You frequently see advertisements and broshures telling you the way you should spend your holiday, the way you should fulfill your wishes. It's like they know better what suits you and, of course the temptation is huge.
But you can't now what you'd like to do without taking into consideration few options. A travel agency has a lot of options with comfortable hotels and proper attending with a fix schedule and probably sightseeing you've already seen. What can they offer for the adrenalin hunter who wants to feel the touch of danger?
Well, fortunately this world has made itself available for people whose self awarness determined them to push the limits and cross the boundaries. Dare to experience a snowy winter in the middle of the mountains, it makes you feel alive but still breakable.
Sureanu Mountains lie in Meridional Carpathians and there are two ways of access - Jiului
Valley and Sebesului Valley. I've experinced the second one because I had to pass through Sibiu - a 800 years medieval city, a blender of ancient and modern, a city whose ancestors preserved the legacy through means of fortresses and towers; history engraved on the walls of time, but its up-to-dateness turned it into an european cultural capital.You follow the road through small isolated villages like Capalna(a famous traditional dance) along the Sebes Valley with its lakes Nedeiu, Oasa and many others. You can strech yourself and admire the breathtaking landscape with waterfalls carved into ice and fir trees and pine trees covered by snow from top to bottom that you barely guess their shape. Pay attention to the road because the closer you get the slippery it becomes. The layer of snow becomes thicker and ordinary cars have to be left somewhere at the beginning of the adventure unless you travell with a 4x4 car.
Each village you pass it's like an initiation ritual and they have foedoomed names: Poarta Raiului (Heaven's Gate) , Luncile Prigoanei(Prigoanei River Meadows), Valea Frumoasei(The Beauty Valley), and Iezerul Sureanu(Sureanu Mountain Lake). You can stop in any of these places where you can find accommodation this preventing you from walking through the snow carrying your rucksack filled with food, water, and clothes which deepens you into the snow. It's not simple giving the fact you are also endowed with ice axes, sun glasses, sleeping bags and snow boots. You can walk from 2 to 8 kilometres and your rucsack although light might become heavy. Sledges are very useful to carry bags and then you can use them to go sledging. The whole area is prevailed by Karsts, gorgeas, caves and Dacians fortresses like: Sarmisegetusa, Tusa-Regia, Blidari, Costesti...It's a mixture of history, geography, geology and fauna. We booked a hut for fifteen people, more barracks than a hut. The hut wasn't endowed with current water, central heating or a basic bathroom. Water had to be provided from the frozen lake behind the hut through a clasp. Hands got frozen in less than a minute is something you don't experience in a hotel. We made fire in a stove with wood and toilet was improvised outside in the forest in a small cabin. If this isn't a lesson of surviving I don't know what it is. Besides all these we didn't go to the montains for the hut but for the scenery which made up for the accommodation.
There were a lot of routes - To Sureanu peak(2059m), to Patru peak(2130m), or Oasa. Don't adventure into the mountains without being properly prepaired, the wind is sharp and whips your face and if you don't know the route your steps are covered with snow and there is no way back. On Patru peak we built an iglu to protect us from the wind for a while as we got rest. We could have stayed there for the night since our seeping bags provided heat till 30 degree.The way back is as difficult as when you climb giving the slippery path,you may fall and injure youself. Besides,this in an unique experience you feel closer to God, powerful on the top of the world and at the same time small and insignificant in the white immensity. If you manage to drive to the hut you might get stuck because it snows a lot and out of nowhere. We had to go back to the Heaven Gate on foot, the snow was high to the knee and the baggage pressed us deeper into the snow. We weren't tired because we joked and laughed all the way, in the wilderness you don't have neighbours to disturb and the landscape captures you. You don't know what to do first, to take photos or to admire the view. Clothes should be thin and warmy, if you climb the mountains you perspire and thick clothes get wet and you might catch a cold. You also need sun cream and a nourishing lipstick. The sun can damage your skin.
