Notes and Correspondence 



313 



An Ascent of Mt. Olympus, Thessaly, Greece 

 By Francis P. Farquhar 



Those who were on the Kern River outing of 1912 will remember one 

 of their companions, Aristides E. Phoutrides, a native of Ikaria, Greece, 

 and a graduate of Harvard College. During that outing, and on a sub- 

 sequent trip that several of us took through the Kings River country, he 

 frequently remarked that many features of the California scenery re- 

 called that of his native land. One night in the Kings River Canon he 

 proposed that our small group should reassemble in Greece and climb 

 some of the classic mountains. At the time it seemed a very remote 

 possibility, but during the winter of 1913-14, Phoutrides, then studying 

 in Europe as a Traveling Fellow of Harvard University, repeated the 

 invitation. Of those who comprised our original party, I was the only 

 one who was able to go at that time. I had been planning a trip to 

 Europe and arranged to join him in April. 



We met at Patras, the principal western port of Greece, on the tenth 

 of April. After a visit to Olympia, we went to Athens, whence on 

 April 22nd we set out for Delphi and Mt. Parnassus to begin our 

 walking trip. 



After several days in the vicinity of Parnassus, we took the railroad 

 from Chaeronea north to Larissa in Thessaly. We visited the Vale of 

 Tempe and then took council as to how to climb Mt. Olympus, whose 

 snow-clad summits loomed before us. At Larissa we received little in- 

 formation and no encouragement from those with whom we talked. 

 We were told that the snow was impassable and that the slopes were 

 infested with wolves and were the strongholds of bandits. Neverthe- 

 less we decided to make the attempt, and after some debate as to the 

 best means of approach we proceeded to Elassona, where we hoped to 

 obtain better information. At Elassona the warning against snow was 

 repeated, but the wolves dwindled into very rare and gun-shy beasts 

 and the bandits var'shed altogether. Here we learned of the monas- 

 tery of Hagia T or Holy Trinity, at Sparmos, close to the very 

 heart of the moi, .ain. We reached the monastery on foot the next 

 day and were hc pitably received by the monks. 



On the following day, April 30, 1914, we climbed Mt. Olympus. Leav- 

 ing the monastery at four-thirty o'clock in the morning, we followed 

 up the ravine upon the side of which it is situated. After an hour and 

 a half we cHmbed out on to a ridge that splits the ravine in two and, 

 keeping on the crest of this ridge, at ten o'clock reach the summit of a 

 snow-covered peak. By this time the clouds were rapidly shutting in 

 upon us and we were in doubt whether the highest peaks were to our 

 right or to our left. We finally decided that the northerly peaks, shown 

 in the accom,panying photograph, seemed the highest, and accordingly 

 set out across the snow-fields in that direction. In about an hour and a 

 half we attained the summit at the extreme left of the photograph. We 

 now beheld one of the most magnificent sights of our lives. To the 

 north and northwest the mountain breaks off sharply in stupendous 



