Bucegi: walk & ride

Saturday we had a big disapointment trying to ski in Postavarul: the snow had almost dissapeared below Poiana Ruia, and all the upper snow fields were rock frozen :(
So, on Sunday I've decided to go to Bucegi Mt. for some free ride and ski on the Sinaia/Carp side.
This time my inspired guide was Iuliana, which has proposed an interesting new tour for me: starting from Babele cable station through Cocora and Laptici toward Valea Dorului, then up to Cota 2000 and then some ride down on the eastern face of the mountain. There we had "a closely look" at some bushes and trees :P and I've almost lost my board in some ....ing young forest.

All in all it was a very beautiful day, just too beautiful to walk or ski, but perfect to take a winter sunbath... And the snow ? well it could have been better than that... but there are good signs right now :)

ETNOvember 2007

Well, last Sunday I was not so convinced to go snowboarding again (I was waiting for the snow :D but not on this monday !) so I've taken up my bike in order to get to Poiana Brasov, through some forest road. On the way, I've stopped to ETNOvember festival, a new thing for me, althought I was like the 13th edition !
I had a very pleasant surprise: there were nice costumes, dances and songs, a lot of people (despite the bitter cold weather), a great location (Bastionul Tesatorilor) and an opportunity to take interesting pictures. So, I've renounced to go up with the bicicle, and I've stayed for a couple of hours and enjoyed the festival hunting for the photos:

Moonlight ride

"Jamais deux sans trois" are saying the french: yesterday night I was trying the freshly fallen powder, at midnight, under the moonlight, near my house. I couldn't resist to take some pictures:

No.2

Saturday it was the second day of the season on the snowboard: the snow was enough to get down to the cabin, on Bradul, to our great surprise.

The weather was very misty, definitely not a time for photos ...

Two mammoths staying like dinosaurs, smoking like snakes, waiting for the cabin ;)



Iuresh, by Coman:



(Air)Erika grab:

the day the Snowboard came to town !

After less than six months since the last free ride, "Ecoul Malinului" in Bucegi, the 2007-2008 winter season in OPEN ! yyyoooouuuupppyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy !!!

Yesterday it was my fist day of snowboard, from a long series this winter, I hope to keep the last years average of 40 days/year of free ride ! And the snow was at the rendez-vous, over 30cm of fresh snow, with a little base layer, I've even ridden between the trees, as the photos below expose it !

It was great to meet a lot of friends, I think I have personally known half of the people from the slopes, most of them "hard core riders" or simply snow lovers ;)






Unfortunately an incident had reduced our joy: here is live our friend Iepurasul, which felt at full speed and has a nasty hit in the back (there is a zoom in below) :(( It is still at the hospital at this moment, but we have hops that everything it will be all right !!! Alagna is waiting for you Iepurila !

Aici trebuie spuse si cateva cuvinte despre serviciul execrabil Salvamont Poiana Brasov, care nu au nici macar o akie ! adica l-am intins pe o placa de sowboard si l-am carat 6 insi... A stat peste o ora pe partie, riscand hipotermia, pana cand cineva s-a sinchisit sa apara si sa ne explice ca nu trebuia sa ne dam, ca sezonul ne e deschis bla bla bla... Cineva s-a dus personal la salvamont, pe Bradul si acolo a fost luat la rost ca de ce nu are nr. de mobil de la salvamont din Cristianul, sa vina aia sa il ia. Si apoi tipul de la salvamont de pe Bradul a incercat sa ii sune el pe cei din Cristianul dar nu au gasit pe nimeni... La vreo ora juma de la accident, in timp ce 10 insi eram stransi in jurul lui Iepurila, sa il incalzim, a aparut un scuter chemat de cei de la salvamont si-am pus sezand pe locul pasagerului ! pe cineva lovit la spate :(((
Ma abtin de la comentarii personale, dar va rog eu sa avetzi grija ca nu cumva sa va accidentati, ca in Poiana a-ti incurcat-o !!! Mergetzi si voi sa va dati in Austria, Frantza etc...

Nepal: you can't carry this !

There are so much to say about the porters, those small guys which sometimes carry loads even above 50kg ! for days, with the risk of their health and life, in order to feed their families ! For the moment I let the pictures "talk":

Nepali faces

Take this bus

Today I've took the bus...



...there is a place for you too !

Piatra Craiului: braul Martoiul

After quite a long absence, I felt the strong desire to make another hike in my favorite local mountain, Piatra Craiului. The weather was not brilliant, on the ridge was very windy, snow, and below 0C degrees., but fortunately it doesn't rained. The route: Prapastiile Zarnestiului - vf. Ascutit - Creasta Nordica 20 min. - then down on a small ridge- b. Martoiul - la Table - Prapastii. A beautiful wandering in the rocky parts above Martoiul, with a lot of wild goats and some nice limestone walls.

Vai ! Vai ! VaiDa !

This Saturday, in Vaida Mt., Grohotis mountains, playing the wild pigs (sau, de departe mistretzeala anului...)

What was supposed to be a nice, quite walk, with a girl and a dog, had become a "survivor" episode. Well, actually we didn't get lost, because we knew from the beginning that there is no marked path, and we also knew that the forest is young, so no passage through...


We manage to leave very late from Babarunca, but we taken up a small creek's valley and we actually managed to get on top of the ridge in less than two hours. We had a very nice view towards Ciucas, Bucegi, Piatra Mare, Tesla, Neamtului and Grohotis and we've shoot some pictures with the beautiful landscape. We've walked up to Vaida peak and we've waited for the sunset. To get down, we followed some suggestion, not to take down to Doftana valley but to take down towards our car...
We've been lucky to manage to get through a not so dark forest and in about 2 hours we're down, next to the national road, but with no way to cross Tarlung river, which I didn't expected to be so big (with my canyoning training I've estimated over 300l/s) So, here we are walking in the forest, dark, steep, wet, swampy... Quite a lot of km to return, two more hours of dirty walk, and we've arrived at the car, which was on our side of the river... Time: 21.20h :( So, the next day I've taken a break, I had enough forest for the moment !

Tarlung lake:

Bratocea ridge, in Ciucas, with the first snow:

View toward Vaida, the peak is on the top left:



Sunset from Vaida peak 1537m: Bobul Mare and Bobul Mic are in the background: