Boyana Icefall

Yesterday a former student of mine, Will Stecher, traveled to Sofia for a visit during his winter break.  Two years ago, he and I headed to Mt. Baldy in California for our first ever mountaineering experience.  Today, we continued that tradition as we hiked up to Boyana Waterfall, which you may remember from an earlier post on the blog.  If not, scroll down the sidebar to the "Labels" section and click on "Boyana."  It looked quite different today:

When we arrived in Boyana, we asked for directions to the trailhead and received some skeptical looks, followed by dissuasion.  One person placed his hand on his chest, indicating that the snow was that high and we shouldn't try.  I reassured him we had the necessary gear, and he pointed us on.  When we got there, we were relieved to see a set of tracks leading the way, and snow that was only a couple feet deep.

After about two hours of hiking, we arrived at the waterfall, where there were a group of people preparing for some ice climbing.

Will and I were content with staying at the bottom (well, at least I was).

Will inside a little cavern behind the waterfall, where the following picture was also taken.

The wall behind Will in the picture above is basically the other side of where this climber is attached.

As we were leaving, Will and I wondered where we'd use our crampons again.  Not sure yet, but I hope it will be just as spectacular.

Boyana Waterfall

If a mountain can be in your back yard, Vitosha is. We set off again Saturday, this time to visit Boyana Waterfall, to which we'll definitely return this winter. After surviving a traffic backup and trail directions we only half understood (we need a map!), Betsy and I finally arrived at the waterfall, but were fortunate that the entire hike was a refreshing stroll (occasionally slug) over leaf-strewn paths and under canopies of just-faded color. While we intended this to be an out and back sort of thing, our inexperience led us on a slightly longer loop, all the better because we got to pass a lake that we would have otherwise missed.

Just past the lake, we found an abandoned dwelling that Betsy decided would be a fun playground.

We then started the steep part of the climb, switching back and forth (and only getting lost occasionally) until we heard the rumble of water below (Below? Below! You mean we just climbed all that way and then we have to go DOWN to the waterfall! @#$%^!). But we put on a happy face for the camera.

This shot of Betsy shows the scale of the waterfall, of which you can only see the base here. Betsy didn't know that she was taking the identical shot (of me) when she did it later. She did a much better job of capturing the whole scene -- take a look at her entry below.

Looking down from the waterfall, we were greeted by an autumnal scene.

We basically followed the stream all the way back down to the town of Boyana.

After we finished, we headed into town and treated ourselves to a dinner at Olives, a nice restaurant in center city. A rewarding day.