Aris II 2 M2 – 400m. | Mixed and Alpine Climbing in Vardousia Mountain

Overview

Vardousia mountain is perhaps the most interesting mountain in Greece for winter mountaineering activities, alpine climbs and even steep ice climbing activities. In fact there are numerous of alpine climbing routes such as the following ones

• Vardousia – Gidovouni
• Vardousia – Gioni To Plai
• Vardousia – Korakas
• Vardousia – Koryfi 2437
• Vardousia – Pano Psilo
• Vardousia – Pyramida
• Vardousia – Skorda Mousounitsas
• Vardousia – Skorda Pitimalikou
• Vardousia – Skoufia

The route we have selected to climb is located in the Skorda Pitimalikou area, where there are plenty of other mixed climbing routes.

Getting There

Start your travel towards Vardousia early in the morning and our destination point was Athanasios Diakos, a picturesque village lying at the foot of the north side of mount Vardoussia at an altitude of 1.500m, surrounded by a dense forest of fir, plane, chestnut and oak trees. Once we have reached Athanasios Diakos (or Ano Mousounitsa) we drove for another 10 kilometres on a dirt road in order to reach a location called Profitis Elias. This dirt road is in rather good condition and therefore is not difficult to be approached.

Park the car within a beautiful pine forest at around noon time and we rapidly got ready with all our equipment for the approach of our climb. The trail path officially starts from Athanasios Diakos and goes through Profitis Elias and ends at the EOOA mountain shelter (refuge) at an altitude of 1.930 meters.

Route Description

Aris II 2 M2 400 m. | 5 pitches 

Aris, is a rather complicated line and this is due to the high alterability this line shows based on the snow coverage.

Pitch 1 (M2 30 m.)

Pitch 1, is about 30-35 meters long and the climber can use gear (mainly nuts) for protection. The Crux of this pitch can not be fully protected, but with steady progress the climber can overcome its difficulty. The difficulty of the crux is rated as M2.

Pitch 2 & Pitch 3 (60° |  150 meters)

As soon the rest of the fellow climbers reached R1, we soon moved on with the climb. Pitch 2 and Pitch 3, were an easy snow climb on a couloir that was about 50° to 60°. There were a couple of small rocks that we used slings as protection, but also some snow pickets, and specifically the Olympus Snow Pickets.

This section of Aris, is quite easy for experienced climbers and we did not have any difficulty. Therefore, we have reached very soon R3 where we came across a solid 6 to 7 meters slab.

Pitch 4 (30 meters | M1+)

As soon we reached R3, we came across a vertical slab of about 6 to 7 meters. Usually, when there is enough snow coverage, this is a steep snow couloir, but due to the low snow coverage, the entire slab was exposed.

Due to the fact we realised that this slab was rather dangerous to climb, we looked around and we have noticed a couple of pitons on the left (east) side. Therefore, we decided to go an explore towards that direction and actually, we came across even more pitons.

This new passage was a M1+ passage, though it was a bit exposed and therefore the lead climber should be quite careful with every move. Furthermore, with the few snow on the route, we had to “attack” the grass, instead of the snow and/or ice.

Pitch 5 (80 m.)

As soon we overcame the second difficult passage of Aris, the route becomes again a rather easy couloir of 50° up to the ridge that is located under the peak of Skorda Pitimalikou. The ascent offered a nice nevé and once we reached the top we enjoyed the beautiful western Vardousia (Soufle, Alogorachi, Plaka-Piramida), Tymfristos and even Agrafa mountains.

Essential Gear

• Helmet
• 5 lanyards 60 cm
• 3 slings 120 cm
• 4 locking carabiners
• 1 HMS carabiner
• Harness
• 9 Quickdraws
• Cordelette for prusik
• 2 x 60 m. half ropes
• 5 carabiners
• Reverso
• 1 lt of Water
• 1 energy bar
• Friends
• Rock Nuts / Stoppers
• Snow Pickets

External Links

https://olympusmountaineering.wordpress.com/2020/03/05/mixed-and-alpine-climbing-in-vardousia-mountain-aris-ii-2-m2-400m/