What you need to know before Hiking Piatra Craiului

Hiking Piatra Craiului – There is a difference between going to the mountains and going up the mountain. The overwhelming majority of people have been to the mountains at least once, but fewer are those who love hiking and feel like fish in water on the mountain.

If you’ve never been to the mountains before, but Hiking Piatra Craiului is something that catches your eye, don’t be discouraged. We’ve put together a series of tips that could be useful to any novice mountaineer:

Pay attention to equipment

If you’ve never climbed a mountain before, pay close attention to the equipment you’ll be using at altitude. In the summer months and September, the weather is hike-friendly and very low temperatures are a rarity.

If you can’t stick to the three-layer rule don’t be discouraged, but avoid cotton or you’ll be doing a lot of improvised clothing on the mountain. Instead, don’t go Hiking Piatra Craiului without a proper mountain tent (if you’ll be sleeping in a tent and not a hut) and without proper mountain boots. A proper pair of boots could save your life.

Announce you’re going and give the route

We never recommend other people to go on the mountain alone, let alone beginners. We therefore advise you to go Hiking Piatra Craiului with more experienced people than you. In addition, tell your family and friends where you are going and on which route. Don’t rely on telling them later, when you’ve already reached the mountain, as mobile phone reception is sometimes very poor. If something happens (for example, you get lost or seriously injure your leg), it’s good if other people know where you are and let the mountain rescuers know.

Download the Mountain Rescue app

This is the official app of the National Association of Mountain Rescuers in Romania (A.N.S.M.R.) and offers users a wide range of functions: mountain warnings, weather, mountain trails, contacts and locations of huts across the country, as well as slopes. In addition, users have the possibility to plan their trips with the help of the Mountain Rescue Dispatcher.

The most important feature of this app is the SOS section, which is a location service where you can notify, in real time, the Mountain Rescue dispatcher about your route and GPS coordinates, altitude and even your phone’s battery level. This way, in case of danger, the mountain rescuers can easily spot you.

Be cautious

In the mountains, the weather is very changeable and capricious. Check the weather forecast for the day and don’t rely on what you heard on TV three days before. In addition, if you come across mountain rescuers on the trail telling you that you should turn back (for various reasons), our advice is to listen to them. Watch out for bears, vipers, always watch your step and don’t eat plants you know nothing about. Some are poisonous.

Respect nature

Respect the people of the places, respect the places themselves and remember that you are only a passing guest in those lands. Hiking Piatra Craiului will become an unforgettable experience if you take into account all that we have said so far. Otherwise, you may run into trouble and it won’t be fun anymore. However, if you’re by yourself or are together with a group of beginners. We recommend you take a mountain guide with you. Like this, you’ll make sure you won’t get lost and there will be less chances to injure yourself. And obviously you won’t have to worry about getting rescued anymore, or installing all the necessary apps, because the mountain guide will have it all prepared for you.

And you will learn a lot about the flora and the fauna of the Piatra Craiului Mountains, but we’ll leave that for another article!