#3: [23-Jul-05]

#1: [03-Oct-01] (incomplete)

13-Jul-2005 -- So close, yet so far...! I attempted this point with my girlfriend Nelly assisted by her just-married sister and husband Tibi. We managed to find our way easily from Răstoliţa (avoid the toilets at the junction cafe if possible!) up the concrete road and left onto the forest track off the Răstoliţa river valley, which begins by winding through houses (keep left) to Ciprian and Ioanna's end point.

Thanks to their directions. Leaving Alina and Tibi to prepare a barbecue at a picnic spot (a rough-hewn table and benches) beside a spring. Photo 5 shows the same point and that the catchment area of this tributary stream has now been completely logged. The forest track has also been extended past this point a further 4 km up the valley.

As a result the once pretty stream bed is now overgrown with grasses and brambles and made for extremely difficult progress. It took us around 45 minutes to scramble up the 45 degree slope through new undergrowth and logging detritus, gaining only 0.2 km, to the ridge which became impassable further up due to impenetrable undergrowth where the GPS indicated we had another 900-odd metres to go (though this doesn't accord with the scale of the GPS readout).

Unfortunately we had limited time and decided to turn back at this point. The GPS seemed to suggest that the point was downhill on the other side of the ridge though it was hard to judge due to the undergrowth and difficulty taking a reading due to the tree cover. The GPS route readout shows Răstoliţa as waypoint 007, the confluence as 002, and our end point at the ridge at the end of the ESE climb up the stream bed.

The readout suggests, combined with mapping, that the point is on or very close to the ridge top. We returned down the ridge top rather than risk a slide down the stream bed cutting back to the valley floor lower down. The ridge top was reasonably clear further down and I would recommend either this approach, rather than the stream bed we took, or follow the railway track up the Răstoliţa river valley and approach from this side of the ridge. Alternatively, it would be possible to take the footpath from Răstoliţa to Poiana Culmii above the point and walk down the ridge top.

A map of the Căliman range showing Răstoliţa and the places referred to above is available here with the confluence point situated somewhere to the right of the end of the river shown that doesn't have a track alongside it (clearly on old map!)

Good luck to all those who attempt this one!.. a machete might be handy!