 1800m+ of climbing just to reach the summit.  The going was all pretty straightforward until the final 400 metres where it suddenly got steeper and more scrambly.  The main hazard being that there were far too many people on the hill, and it was quite tricky to pass safely at speed.  I reached the summit in just under 3 and a half hours.

On the way up Mount Olympus

Looking up the final steep section of Mytikas

Summit of Mount Olympus 2918m

Looking back to Mytikas - summit of Mount Olympus

I retraced my steps, then continued down a steep loose path to Refuge A  (Spilios Agapitos), at which point I realised I was starting to feel a bit wrecked.

A couple of other runners went by me on the steep descent to Prionia, so I tried to use them as pacemakers to keep me going.  It was slightly embarrassing to be greeted at Prionia with cheers and cowbells from supporters of the Lost Trail 56km race which happened to be on the same day.  Anyhow, the support crew were super-friendly and gave me cups of Coke, and water with salts, and some snacks from the race refreshments table.

I definitely needed this to get me through the next tough 11km section to Litochoro.  On the map it looked like a nice easy downhill traily jog, but the reality was more gruelling, with steep flights of steps and plenty of re-ascents, especially towards the end.

Greenery below Prionia

I decided to drop down to the river valley for the final section into Litochoro, rather than down the road, and was again surprised to turn the corner and realise I was at the finish banner of the Lost Trail 56km, with cheers and clapping.  I had to stop and walk around the finishing arch to make clear I wasn't in the race.

I sat down at Litochoro for a few minutes, drank a bottle of water, then thought I'd better start moving before I seized up altogether, and knowing I still had another 8km to go.  At first I started walking, then jogging, then proper running the rest of the way back to Summit Zero Hostel down at sea level.

Total time on feet about 9 hours. Distance around 41km.  Ascent 2200m. Descent 3300m.

Slightly wrecked at Summit Zero Hostel

Route viewed in Google Earth