Andrew Rankine - Aug 7, 2015 9:12 am Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2015
.
Had a couple extra days in Makedonia and decided to return to Musala, it took 4 hours to drive to Borovets from Skopje. In 2011 we were not able to see anything and were not able to take the cable car to shorten the hike. This time it was clear weather, with a few clouds in the afternoon. We took the cable car from Borovets to Yastrebets. 12 BGN each for a roundtrip ticket. From there we hiked to the summit and back, via two huts both offering food and drink, and a meteo station with hot tea on the summit. The route was also very busy. Very different than 2011, when the huts were closed and we saw no other people. The roundtrip distance would be about 14.5 km, but I added an extra lap from the lower hut to the summit (also note this adds 200 or so meters of gain), for a roundtrip total of 16.2 km, 889 m gain.
belexes - Aug 28, 2014 5:56 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2014
Musala Pathway
CMC Adventure Travel trip. We had a successful climb of Mount Ararat on the 20th, so it was on to our 2nd national highpoint in a week. We cheated a bit by taking the Yastrebets Gondola, but we did wander around in the valley beforehand trying to find it. The weather was looking a little iffy at times, dark clouds would move in, but then they would move on, and in the end we didn't get any rain or storms. There were a lot of hikers on the mountain this day. It was nice to have a leisurely hike after the tougher Ararat.
Arnie777 - Apr 5, 2014 4:50 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2013
Great hiking and scrambling
Started all the way down in borovec in stead of taking the gondola. The first part is a very beautiful forest hike. When i reached the summit i walked down the ridge to get all the other 'peaks' in as well. Great scramble
Kevintheclimber - Dec 31, 2013 5:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2013
SUMMIT PUSH
Interesting hike. Trail very well marked. I liked the city of Borovec, and bet it would be amazing during the winter months. overall, a good climb to the top of Bulgaria.
bruno baschung - Aug 20, 2013 1:02 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2013
normal route
I climbed Musala using the normal route and the gondola, which reduces alot the trip. The climb is actually easy, with a first flat part up to Musala Hut. the path is very well marked and easy to follow. Quite overcrowded.
A really nice hike!
Bruno baschung
bobbyfm - Mar 22, 2013 7:59 am Date Climbed: Dec 9, 2005
normal route
normal route from Borovetc, just after celebrating the students day previous night :) been up there several times :)
Climbing Musala is challenging in winter conditions - the Irechek - Aleko traverse,
atavist - Sep 10, 2012 4:08 am Date Climbed: Sep 9, 2012
9 hrs rt including hr on summit
Took a bus to Borovets from Plovdiv in the morning so I had a late start at 11:30 for the walk. I ascended via main road/trail and descended the ridge to tag Little Musala, Irecek and the other peaks along the way (both routes described on the parent page). The day was capped by meeting some cool residents of Sofia and an awesome Bulgarian dinner.
nothingmaster - Jan 19, 2012 6:15 pm Date Climbed: Jan 2, 2007
Who loves to freeze?
My first Musala accent was on 2nd of January 2007. Me and friends, we slept in a tent on the peak, cause the refugee there was a bit expensive for us ^_^! The wind was absolutely COLD, but I managed to sleep a few hours...
PUCHMAN - Nov 19, 2011 5:23 pm Date Climbed: Jul 23, 2001
Balkan trip.
from borovec
Hikking all Ri?a and Piryn.
Andrew Rankine - Nov 1, 2011 1:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 13, 2011
One of the longest days on the trail
This is one to remember. Drove from Midzor, where the border police stopped our ascent the day before. Wanted to climb Musala by taking the chairlift up, which would make the climb 2000 feet or so of gain and 7 miles. The chairlift was being repaired, so the hike became 20 miles from the hotel in Borovets and 5600 feet or so of gain. There was snow and it was cold. It was foggy the entire time, until the sun came out for 10 minutes. It was beautiful. Then it rained for three hours on the descent. 1.5 liters of bitter lemon and 1.5 mixed grills were well deserved after this one.
Batistuta - Sep 19, 2011 2:32 pm Date Climbed: Dec 16, 2006
Normal Route
I climbed Musala for the first time the winter 2006/07, it was a very beautiful sunny day, no wind, a lot of snow, and arround 100 climbers at the top.
