Moldoveanu Peak — Local services in Nucșoara

Driving up the Transfagarasan to get to our starting point at Balea Lac.

On day 1 we headed towards Cabana Podragu for an overnight stay. What we initially thought to be a 5hr hike turned into 7hrs as we took the route which we later found out should avoid unless you're really prepared for a tough hike with steep elevating ascend and descends along the way.

Day 2 Weather forecast to be bad in the late afternoon so we started out early and departed Podragu to head for Moldoveanu at 7am. We reached Vistea Mare , the 3rd highest peak in Romania by around 11am. At this point the rain and some hail was beating down on us. There was only another 30min hike to cross over a scary ridge to reach Moldoveanu, the highest peak in Romania. We laid down all our backpacks at Vistea Mare to make the final ascent. The crossing had sharp steep falls on either side and some parts you needed to grab onto chains bolted to the mountain to pull yourself up. We finally reached the summit around 11:45am where we had the summit all to ourselves. I guess coming from Manchester UK we are used to the rain and no one else did.

We departed 15mins later for the long stretch home. It wasn't another 6hrs until we reunited with Kevin and Georgia at the bottom of the valley making it total 11hrs...

Not for novice. Come prepared with hiking boots, waterproof ones and a rain proof coat incase it does rain. The drive close to the mountain is very long, but worth it. The view is stunning from every part. Took a total of 10 hours, took us a while to go up as it got tricky towards the top and one of the hikers got vertigo. Expect to conquer your fears if you have any of heights ! You don’t need gloves but expect your hands to get dirty as you will need to hold on to rocks and walk/climb some areas that practically are not very safe. Totally worth it tho. Everyone went up and down the mountain the same way. We decided to go a different route were you follow the mountain along following the white and blue cross.

Overall fun and exhausting hike.

Ps: i attached a photo of the scariest bit for me, that white bite on the maintain was a small yet terrifying snow trail where you felt like you could of slipped down...

It's a wonderful mointain track, has amazing views, you can take water from rivers and lakes, it has some parts that are difficult for people that do not climb the mountains very often. I recommend to have the bare minimum of mountain track equipment, not a very heavy backpack and small bottles for easier refill. The weather changes fast so it is imperative to bring warm clothes, extra T-shirts and water resistant jackets. I also recommend to try the circuit, instead of climbing down the same way, try Valea Rea, greater views, lakes and walk in the woods. The whole track took 12 hours with medium pace and...