Făgăraș Ridge 3/5 – Făgăraș Mountains

1. Calțun Lake (2,135 m) – Calțun Refuge – Laițel Peak (2,390 m)

1 hour / 1.5 km / red lane

At 7 o’clock we photographed the green UFO above the lake, aka the Caltun refuge (2150 m above sea level), the new one, because here there are 2 refuges near the lake. It is located on the threshold immediately above the lake in our direction of walking this day. We turn our gaze towards the direction from where we came last night, towards Portita Caltunului and Negoiu, and catch a glimpse of the mirror of Caltun lake. After the exhaustion felt at the end of the previous day, we slept very well near Caltun lake (2135 m above sea level). Besides learning that it is better to carry water than slippers, I decided that I need more food during the day to be in shape. So I started with a hearty breakfast. Then I packed the tent, closed the backpack and set off. We were saying goodbye to Caltun lake.

Next to the route, on the left we have the Laita walls. To the right, the route with the blue triangle marking branches off towards Piscul Negru, on Transfagarasan, the Argesian version. A large patch of snow reminds us that the last winter was quite long in the Fagaras Mountains. The day started with very good weather, but also with a suitable climb, the one that takes you to the peak of Laitel, where the night before I could see the flashlights of those who would descend to the lake after dark. From Laitel we have an impressive perspective on the Caltun lake, how small it has become!, the Lespezi peak (2522 m above sea level) and the Negoiu peak (2535 m above sea level).

2. Lăițel Peak (2,390 m) – Lăițel Saddle – Doamnei Saddle – spring – Paltinului Saddle (2,345 m) – Paltinul Peak (2,399 m)

1 – 1.5 hours / 2.5 km / red lane

We are on the top of Laitel (2390 m above sea level). Reasonable for the difference in level climbed without interruption. From here, the path will go along the coast, bypassing the S peak of Laita (2397 m above sea level) and after crossing a rock balcony in Custura Paltinului, it will go uphill next to the Paltinului Tower, which remains to the E of the path, towards Doamnei’s saddle and the saddle of Paltin. Picture of Paltinului Tower. Here we also find a good and cold spring from where we feed. We were crossing, I think, the most flowered area of ​​the entire ridge.

3. Paltinul Peak (2,399 m) – Bâlea Window (2,286 m) – Iezerul Caprei Peak (2,417 m) – Capra Saddle (2,315 m) – Capra Lake (2,230 m)

1 hour / 2.5 km / red lane

On the right, in Caldarusa Lunga, there are two lakes, the largest one being Paltinul Lake. From Fereastra Bâlei (Bâlea Window) we have a well-known image with the lake and the Bâlea cabin (2045 m above sea level) located down in the northern caldera, at the foot of the Transfagarasan. Now it’s our turn to cross the alpine road without stepping on it! You guessed it: we are above the tunnel on Transfagrasan and we are heading towards the top of Iezerul Capra through the Bâlei Window. We reach the top of Iezerul Caprei (2417 meters above sea level).

The picture of the summit but also with the Capra and Caprita lakes and the Vaiuga peak. From the summit, descend quickly into the Capra saddle (2315 m above sea level), located SW of the Vaiuga peak (2443 m above sea level), where a path marked with a blue cross climbs further to the peak of Vanatorea lui Buteanu (2507 m above sea level), but which is not in our plans today. Also in the Capra saddle we cross the blue triangle trail that comes from the Bâlea cabin. To our right is one of the most beautiful lakes in Fagaras, on the shore of which many tourists choose to camp: Capra Lake (2230 m above sea level). Here is another good spring, and a little lower and to the S of the Capra lake is the Caprita lake.

4. Capra Lake (2,230 m) – Mountaineers Monument – Kite Window (2,180 m)

1.5 hours / 3 km / red lane

Our path, still marked with red tape, passes on the northern shore of the Capra lake. On the eastern flank of the Capra lake is the Alpinistilor (Mountaineers) Monument, next to which 2 routes descend to the south: the blue cross and the blue lane, both descending on different routes in Transfagarasan, in Arges county. Back we look towards the tail of Capra Lake and the Capra saddle. Careful! Ah, I hope I didn’t scare you too much! No, it doesn’t shoot! It’s just the Revolver Needle. From the Capra caldera we climbed something like an alpine hollow path, a dirt road through the thick mountain grass. For those who need it, attention! Springs to the left on the rocky wall before the Kite Window.

5. Kite Window (2180) – “Three Steps from Death” (2170) – Nerlinger Monument – Paru de Fier (2,316 m) – Mircea Peak (2,470 m) – Podul Giurgiului Lake (2,200 m)

2 – 2.5 hours / 3.5 km / red lane

We are in Fereasta or Poarta Zmeilor (Kite Window) (2180 meters above sea level) or Portita Arpasului. There is also a refuge nearby, 15 minutes to the right on the yellow triangle marking. Fereastra Zmeilor is a calcareous formation polished by rain and wind, with the shape of an arch. The sector located in the west of the Kite Window, the Vartopel – Arpasel ridge is one of the favorites of mountaineers, being full of rocky and steep walls.