SzaniUherkovich - Jul 17, 2010 8:50 am Date Climbed: Jul 15, 2010
During a business meeting
I work in an international team at our company. We had to have a physical team meeting somewhere in Central or in Eastern Europe. I participated in the organization of the meeting, and finally managed to have it in Borovets, in the Rila mountains. Some of the "poor" participants had to travel there from England and from Moscow, but we had a local Bulgarian, too. The agenda of the meeting gave me a 6 hours long free slot in one afternoon. I utilized it for visiting Musala. 3 hours quick walk from Borovec up to the peak, practically with no break. 30 minutes rest up on the peak. 2.5 hours for returning to Borovec. 23 km walk in total. I wanted this peak since my age 15. Big thanks for the company I work for who indirectly sponsered this trip
wolf2001 - Jul 6, 2010 5:09 am Date Climbed: Aug 19, 2005
Normal Route
We ascent from Borovat, stayed one night at the first chalet-i don't remember the name, and in the morning, go up to the summit Musala. It was a easy hike, very beautiful.
andreeacorodeanu - May 11, 2009 9:21 am Date Climbed: Dec 1, 2008
Normal route
Was a nice climb, easy. Nice was when we arrived in the evening and we asked the guy from the meteo station to sleep there cause the shelter was closed. He was so kind and nice with us. We felt so good there in a nice company.
Thomas Gurviez - Sep 16, 2008 1:39 pm Date Climbed: Sep 13, 2008
normal route
Cloudy and cold weather, hike from the top of the lift to the summit in 1h30..
from Borovec, stayed at the shelter by the tarn for one day, got to the top of Malka Musala (then Dymitrov)- pleasant ascent along the ridge on the other side of the tarn (a bit of scrambling/easy climbing), no marks; next morn backpacked to the main summit, then across Rila and Pirin
First time was in summer 2001 but I cheated by taking cable cart to Jastrebec and the rest was a piece of cake!
In July 2007 I walked up from Borovetz and weather conditions weren't all that great - cold and I was dressed a bit too optimistically. Anyway, I made it to the summit around 5 in the afternoon having started from Sofia in early morning.
yamesu - Sep 23, 2007 11:56 am Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2007
Borovec-Musala
Normal route and back to Bucharest in the evening
Balazs Halmos - Jul 2, 2007 2:22 pm Date Climbed: Jun 11, 2007
Sleepwalkers on top
5 members of Szentendre Sleepwalkers baseball team from Hungary climbed the summit on a beautiful day on the normal route from Borovec before taking part on a tournament in Blagoevgrad. We did it in 5 hours up though having also inexperienced hikers with us. Huts still derelict in early June but the station on the summit was attended.
Andrew Rankine - Aug 7, 2015 9:12 am Date Climbed: Jul 24, 2015
.Had a couple extra days in Makedonia and decided to return to Musala, it took 4 hours to drive to Borovets from Skopje. In 2011 we were not able to see anything and were not able to take the cable car to shorten the hike. This time it was clear weather, with a few clouds in the afternoon. We took the cable car from Borovets to Yastrebets. 12 BGN each for a roundtrip ticket. From there we hiked to the summit and back, via two huts both offering food and drink, and a meteo station with hot tea on the summit. The route was also very busy. Very different than 2011, when the huts were closed and we saw no other people. The roundtrip distance would be about 14.5 km, but I added an extra lap from the lower hut to the summit (also note this adds 200 or so meters of gain), for a roundtrip total of 16.2 km, 889 m gain.
belexes - Aug 28, 2014 5:56 pm Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2014
Musala PathwayCMC Adventure Travel trip. We had a successful climb of Mount Ararat on the 20th, so it was on to our 2nd national highpoint in a week. We cheated a bit by taking the Yastrebets Gondola, but we did wander around in the valley beforehand trying to find it. The weather was looking a little iffy at times, dark clouds would move in, but then they would move on, and in the end we didn't get any rain or storms. There were a lot of hikers on the mountain this day. It was nice to have a leisurely hike after the tougher Ararat.
Arnie777 - Apr 5, 2014 4:50 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2013
Great hiking and scramblingStarted all the way down in borovec in stead of taking the gondola. The first part is a very beautiful forest hike. When i reached the summit i walked down the ridge to get all the other 'peaks' in as well. Great scramble
Kevintheclimber - Dec 31, 2013 5:24 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2013
SUMMIT PUSHInteresting hike. Trail very well marked. I liked the city of Borovec, and bet it would be amazing during the winter months. overall, a good climb to the top of Bulgaria.
bruno baschung - Aug 20, 2013 1:02 pm Date Climbed: Aug 15, 2013
normal routeI climbed Musala using the normal route and the gondola, which reduces alot the trip. The climb is actually easy, with a first flat part up to Musala Hut. the path is very well marked and easy to follow. Quite overcrowded.
A really nice hike!
