August 21, 1996

...Olympus, where it's said Gods stay safe ... always in cloudless summers, and white shining glory... ...
Homer's Odyssey, Z.45

The top of a mountain is always a high point (literally and figuratively). From the peak of Mt. Skolio at 2911 meters we had a view across the Balkan Peninsula. It was well worth the last agonizing hour climb up loose scree to reach it. From the summit ridge we could look down into the chasm of Kazania (the cauldron). The opposite view was of the other rolling Olympic peaks. To our right was Mytikas, the highest. We opted against the difficult scramble up Khaki Skala (the bad staircase) to it's peak. At 10:30 the clouds were already moving in and we surmised that the scramble down would be in fog.

By the time we reached the Refuge again the fog had settled over the peaks and the views of the mountains had been cut in half. But the view over the valley was still intact; when the sun began to sink we could see the sparkling lights of Litochoro below and beyond that the shimmer of yellow and orange over the ocean.

Our three days in the mountains would end in the morning. We planned an early descent. Early so we could catch the sun's red beach ball grace the water again and see the golden glow that it tows with it over the peaks as it rises and changes from red to orange to pink to yellow to white. Olympus, the name is truly fitting: "all shining, sparkling".