Winter Training Adventures at Academic Training Base

Hi there Hive Family,

This week was my debut for this upcoming winter season and what an adventure it was.

We got up at 5 AM and went straight to the village of Zheleznitsa. We wanted to start our hike an hour or more before sunrise. My Friend had some time constraints as he was working today in the afternoon so we had to be quick.

We left the car on the parking lot and headed for the mountain elevations. We were going on the east side of Vitosha mountain.

This is how the winter looks like. White and marvelous. Shots just before dawn.

We can see more clearly now. Everything is so beautiful and perfect.

The sunrise from the woods. We caught some alien shots. No words to describe this.

We escaped the woods. The wind was blowing hard and snow was flying all over us, like a storm.

The wind in action with the sun rising. a rare sight.

Old mountain in distance.

We headed towards Academic Training Base - NSA. The conditions became unbelievably hard and rough. Too much snow was slowing us down. We were taking triple as much in comparison with a normal hike.

We took some rest on premises but time was running out. We already knew that we are not going to make any summits in such weather conditions. We had 2 hours tops more and we had to go descend. The hike was quite an adventure as it was. We were happy with it.

Views from the Lodge. This winter training turns out to be something extraordinary. I love it.

We headed a little bit more upwards. The snowcat was onlt cleaning the surroundings of the Lodge. Nothing more, nothing less. We had to create our very own track. Which eventally halted us and we had to bail on our hike.

This is the point when the conditions just became untolerable. Snow up to our chests. We could hardly move. We also saw an Avalanche sign in front of us. Running out of time, we decided that we are going to just stop our ascend. Nothing is at all costs. We have to be smart and know when it is time to quit. Not because we are weak but because we are not stupid. Motivation and ambition goes long way but quitting is also a strong trait and willing to give up at the right time is very powerful skill.

And so we headed down. I was disappointed, yet happy to have made that choice. Because deep inside me I knew, this was the right choice!

My gaiters were exploding with snow. My socks were wet, and we were a little bit more than halfway to Black Peak. Insane. We took another brake at the Lodge before finally descending the mountain.

As we were coming down, we noticed that the snow in the lower parts was already gone, or turned into mud. We could not believe it. This was all white coated and with a thick layer in the morning. Just a few hours later it is all gone and now is just soil and dirt. I was so surprised seeing such big changes in such short time. It was as if we were hiking in 2 different days.

Anyways. our training hike went good and we felt incredibly strong afterwards. Full of energy and air, we returned home. My Friend went straight to work.

Thank you for checking out my blog :)

Stay happy, be peaceful!

Namaste

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