Hoverla, Petros: winter hiking
Duration | 4 days |
Date | |
Difficulty | Normal |
Route | Lazeshchyna – Kozmeshchyk – Hoverla – Petros – Kozmeshchyk – Lazeshchyna |
Distance | 35 km |
Price | 2500 ₴ |
We invite you to spend four days in a house surrounded by snowy mountains and climb two mountains of the Chornohora Ridge (the highest in Ukraine, literally means Black Mountain). Hoverla and Petros are especially charming in winter. Winter hike in the Carpathians is suitable for people with normal physical training. All you need is the right clothes and shoes, a balanced diet with a thermos of hot tea, and a guide that will show the safe path. We are ready to take responsibility for these! You can have a different attitude towards winter in the city, but it’s hard not to love winter in the Carpathians. We will be in the real winter mountains with deep snow, frosty fresh air, black sky, and an incredible buzz of silence. But there will be no difficulties of the cold season of the year: no freezing in the tent at nights, no crossing snowdrifts with a heavy backpack behind your shoulders. And another nice bonus: you can warm up in a sauna in the evenings We’ll live in the village of Lazeshchyna in Transcarpathia region. Our wooden house has a toilet, a bathroom, a kitchen equipped with a gas cooker, electricity. Its location is perfect for a radial ascent to Hoverla and Petros mounts. That’s why we will be hiking only with small backpacks. The evening program includes sauna bathing, dinners with traditional dishes, conversations and mountain stories, board games and guitar singing, looking at the moon through a telescope. We meet in Ivano-Frankivsk at 10 am, from where we take a mini-bus to the mountain village of Lazeshchyna. Upon arrival, we settle in the house, have lunch and go for a kind of acclimatization – hiking to the nearest hill. During this hike, we are checking the comfort of clothes and shoes to be ready for more difficult climbs in the coming days. The guide also explains the technique of climbing in winter and safety rules. After the walk, we return to the house, have dinner and prepare for tomorrow’s climb. If we are lucky with the weather, we will go outside on a frosty evening and look through the telescope at the moon and stars. Every morning we wake up at 5 o’clock, not wasting a short winter light day. After breakfast and warming up our muscles we start hiking to the highest peak of the Ukrainian Carpathians. We take with us only small backpacks with sandwiches and thermoses with tea. You don’t need mountaineering skills for climbing Hoverla; the difficulty will be similar to an ordinary summer trip with a big backpack. The trail leading to the top has a length of about 7 km (4 hours). In the afternoon the goal will be reached! We’ll be at the highest point in Ukraine. From Hoverla you can see far: all the Chornohora ridge is in front of us. Our way down will take less time – about 3 hours. Our plans of the third day include early waking up and ascent to Petros. One should not underestimate this peak, which is only the fourth highest in Ukraine. This mount is considerably more complicated. Its eastern slope was given a category of difficulty 2A (comparing to Hoverla’s 1B). Before leaving we have breakfast and put everything needed in small backpacks (snack, a thermos with tea, extra clothes). The trail to the summit smoothly leads to the valley Golovcheska (1400 m) with a hut where we’ll have dinner and gain some energy before a steep climb. Then we go on the crest, which connects Petros and Hoverla and begin a steep ascent. The angle of inclination on average is more than 50º, so you need to be especially careful. This part of ascent will take about an hour. The landscapes of Petros are definitely not worse than of Hoverla. From the top, you can see even the Romanian territories in the south (of course, when the weather is clear). Our way down will take about 3 hours. On the last day, we will have breakfast, say goodbye to the mountains (or not) and leave the house. Here are some options for the continuation of this day: You meet the guide at the Ivano-Frankivsk railway station at 10.00 or in the village of Lazeshchyna at 13.00. Day 1: Ivano-Frankivsk – Lazeshchyna village – walking around; Needless to say, that sauna bathing after a workout is very beneficial to a human’s mind and body.
HIGHLIGHTS
hiking in a winter wonderland in the Carpathian Mountains, which combines comfort and physical activity;
spending four days surrounded by the highest mountains of the Ukrainian Carpathians;
climbing the highest mountain of the Ukrainian Carpathians, and one of the most-climbed mountains in Ukraine – Hoverla (2061 m);
challenging yourself during the hiking to a quite complicated peak – Petros (2020 m);
1 DAY
5 km
+ 200 m
2 DAY
15 km
+ 1150 m
DAY HIKING TO HOVERLA
3 DAY
15 km
+ 1180 m
DAY HIKING TO PETROS
4 DAY
START / FINISH
We can also pick you up in the villages on the way from Ivano-Frankivsk – Yaremche, Vorokhta, etc.
Return to Ivano-Frankivsk at about 17 p.m.WHAT DO YOU PAY FOR
WHAT’S INCLUDED:
WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED:
WHAT TO TAKE WITH YOU
COST OF EQUIPMENT RENTAL:
CLOTHES:
Other items:
DETAILED ITINERARY
Day 2: Kozmeshchyk/Lazeshchyna – Gropa mountain valley, 1400 m – Goverla Mountain, 2061 m – Kozmeshchyk/Lazeshchyna;
Day 3: Kozmeshchyk/Lazeshchyna – Golovcheska mountain valley, 1500 m – Mount Petros, 2020 m – Kozmeshchyk/Lazeshchyna;
Day 4: return to Ivano-Frankivsk.
If you have a group of 4 or more interested we can run a bespoke hike on any date.
Have a question? Here’s how to contact us.