An icy day!

After a few beautiful  sunny and chilly winter days that followed the snow fall of last weekend, I had big plans for today: first ski tour of the season! Unfortunately, on Friday afternoon it started to rain... This morning (Saturday) it was still raining. It was clear that the weather was too wet for ski touring. Moreover, a quick look on the webcams confirmed my fears that high in the mountains it was also raining as the air higher in the altitude was warmer than in the city.

In the city was raining, but the temperature was below 0C. So everything got covered in a thick layer of ice! The view from my balcony did not look too inviting.

Later, towards the noon the rain stopped so I quickly got equipped for trail running. The most important piece of the equipment were the running ice crampons! Out of the city, the forest road  was covered in a thick and and rock solid layer of ice! Without the crampons it would have been impossible to walk! The icy road lasted for about 5 km. Around 1000m altitude in Poiana Brasov it was already warmer, just above freezing so there were only a few icy patches on the route. At some point I could see the sun through the foggy air so I decided to go a bit higher than the planned route. I soon got above the sea of low clouds and almost immediately the temperature rose to about +7C! There were a few skiers. The slopes on the high part of the mountain looked quite good, but lower, the ski slope was interrupted in a few places.

A higher layer of clouds confirmed the weather report that more rain, and then snow is on the way. I snapped a few photos with my crappy phone camera and started to run downhill, back to the city. Below 1000m altitude the temperature was still below freezing. I chose a different route downhill, along the old Poiana Road. Here, half of the road width was covered in a thick layer of leaves so the ice was not solid like on the uphill route, meaning that I could run downhill with confidence.
Now, in the evening, as I write it, the rain that started again tries to turn into snow, a sign that colder air invaded the higher altitudes... so that first ski touring trip of the season might happen very soon!