Tâmpa Peak - Brasov, Postăvaru Mountains

Hike or run, take your pick

Tâmpa Peak - Gabony's Steps - Brasov

Introduction

Hello again! Continued from previous article

The story continues after the article describing where we climbed Vf. Tampa, running, via Tampa Saua. Since I wasn't going to stay and spend the night on this bear-populated forested mountain, I also had to go down and close the first mountain running training.

Location and access

Tâmpa summit (960 m alt.) - everyone knows it, because it overlooks Brasov and because there on the top are mounted those big letters with the name of the city and because up there, you go up and down the cable car, thus being a very popular area.

Tampa Peak is part of the Postavaru Massif.

Access is from the promenade area under Tampa, near the fortress wall. From here there are 3 ways to get to Vf. Tampa plus cable car.

Route map

(click on objectives for extended version)

Technical box

Length: 2 km

Duration: 1 h

Marking: yellow triangle (I also made a small combination with red triangle)

Difficulty: hard

Start: 18:00, Finish: 18:28

Level difference: -380 m

Minimum altitude: 590 m

Maximum altitude: 940 m

1. Tampa Peak (cable car descent station) - Gabony's Steps

I decided to go down the hardest of the 3 options presented in the previous article (via Saua Tampei, via Seroentinelor's Road and via Gabony's Steps), the last one. The descent time is 1 hour on each of them.

18:00. First we mark the picture of the relay near the cable car station.

Follow the yellow triangle marker. The path goes right past the relay building and down some cement steps. We will follow the ridge line, through the forest, on the trail and in a few minutes we pass another antenna. I like this trail better than the wide road we came up. I swim and run quite slowly because there are many tree roots, some covered with leaves and slippery from the rain earlier. Not after a long time more beautiful views to the city open up, some of the glades also have resting places.

We begin to feel the downward slope of the path even if it is not yet pronounced.

belvedere

creasta

antenna

I

Belvedere

down

2. Gabony's Steps - Brasov (cable car station)

18:11 - 18:16. The most spectacular is the aptly named "Gabony's Steps". They really are stone steps. In places the path is bordered by a metal safety parapet. The city is closer. This segment of steps, as well as a portion after them where the path crosses some sanded rocks, had to be approached with great care, I practically walked, not ran, to avoid slipping. The last section was again the usual forest trail, good for running.

18:24. We arrived at the intersection with the red triangle, "Serpentine Road". And we followed this new marker, because it's a shortcut that takes you out near the bottom station of the cable car.

18:25. We've reached the asphalt, next to the cab station building. We're at the superb promenade under the Tâmpa. From here I jogged a bit more (600 m) towards the city, to Michael Weiss St., where I wanted to end my shift. Also on the way down I met people, but none on the ridge, in the forest, where I whistled from time to time to announce my presence in order not to meet the bear.

Gabony's steps

Brasov

Rock

me on the Tâmpa Mountain

red triangle route

Cable car ascent station

Promenade

Conclusion

Of the 3 ways to access the summit, this is the most difficult. It's hard for me to say if it's more accessible on the way up than on the way down. But it is more beautiful, wilder. It is worth approaching the ascent and descent of the Tâmpa on different routes because you will have different perspectives at the viewpoints, especially if you opt for the extreme routes, presented here. I've been a bit of a run, you can see it from the shaky pictures, I apologize.

All the best!

Steps: