Off to Mt Olympus 5/09/08 Day 50

Day 50  

Well I had a hard time sleeping last night. There are so many details to think about. I realized that I had packed all my cold weather gear in the “Wheely Beast” and took it to the airport. What an idiot. It’s been warm everywhere I’ve been, of course not on the Everest Base Camp trek, but I have been in shorts and sandals. What can I say? I left Mahe’s house early for the airport again to see if I could track down my bag. I knew where I had left it in the warehouse and with a little luck I could sneak in there and dig out my hooded pullover and a snow hat with gloves. After making it to the airport in record time I jumped in a cab and there I am. All the warehouse employee’s were working away and they didn’t even look at me. I walked straight to my bag got out what I needed and sealed it back up. I had a feeling I would need to get this if not for Olympus then in Croatia or Prague. After I left the Swiss Port warehouse I went to Gold Air to let them know what I had done and they said go ahead over to Swiss port and tell them what you need. I just left because it was too hard to communicate anyway no since tell them I already had what I needed.

I was very lucky to meet Constantinos Gofas because I would not have had someone experience with the mountain to go with. I would have been alright but it is always better when climbing to have a partner. Another good thing is his friend Nikolas Anastassopoulos has charted a little know route up the backside where we shouldn’t run into so many people. I’m very excited. Nikolas who is driving and Constantinos will pick me up at a designated metro stop that I haven’t been to yet but I don’t foresee any problems. They want me to meet them at 6pm for a 5 hour drive to a hotel then tomorrow we start to climb.

I have to pack only what I can carry all the way to Prague. I always pack too much and I did here too just like on Everest. In this picture you can see what I did. The bag I have in my hand has my boats and some food in it. O’ also the remainder of the Resitine Wine from the other night. I couldn’t just pour it out and Mahe doesn’t like it that much. I was at the meeting point at 5:30pm and everything went smooth. We are off to Mt. Olympus. I can’t wait, and Nikolas gave me all the details of the climb during the drive.

About 10pm Constantinos called the hotel to make sure we had the correct directions and it turned out we were still 2 hours away. They told him they would keep the kitchen open for us and come on. Now that’s service. I have no excuses but because I was running to the airport the past couple of days I hadn’t had time to clean up since the 2 minute shower I had before dinner the other night. I knew I was stinking up the back seat but I wasn’t sure how bad until we arrived at the hotel. As in most cases with small lodges they turn off the hot water heater at night to save energy. The hotel owner told us as we checked in to come over and eat, which was great food by the way, and then go to our rooms. “Only one shower tonight and two in the morning” he said. Constantinos immediately said Steve you go first. I told him I thought it was a good Idea. I dreamt of all the Greek Gods waiting for me to arrive that night.