If in the previous afternoon we ventured into Custura Saratii, today we have another challenge in front of us which also starts with a small aerial ridge, following which the path then disappears and leaves room for very inclined, quite polished rock faces, on which I am anchored safety chains. The area is called “La Trei Pasi de Moarte (Three Steps from Death)” (2170 meters above sea level), but it is not as terrible as its name suggests. Chains are very helpful especially if the rock is wet. This sharper sector of the ridge can be bypassed through the northern caldera at the Podragu cabin, but the alternative bypasses and descends a lot. We, however, followed the ridge going through “La Trei Pasi de Morte”. The path went to those rocks on the northern face of the ridge and will go up through Custura Arpasului from the coast in a way leaving considerably to the SW the peak of Arpasul Mic (2461 m above sea level).

We reach the Vartopului saddle, where the Nerlinger Monument is located (2287 meters above sea level). Towards S you can see Lake Buda, another good place for a tent with a spring near the lake, but it is a descent from the ridge for those who choose this option. From the monument, our road holds the ridge, passes through the peak of Paru de Fier (2316 mdsm), which has a hair embedded in the top, descends to the saddle of Vartop (2287 mdsm) and then climbs to the S of the peak of Arpasul Mare (2468 m) to on the top of Mircea (2470). The last 2 are connected to a hill, the first being grassy, ​​the second offering a steeper descent, being more rocky. From here a new perspective opens up, in close-up, down the path, we admire Lake Podul Giurgiului (ca. 2200 m above sea level), which we found partially covered by snow in August! How cool!

6. Lake Podul Giurgiului (2,200 m) – Podragu Saddle (2,305 m) – Podul Giurgiului Saddle – Orzăneaua Saddle – Viștea Mare Peak (2,527 m)

3 – 3.5 hours / 5.5 km / red band

The lake also has springs, we could not get our supplies from the one upstream of the lake because it was covered with snow, so we opted for the one on the left side of it after we bypassed the lake. How cool it was that we also cooled our feet a little in the cold water of the lake! We climb gently to the S from the Podragu peak (2475 m above sea level) to the Podragu saddle (2301 m above sea level), from where we have a view to the N of the entire Podrag caldera, gorgeous (!) with its own lakes: Lake Podragu, Lake Podragel and smaller ones . The next challenge is called Tărâța! It is the name of the Tărâța wall and the Tărâța peak (2414 meters above sea level), but which we will leave to the N of the path.

Careful! Stop! Moldoveanu appears! Respect! Pictures! God, what good weather with maximum visibility we’ve had, as if especially for you to admire the pictures and for me to mark all the milestones! There is a descent to reach the Podu Giurgiului saddle. What a sense of majesty we have with the trapezoid Vistea – Moldoveanu in front, approaching them.

We pass to the SW by the peak of Podu Giurgiului (2358 mdsm), then through the Ucea Mare saddle, through the Corabiea saddle, to the S of the Corabia peak (2407 mdsm), to the SE of the Ucea Mare peak (2430 mdsm), to the S of the Ucisoara wall , through the Ucisoara saddle, to the S of the Ucisoara / Orzanelei peak (2399 m above sea level) and we finally arrive at the Orzaneaua saddle, the last one before the big climb. And what do you think I’ve been taking pictures of? Right, the trapezium Vistea Mare (left, 2527 m above sea level – the no. 3) – Moldoveanu (right, 2544 m above sea level – the highest peak in Romania).

Climbing Vistea Mare is a challenge. I proposed to approach him slowly but without pauses. I can say that I succeeded, even if I climbed very slowly, but I didn’t take pictures longer than a click and a breath. It doesn’t mean that I wasn’t awaited by my tour companions!

7. Viștea Mare Peak (2,527 m) – Viștea Gate (2,310 m) – Viștea Saddle – Viștea Mare Refuge (2,310 m)

30 minutes / 1 km / red strip

Hurray! The peak of Vistea Mare (2527 meters above sea level), the third highest in the country and the second of our tour, because even though I would have liked it, we weren’t going to climb Moldoveanu either. From Vistea you can clearly see the Triunghiular lake, located on the southern side of the ridge, on the coast of Moldoveanu, where the 1-day route, which seems to be increasingly popular, climbs, on which you can access the Moldoveanu peak, from Burnei’s barn, on the valley Rea that we also admired in the picture. Picture also to the right with the Moldoveanu peak (2544 mdsm), of course!, where you can reach the red dot marking in about 30 minutes from Vistea via Spintecatura Moldoveanului on a partially aerial route and with a short exposed passage.

We start the descent from Vistea. If the climb was hard, the descent is one… the same! We descend a considerable difference in level, rather steeply, to Portita Vistei (2310 meters above sea level), where the Vistea Mare refuge is also located. Here in the saddle is not the source of water, but only further down in the Rea valley, on the red triangle or forward on our route… from tomorrow, but that in another episode. We arrived at the Vistea Mare refuge. Serban’s logic of not deviating from Moldoveanu, different from my desire, was correct.

We arrived first at the refuge and opted to sleep the next night under the roof because the wind had picked up. Within an hour the shelter was full. If we had also climbed Moldoveanu, we would have pitched the tent and all the wind would have blown us well during the night. On the descent from Vistea and then from the saddle, we watched the show of the insertion with the face at Moldoveanu. The Vistea Refuge is in good condition, it is a brick house with a table inside and bunk beds. 8-10 people can stay overnight here.