Unexpected Greece

March 2023

by David Radcliffe

Greece is not the most obvious destination for ski touring. However, it is one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, crowned by Mount Olympus at 2918m.

The Pindus Mountains chain is the most extensive, stretching from the Albanian border in the north to the Peloponnese peninsula in the south. Notwithstanding current unpredictability of weather patterns, the Balkan mountains hold considerable amounts of snow well into spring.

Six AAC(UK) members joined international guide Jim Blyth and local guide Giorgos Rokas in Thessaloniki on 18 March. We drove straight to the mountains, arriving at a comfortable inn in the village of Agios Dimitrios on the northwestern flanks of Mount Olympus, the mythical home of the gods. The next day we approached Olympus on a rough track which brought us to 1500m. We then skinned up a long narrow valley where the snow was still hard and, having been churned up by old snowmobile tracks, made for a somewhat arduous ascent. We eventually emerged in a broader basin reaching the Christaki Hut at around 2500m, at which point we called it a day. Good snow for the first part of the descent but the, now soft, churned up snow in the narrow valley was a bit challenging. Not bad for a first day.

After a fine and sunny day on Olympus the weather turned. We used Tuesday to drive across to Samarina, our first stop in the Pindus mountains. Samarina is one of the highest villages in Greece at around 1400m and is situated at the foot of Smolikas, the second highest mountain in Greece at 2637m. We enjoyed the local hospitality, benefitting from the fact that the local inn and the restaurant were owned by the same family. On Wednesday we skinned up Mount Vasilitsa (2248m), reaching the summit in poor visibility. The ski down was on wet spring snow with deteriorating conditions, so we had a short day.

By contrast Thursday was an epic day. We were on our skis by 07.30, skinning up a northern spur of Smolikas through a beautiful forest of Bosnian pines in brilliant sunshine. These trees are spectacular with wide girths and long needles that captured the frost from the previous night. The treeline is quite abrupt at about 2000m. We made steady progress, skiing down to cross a valley before resuming our ascent on another spur. We reached Skala (2554m), one of the three main summits of Smolikas, with glorious views extending to the mountains on the Albanian border, to Mount Olympus to the east, and to the Tymphe mountains in the west which included our next objectives. Snow conditions were superb for the ski down with no signs of any other skiers – only some evidence of bears!

Tsepolovo is situated on the southeast side of Tymphe, a limestone massif with spectacular gorges and escarpments. Our objective was a high col at about 2300m, overlooking the peak of Tsouka Rossa. Following a drive up our next destination – Mikro Papigo on the western side of the Tymphe massif.

Given continuing good weather our guides hatched an ambitious plan – an ascent from MIko Papigo (1000m) to the Astraka Hut (1930m), with a descent from the col and an ascent of Ploskos, one of the major peaks of Tymphe at 2377m. Giorgos is the warden for this hut in summer, and to speed our progress he had organised horses to carry our skis, ski boots and rucksacks to the snowline at 1700m, and to pick them up on our return.

These arrangements went like clockwork. Following an 05.30 breakfast we loaded up the horses and set off walking up a good track in the early morning light. With no packs and comfortable boots, we made good progress to around 1700m, from where there was too much snow for the horses but enough for us to skin up to the Astraka hut for a late morning break. The slope down was broken by rock bands and we benefitted from Giorgos’s local knowledge. Ploskos now loomed above us and it was by no means certain that we would achieve our objective. We made steady progress on the lower slopes but steepening snow forced us onto a stony spur which we climbed carrying our skis. After emerging from the steep section we were back on the snow and simply kept going, reaching the summit at around 14.00.

The crux of the descent was the narrow band of steep snow that had forced us onto the spur on the way up. We all managed this, with a bit of side slipping on the snow that was soft and wet as the sky had clouded over and it was becoming increasingly warm. Skinning back up to the hut was a bit of a challenge as skins were saturated. We benefitted from some light refreshment at the hut thanks to Giorgos who had the keys. Remaining descent was uneventful and we arrived back around 18.00, having gone up and down 1800m. Not a bad finale for a Senior Ski Tour.

The mountains of Greece are impressive and there is certainly scope for more exploration on skis. One of the main advantages of this tour was flexibility in the itinerary, enabling us to change according to the weather and snow conditions. There was no shortage of comfortable accommodation in the villages, the food was excellent, and hosts were willing to schedule meals at convenient times. Many thanks to Jim and Giorgos for guiding a very worthwhile trip!

Return to the top of this page, or to the complete Index, or to this section's Index.