New Year in the Carpathians

A not very brief description of the “White Silence” campaign, which took place from 12/30/09 to 01/05/10
First of all, I want to say that I am not a writer and at school essays were difficult for me, so do not judge strictly for this review. My wife and I are new to mountain hiking. Our first trip to the mountains took place in the spring of 2009 in Crimea, where we made friends with excellent guys. They suggested that we go to the Carpathians in winter. I will not describe the preliminary preparations and the trip to Ivano-Frankivsk, I will only say that if you carefully read the “list of necessary equipment” and try to follow all the recommendations, then there will be no serious problems during the trip. And so my wife and I arrived in Ivano-Frankivsk.

We had a lot of time before the meeting and we walked around the city a little. The city “breathed” on us with unhurried provincialism, regularity and tranquility; it did not feel the frantic movement of the 21st century. After wandering the streets of Ivano-Frankivsk, having a thorough meal in one of the cafes, we headed to the meeting point, deciding to meet our tourist friends on the platform.

After a joyful meeting with old friends and meeting new members of our group, we together (under the leadership of our guide Kirill Yasko) stuffed food into our backpacks and, boarding a minibus, set off for the village of Manyava. Since the meeting took place late (about 2 o'clock in the afternoon). The route of the hike was slightly changed.

Having unloaded in the village of Manyava, we quickly marched to the place of our first stop. It was damp and windy outside, the air temperature was above zero. We traveled most of the way in the dark, so there’s really nothing to tell about the area around us. Having crossed the Manyavka River and overcome a slight rise, we found ourselves at the site of our first stop. Quite quickly we lit a fire and cooked pasta and stew. After dinner and sitting near the fire, we began to settle down for the night. There were thirteen of us in total, so there wasn’t enough space in the house for everyone; part of our group slept in tents.

The daily routine on winter hikes differs from summer and autumn-spring hikes. Due to the short daylight hours, we had to get up at six in the morning, have breakfast in the dark and then get ready. Our guide got up even earlier, cooked breakfast for us on the stove, and then woke us up.

So Kirill “sounded the trumpet” for the rise. After having a light breakfast, we went to explore the Manyavsky waterfall, the weather was not at all wintery, +5 Celsius, rain, the snow had almost completely melted, the beginning of the hike was somewhat reminiscent of the May hike in Crimea, only a little cooler. The waterfall looked good, but it didn’t particularly impress me. We stood there, took pictures, got wet, and went to the parking lot to get our backpacks. Having reached the kolyba, we gathered, put on our backpacks and went to conquer the mountain peaks.

There was immediately a long (two kilometer) climb, we overcame it slowly, the most difficult were the last two hundred meters to the top due to the accumulation of stones and fallen trees. The rain stopped and started again, and snow appeared closer to the top of the ridge. A cold wind was blowing at the top of Chortka. Although it wasn’t uphill, it wasn’t much easier. Try to walk along gorgans (pile of stone blocks) sprinkled with snow and you will understand that the kilometer traveled along the ridge was not an easy walk.

But all these are trifles, the most offensive thing is the poor visibility, a shroud covered the surrounding mountains, it was not possible to admire the views. After jumping from rock to rock, the descent began, which was actually not difficult.

The next stop was near the top of Ripna. Having reached the parking lot, we were all thoroughly wet, but thanks to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Kirill and Mitya (one of the participants in our hike), ropes were stretched over the fire and everyone had the opportunity to dry their things.

New Year was approaching. Our friends have thoroughly stocked up on ingredients for holiday meals. The camp “table” (mostly consisting of plastic bags) was bursting with abundance. There was smoked sausage and a couple of types of cheese and salted salmon and olives and even green peas. To top off the festive table, Kirill cooked an original soup, and also took out some alcohol from the stash, and there were even sparklers.

Having celebrated the New Year together (a little earlier than it actually came), we began to prepare for the night. We had to spend the night in a stable. Fortunately, by the time we arrived there had been no animals in it for a long time and their smell had disappeared. I slept quite comfortably in this room, although it was a little drafty through the cracks.

Getting up in the morning on New Year's Day was not too difficult, although usually at home they were just going to bed at that time. After breakfast and a short two-hour preparations, we began the climb to Ripna, from the top of which we looked at the residence of the President of Ukraine and moved along the path planned by our guide.

The final point of the journey that day was the Stanimir ridge. The weather was cloudy all day, foggy in the morning, by lunchtime it started snowing, and it became colder. Having overcome several steep ascents and descents, we climbed Stanimir, admired a little the views that occasionally appeared in the breaks in the snow cover, and descended to the place of our third overnight stay.

