Winter Hoverla

Meeting at the station in Ivano-Frankivsk around 8 am. The instructor distributes food and provides rental equipment. Transfer to the village of Lazeshchina (about 3 hours on the road). In Lazeshchyna we change to an SUV (an old UAZ) and drive another 10 km off-road. We disembark from the car near the Kozmeschik camp site - this is where the walking part of the route begins. Along a winding serpentine road we slowly rise above a wooded valley. And the higher you go, the more snow and ice you get. Winter has settled here for a long time (from November to May). Even if streams were flowing in Ivano-Frankivsk in the morning and there was a smell of spring, then here, at altitudes of more than 1000 meters, it will most likely be frosty.

The forest gradually thins out and about 3-4 hours after the start from Kozmeschik we reach the Golovchesk clearing (altitude 1400 m). We settle down for the night in one of the shepherd's houses. These are very modest buildings, more like barns than houses. Before it gets completely dark, we set off to gather firewood. Kolybas usually have stoves. They smoke heavily, heat poorly and cool quickly. But is this a reason not to light them? At this stage, having cooled down slightly after a day's running and not having waited for a normal fire, many tourists quite seriously begin to think about whether they have enough warm clothes. Take a large warm jacket (preferably a down jacket) and ski pants for this hike - you won’t regret it.

We wake up early in the morning, still at dusk. We cook breakfast on the stove, pack our backpacks and leave the hospitable huts. We walk literally 1 kilometer and find ourselves at the beginning of the trail to the top of Petros. In fact, we started climbing Petros yesterday, as soon as we got out of the car. But that was a gentle serpentine road, and here is a real mountain path. We hide our backpacks in the bushes, take warm jackets and some equipment with us (we may need crampons), and begin the climb. From the backpacks to the top of Petros it is approximately 1000 meters horizontally and 500 meters vertically. In summer, this climb can be overcome in 1 hour. And no one knows how much time we will spend, and whether we will eventually reach the top. But it is known for sure that one of the best views of Hoverla opens from Petros. So let's be patient and climb up.

Returning to our backpacks, we have lunch (dry snack + tea on the burner) and rest a little. Today we have to walk about 5 kilometers more. This part of the path will be much easier than climbing Petros - we are walking along an almost horizontal ridge. This is the so-called Crossing Point connecting Petros and Hoverla. On one of its bends there is a mountain shelter where we will spend the night today. We will almost certainly not be the only guests. The shelter on Peremychka is a popular place and you will have to compete for places in it.

Today we wake up even earlier - in the evening many have return trains home, and a couple of spare hours in case of traffic problems will not hurt us. Therefore, we will try to leave the shelter soon after dawn. For the first 2 kilometers the trail follows the continuation of the Crossing. Along it we gradually gain another 200 meters of altitude and find ourselves at around 1800 meters. Here, under the very slope of Goverla, there is a tiny hut-shelter. Here we will hide our backpacks again and go lightly to storm Goverla. The ascent follows a windswept ridge, where bare rocky areas give way to deep snow “pits” and dangerous cornices. From the hut to the top it is about 700 meters horizontally and a little more than 200 vertically.

There are quite a lot of people at the top of Hoverla even in winter. Most of them rise from the Zaroslyak camp site and crowd around the memorial signs on the top of Hoverla (cross, stele, book). We will go up the mountain from a relatively calm side, take a little photo, glance over the tempting peaks of the Montenegrin ridge (have you already climbed the White Elephant?) and go back to our backpacks. On the descent, all eyes will be turned to Petros. From here it looks quite impregnable and you can’t help but feel proud that you’ve recently been there.

We pick up our backpacks and continue our descent. Along one of the spurs of Hoverla we run down to the Gropa meadow and further to the already familiar camp site Kozmeschik. We hire a UAZ and drive it to the highway (the village of Lazeshchina). This ends our winter trip to Goverla; we leave for Ivano-Frankivsk. Most likely we will be at the train station no earlier than 21:00.

The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the route depending on the weather and the condition of the group.