Jelenka and Senzka - updated!

This past Friday I took a little journey - this will be broken up in to a few entries as I'm tired and there was too much to write right now.

I showed up at instructed at Rolf's at 10 and rang the bell. No one answered. I rang again. No response. A young gentleman made his way out of the building and let me know Rolf (Sweden) was at the office.

We were supposed to be loading the car for the trip to Snezka.

I didn't have his phone number.

I texted my friends and hoped someone would have his number so I could call and find out what was going on. I waited for a response. None came. I waited some more and started to questions my sanity - had I got the date wrong, the time, imagined the whole event??? Finally, Rolf came walking up the hill - he was at his Czech lesson.

A short while later Ricardo and Laura (both from Portugal) also showed up - and we had a text from Alexey (Ukraine) that had missed his bus and would be late. I had already put my things in the trunk, and Ricardo and Laura left theirs downstairs. We went upstairs to chat while we waited.

About 45 minutes later Laura retrieved her phone to check on Alexey. It turns out, Alexey got there on time but didn't know Rolf's name so didn't know which bell to ring. Since we were at the Ambassador's residence he didn't want to start ringing the bells, asking for Rolf.

Finally we loaded up the car and headed up towards Snezka. The drive was beautiful, full of pleasant and engaging conversation, and I managed to squeeze in a quick nap - being a passenger always puts me to sleep.

It turns out the path to Snezka is not as easy to find as we'd thought. We drove and parked at the Polish border, loaded up our gear and then hiked down the road, through the town downhill. At a totally random spot, at least to my eyes - and Laura's as well - Rolf announced that we were at the trail. Alexey agreed and climbed up the snow bank to check it out - he promptly fell about waist deep. We decided that wasn't the trail and hiked back up the road.

Alexey trying to find the trail, after he climbed out of the hole.

After asking a few locals we were directed back up the road, uphill, to where we'd come from, and then through the houses. Apparently that's where the trail began. However, I don't think anyone informed the trail that it was in fact a trail as there wasn't any grooming or a snowpack. I managed to fall through the snow at least half a dozen times - not just an ankle or a knee, but fall through to my hips and thighs. What was supposed to be a 3.5 or 4K hike to the lodge turned in to probably about a 5K with the back and forth stuff. But the trail hike itself, the 3.5 to 4K hike - it managed to take us about 3 hours.

Not fun. In fact, the sun had set by the time we found the lodge. It was rather uncomfortable for me as there are not what I consider clear markers for the trail - the upper portion was groomed and it was clear you walk in the open areas, but you check your path by some paint stripes on the trees - not really great indicators when the there isn't any light.

We had a great night - Mario (US), Gerard (Holland), and Jara (Spain) were already there... we had an evening of laughter, drinking, good food, and silliness... which carried over to the next day.

Saturday I lent Jara my boots as she only had cloth tennis shoes, and Alexey took the snowshoes. The weather was miserable, the fog thick, visibility maybe 20 meters, at the most. Yet, a small group of the guys ascended the rest of the mountain to make it to the actual Snezka cottage - there was tremendous wind and it was about -20C. I stuck around the lodge and waited for the rest of the crew.... venturing out for a few photos...

Another great day of filled with laughter and camaraderie - we played Finnish scrabble (no Q's or Z's and with strange vowels) and after another great meal we all played Uno and general silliness ensued.





receiving assistance from his coach.

There was a lot of confusion about the bus routes and return time lines, but in the end, Mario, Gerard, and Jara left early on Sunday to ski while the rest of us went hiking.

trying to read the maps and time lines for Sunday.



I opted not to push myself too hard as I knew we had to hike back to the car, and went part of the way to Snezka and then on my own private hike. Everyone else continued and the day was ideal - the wind was stronger the higher you went, but the sky was clear and the sun strong.

After we all gathered and had lunch we said goodbye to Daniel, a CSer who was the motivation for the trip as he is working at the cabin for the winter. Then we left - Rolf left alone, first, as he wanted to get to the car and meet us at an alternate trail... I left with Kathleen, Ange, and Pavlina, followed shortly by Alexey, Ricardo, and Laura. We took the yellow trail, as we had on the way up, but turned off after a short bit on to the green.

Jelenka on the last day - the sun was bright and the sky so clear I felt like sunbathing in the snow.


The hike that had taken us over 3 hours to make took us less than 45 minutes to undo - and this includes the time we stopped for photos and conversations.

early back at the road

It was a wonderful, refreshing, and rejuvenating journey - a bit of a challenge for me, but an eyeopener at the same time. I'm in a country with an incredibly fit and and active outdoorsy population and would like to make that more of my life.

Crazy, huh?


eginning of the trip by Ricardo