Bruno baschung
bobbyfm - Mar 22, 2013 7:59 am Date Climbed: Dec 9, 2005
normal routenormal route from Borovetc, just after celebrating the students day previous night :) been up there several times :)
Andrey Pramatarov - Feb 14, 2013 7:31 am Date Climbed: Jan 9, 2007
All sidesClimbing Musala is challenging in winter conditions - the Irechek - Aleko traverse,
atavist - Sep 10, 2012 4:08 am Date Climbed: Sep 9, 2012
9 hrs rt including hr on summitTook a bus to Borovets from Plovdiv in the morning so I had a late start at 11:30 for the walk. I ascended via main road/trail and descended the ridge to tag Little Musala, Irecek and the other peaks along the way (both routes described on the parent page). The day was capped by meeting some cool residents of Sofia and an awesome Bulgarian dinner.
nothingmaster - Jan 19, 2012 6:15 pm Date Climbed: Jan 2, 2007
Who loves to freeze?My first Musala accent was on 2nd of January 2007. Me and friends, we slept in a tent on the peak, cause the refugee there was a bit expensive for us ^_^! The wind was absolutely COLD, but I managed to sleep a few hours...
PUCHMAN - Nov 19, 2011 5:23 pm Date Climbed: Jul 23, 2001
Balkan trip.from borovec
Hikking all Ri?a and Piryn.
Andrew Rankine - Nov 1, 2011 1:31 pm Date Climbed: Jun 13, 2011
One of the longest days on the trailThis is one to remember. Drove from Midzor, where the border police stopped our ascent the day before. Wanted to climb Musala by taking the chairlift up, which would make the climb 2000 feet or so of gain and 7 miles. The chairlift was being repaired, so the hike became 20 miles from the hotel in Borovets and 5600 feet or so of gain. There was snow and it was cold. It was foggy the entire time, until the sun came out for 10 minutes. It was beautiful. Then it rained for three hours on the descent. 1.5 liters of bitter lemon and 1.5 mixed grills were well deserved after this one.
Batistuta - Sep 19, 2011 2:32 pm Date Climbed: Dec 16, 2006
Normal RouteI climbed Musala for the first time the winter 2006/07, it was a very beautiful sunny day, no wind, a lot of snow, and arround 100 climbers at the top.
SzaniUherkovich - Jul 17, 2010 8:50 am Date Climbed: Jul 15, 2010
During a business meetingI work in an international team at our company. We had to have a physical team meeting somewhere in Central or in Eastern Europe. I participated in the organization of the meeting, and finally managed to have it in Borovets, in the Rila mountains. Some of the "poor" participants had to travel there from England and from Moscow, but we had a local Bulgarian, too. The agenda of the meeting gave me a 6 hours long free slot in one afternoon. I utilized it for visiting Musala. 3 hours quick walk from Borovec up to the peak, practically with no break. 30 minutes rest up on the peak. 2.5 hours for returning to Borovec. 23 km walk in total. I wanted this peak since my age 15. Big thanks for the company I work for who indirectly sponsered this trip
wolf2001 - Jul 6, 2010 5:09 am Date Climbed: Aug 19, 2005
Normal RouteWe ascent from Borovat, stayed one night at the first chalet-i don't remember the name, and in the morning, go up to the summit Musala. It was a easy hike, very beautiful.
andreeacorodeanu - May 11, 2009 9:21 am Date Climbed: Dec 1, 2008
Normal routeWas a nice climb, easy. Nice was when we arrived in the evening and we asked the guy from the meteo station to sleep there cause the shelter was closed. He was so kind and nice with us. We felt so good there in a nice company.
Thomas Gurviez - Sep 16, 2008 1:39 pm Date Climbed: Sep 13, 2008
normal routeCloudy and cold weather, hike from the top of the lift to the summit in 1h30..
yatsek - Aug 27, 2008 2:56 pm
in 1977, up the valleyfrom Borovec, stayed at the shelter by the tarn for one day, got to the top of Malka Musala (then Dymitrov)- pleasant ascent along the ridge on the other side of the tarn (a bit of scrambling/easy climbing), no marks; next morn backpacked to the main summit, then across Rila and Pirin
MegasAlexandros - Mar 29, 2008 8:37 am
Normal RouteFirst time was in summer 2001 but I cheated by taking cable cart to Jastrebec and the rest was a piece of cake!
In July 2007 I walked up from Borovetz and weather conditions weren't all that great - cold and I was dressed a bit too optimistically. Anyway, I made it to the summit around 5 in the afternoon having started from Sofia in early morning.
yamesu - Sep 23, 2007 11:56 am Date Climbed: Jun 17, 2007
Borovec-MusalaNormal route and back to Bucharest in the evening
Balazs Halmos - Jul 2, 2007 2:22 pm Date Climbed: Jun 11, 2007
Sleepwalkers on top5 members of Szentendre Sleepwalkers baseball team from Hungary climbed the summit on a beautiful day on the normal route from Borovec before taking part on a tournament in Blagoevgrad. We did it in 5 hours up though having also inexperienced hikers with us. Huts still derelict in early June but the station on the summit was attended.