The hut was a bit small, there wasn’t enough room for everyone, so Olya (my wife) and I decided to spend the night in a tent. Having broken spruce branches from a recently fallen spruce tree, I built a bedding and set up a tent. Everyone together collected firewood, brought water, heated the potbelly stove in the “kolyba” and lit a fire on the street. We cooked dinner (as always on a hike - very tasty), then there were gatherings around the fire, songs with a guitar, tourist stories, and drying boots along the way. Sleeping in a tent turned out to be warmer and more comfortable than in the “kolyba”, I especially liked the soft mattress made of spruce branches.

On the morning of the fourth day we woke up rested and full of energy. The air temperature dropped to -5 degrees, the trees were covered with frost, and so was the tent outside. After breakfast and packing, we set off on our further journey. Today we had to traverse Mount Gavor and stop in the Okopy valley.

We went out to Stanimir, took a few photos and hit the road. Most of the path that day passed through the forest, often the path disappeared under a windbreak, sometimes we had to make our way almost crawling, or vice versa, jumping from one fallen tree to another, the amount of snow increased significantly, the weather was cloudy and foggy all day. The snow-covered trees and the fairy-tale forest from children's fairy tales left unforgettable impressions.

Approaching the parking lot, we noticed smoke coming from the chimney of the hut, which made us somewhat puzzled. Luckily there was only one person in the hut. Therefore, there was still room for us to spend the night. We met. Oleg is an experienced tourist who knows the Carpathians well; he traveled alone. There was hay in the attic of the hut and part of our team decided to put up tents there, including me and my wife.

The evening passed as always fun and friendly. On hikes (in my opinion), evening gatherings play a fairly important role, relieving the physical and some psychological stress from the group. We were very lucky with our hiking comrades, who were cheerful, cheerful, able to carry on a conversation on various topics, and also sing.

The fifth morning has arrived. It was snowing, the air temperature dropped to -10. Today we had a radial hike to the top of Malaya Sivuli. We had breakfast, as always, of milk porridge with dried fruits, took with us a minimum of things and food for lunch, and we began the difficult path of conquering the peaks. During the time we were hiking, a lot of snow fell, and we made our way through snowdrifts, almost knee-deep in snow.

We were lucky, until Pekla (the name of the gorge), we followed in the footsteps of Oleg, who came out earlier. We met him near Pekla. Then our roads diverged. Having taken several photographs against the backdrop of the gorge and a post with indicators of routes and peaks, we continued on our way.

The higher we climbed, the thicker the fog became and the heavier the snow fell, we walked inside the cloud. The path along which we walked to the top of Sivuli in the summer was covered with snow. The branches of dwarf (a type of pine) growing along the trail bent to the ground under the weight of the snow and completely blocked the trail. Therefore, we climbed to the top in a detour.

At the top, visibility was ten to fifteen meters, so the only sights we saw were a pillar covered with a ten-centimeter layer of snow and a shroud of fog around. A piercing cold wind was blowing. Clicking our cameras near the pillar, we began our descent.

In some places we had to walk along the branches of dwarf trees, a meter from the surface of the earth. The branches were springy and it felt like you were walking on a trampoline; sometimes my foot would slip off another branch and I would fall into the snow almost waist-deep. On sections of the descent more or less clear of trees, we half walked and half slid on our boots. Having crossed a small river, we came to Peklo and set off on a quick march (taking into account the deep snow and blizzard) back to Trenches.

They arrived at the place where they spent the night at dusk. In the hut where we left most of our things, only one participant of the hike remained - Nadya, for which we are all grateful to her. Nadya wasted no time, and for our arrival she organized a festive table with cheese, sausage, fruit slices and even a cake (made from condensed milk and crumbled cookies). Tired but happy, we had a hearty dinner, hung out our things to dry and sat down to listen to our guitarists; closer to midnight we slowly began to go to bed.

The morning of the last day of our hike arrived. Sticking my nose out of the tent, I realized that the frost had finally decided to show what it was capable of. Indeed the temperature was -16 degrees. But we had already adapted and therefore no one got too cold. As usual, we had breakfast, packed our things and headed towards the village. Bystritsa.

There were no long climbs that day; in fact, we went down the whole way. Several times we crossed the small river Salatruk on stones and branches. We looked at a small waterfall from afar. Closer to lunch we entered the village of Bystritsa. There we boarded a bus and went to Ivano-Frankivsk. Our further adventures are no longer related to the White Silence hike, so I will end my story here.

Finally, I want to say that throughout this entire trip I have never regretted that I went on this hike. A lot of good impressions and positive emotions, meeting old friends, meeting new, good people, a boost of energy for the rest of the winter - that’s what I got in just six days. The mountains are waiting for us. And we will return to them more than once.