It’s the end of February and in the south of Macedonia there are the first signs of the spring, while the north is still in deep winter. That’s why we are still focused on the winter stories because it is a real paradise to climb a mountain while the sun shines; your feet are in the snow. What a perfect combination don’t you think?
Today we would like to tell you the story about Irina Dishovska, the girl who enjoys being active in the mountains. Irina is currently in Africa where last week she climbed Kilimanjaro. She describes herself as an adventurer, and for a long time she wanted to go winter camping on the mountains and this winter she decided to make her idea reality together with her friend Lazo Minovski, they went to Shara Mountain.
What is quite interesting is the fact that they chose one of the coldest days, when there was the cold winter wave on Shara that was announced a few weeks earlier.
The temperature was around -15 degrees (the daily temperature), and during the nights the temperature outside was below -20 degrees, but with the wind blowing over 100 km / h they felt as if it was -30 degrees while inside the tent the temperature was around -10 degrees.
Irina says that they were ready for the tour and the difficulties were expected but the equipment they wore was perfect for such conditions. Their equipment included an expedition tent, expedition boots, expedition gloves, expedition sleeping bags up to -50 degrees, expedition jackets, etc. so they didn’t have a problem with the low temperatures.
The feeling of camping in the mountains when it snows outside is wonderful and even though that there were a lot of wind blowing with a speed of 117 km / h, which lasted from 2 to 5 o’clock in the morning and it was impossible to sleep.
Whether the days are sunny or not, the feeling of waking up on a mountain gives you a positive energy because you have endured the night despite the strong wind. According to her, it is not a question of whether they will “endure” the night, but whether the camping will endure, and the chances that it won’t happen in such a wind were really huge.
And for the end Irina advises everyone who thinks about camping in winter conditions that they should be ready for both the best and worst weather conditions. The weather in the mountain is changing dramatically. Everyone should be maximally prepared and wear really good equipment. She noted that it must be an expedition equipment that is worn on winter camping. With good equipment the risk of something going wrong is minimized. And sure never forget to take your smile with you, says Irina.
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