At first you may find reluctant to the idea of staying in an accommodation beside other 10 people, share choirs and face an elementary way of living but the experience worth taking this risk.
But you can't now what you'd like to do without taking into consideration few options. A travel agency has a lot of options with comfortable hotels and proper attending with a fix schedule and probably sightseeing you've already seen. What can they offer for the adrenalin hunter who wants to feel the touch of danger?
Well, fortunately this world has made itself available for people whose self awarness determined them to push the limits and cross the boundaries. Dare to experience a snowy winter in the middle of the mountains, it makes you feel alive but still breakable.
Sureanu Mountains lie in Meridional Carpathians and there are two ways of access - Jiului
Valley and Sebesului Valley. I've experinced the second one because I had to pass through Sibiu - a 800 years medieval city, a blender of ancient and modern, a city whose ancestors preserved the legacy through means of fortresses and towers; history engraved on the walls of time, but its up-to-dateness turned it into an european cultural capital.You follow the road through small isolated villages like Capalna(a famous traditional dance) along the Sebes Valley with its lakes Nedeiu, Oasa and many others. You can strech yourself and admire the breathtaking landscape with waterfalls carved into ice and fir trees and pine trees covered by snow from top to bottom that you barely guess their shape. Pay attention to the road because the closer you get the slippery it becomes. The layer of snow becomes thicker and ordinary cars have to be left somewhere at the beginning of the adventure unless you travell with a 4x4 car.
Each village you pass it's like an initiation ritual and they have foedoomed names: Poarta Raiului (Heaven's Gate) , Luncile Prigoanei(Prigoanei River Meadows), Valea Frumoasei(The Beauty Valley), and Iezerul Sureanu(Sureanu Mountain Lake). You can stop in any of these places where you can find accommodation this preventing you from walking through the snow carrying your rucksack filled with food, water, and clothes which deepens you into the snow. It's not simple giving the fact you are also endowed with ice axes, sun glasses, sleeping bags and snow boots. You can walk from 2 to 8 kilometres and your rucsack although light might become heavy. Sledges are very useful to carry bags and then you can use them to go sledging. The whole area is prevailed by Karsts, gorgeas, caves and Dacians fortresses like: Sarmisegetusa, Tusa-Regia, Blidari, Costesti...It's a mixture of history, geography, geology and fauna. We booked a hut for fifteen people, more barracks than a hut. The hut wasn't endowed with current water, central heating or a basic bathroom. Water had to be provided from the frozen lake behind the hut through a clasp. Hands got frozen in less than a minute is something you don't experience in a hotel. We made fire in a stove with wood and toilet was improvised outside in the forest in a small cabin. If this isn't a lesson of surviving I don't know what it is. Besides all these we didn't go to the montains for the hut but for the scenery which made up for the accommodation.
There were a lot of routes - To Sureanu peak(2059m), to Patru peak(2130m), or Oasa. Don't adventure into the mountains without being properly prepaired, the wind is sharp and whips your face and if you don't know the route your steps are covered with snow and there is no way back. On Patru peak we built an iglu to protect us from the wind for a while as we got rest. We could have stayed there for the night since our seeping bags provided heat till 30 degree.The way back is as difficult as when you climb giving the slippery path,you may fall and injure youself. Besides,this in an unique experience you feel closer to God, powerful on the top of the world and at the same time small and insignificant in the white immensity. If you manage to drive to the hut you might get stuck because it snows a lot and out of nowhere. We had to go back to the Heaven Gate on foot, the snow was high to the knee and the baggage pressed us deeper into the snow. We weren't tired because we joked and laughed all the way, in the wilderness you don't have neighbours to disturb and the landscape captures you. You don't know what to do first, to take photos or to admire the view. Clothes should be thin and warmy, if you climb the mountains you perspire and thick clothes get wet and you might catch a cold. You also need sun cream and a nourishing lipstick. The sun can damage your skin.
At first you may find reluctant to the idea of staying in an accommodation beside other 10 people, share choirs and face an elementary way of living but the experience worth taking this risk.
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