Climbing Botev peak in the winter, for me was a dream for a long time. The dream came true a week ago when two friends invited me to go to Botev shelter on Saturday afternoon - February 17th. Because of the working time of the two friends, we had to go in the afternoon and get on the cable path from Apriltsi.
We were going to go in the dark, but the weather was more than perfect for such an ascent. We had to climb 1200 meters of height and walk 3 kilometers on the horizontal.
At 15:17 we left the parking lot under the Pleven hut and walked up the aisle. After the table with the benches where the Water Holes path is branched, we took the steep path along the cable. No one was passing by, and we had to alternate with guiding, making a trace. At first it did not sink much, but as we approached the Kupata rock, we began to sink to a knee. This, combined with the very steep climb, gave us fatigue. At the end of the Kupata rock, which happened at 18:00, we came across a trail and trampled from the group that would also sleep on the Botev shelter. They had left the Pleven hut and by some gully had reached the Kupata rock. That would make it much easier for us to go from here on.
After the sunset it was still light and the weather warm and quiet. There were spectacular views of the North Djendem rocks, which were worthwhile at that time.
Shortly after the Kupata rock, we went to the crossing for the summer trail, but naturally we went straight and steeply up. Not long after, we turned on the headlights. After the first transformer station a wind appeared, which, with slight exceptions, accompanied us to the exit of the ridge.
About 50 meters after the second transformer, the slope began to decrease and gradually became equal. So at about 20:00 we reached the ridge.
Once we reached the ridge, we started to go with a slight descent and just before the slight slope of Bezimen peak, just before Botev shelter, we stopped to look at the stars. We turned off the headlights and watched the amazing and incredible winter sky from a height of over 2000 meters.
After we passed Bezimen peak, we finally started down to the shelter. There I stopped somewhere to make a night photo of the shelter and Botev peak. Unfortunately, I did not have a tripod and for this I used the backpack. Still, a nice photo was taken.
At 20:40 we reached Botev shelter.
The next day, we climbed to the Botev peak and stood for about 15-20 minutes. The views you see from the photos were amazing. From above, at a glance, Rila, Pirin and Vitosha mountains could be seen, whose peaks were over the clouds. From Botev peak in clear weather like this day you can view all over Bulgaria.
At 12:00, we went back to the downhill. Since only I was without crampons, the descent was a bit of fun instead of hard as I imagined it. Despite the good grab of the shoes, at times I was as if I was a mini-ski. Still, I could not fall down once.
At 16:00 successfully and seamlessly reached the parking lot and headed back to Veliko Tarnovo.
