Mountains are fraught with potential danger. This is especially true in the highlands. Hiking is definitely necessary. It is a great blessing from God that we have the Carpathians, but we should never joke with the mountains and treat them with arrogance. When they take offense, they become angry, unfriendly, and dangerous.
The greatest danger is in the highlands, i.e. the area located above the forest zone (1350-1500 meters above sea level). Here there is always a danger of getting caught in a thunderstorm under a hurricane wind of up to 40-45 m/sec, often with snow grit or wet snow in the middle of summer (Hutsuls call this phenomenon "sharga"). It is here that it is very easy to get lost and go out on steep slopes in conditions of limited visibility. Almost everywhere above the forest zone in the Carpathians, thickets of mountain pine, which botanists call mugo pine, Poles call kosojevina, and Hutsuls call zherep, stretch for many tens of kilometers. Especially vast areas are occupied by the zherep in the Gorgan Mountains. A mountain pine can exhaust an inexperienced tourist to death and hide his body in its thickets for many years. Stone placers are no less dangerous in the highlands. They become slippery and treacherous in rainy weather. It is as easy to break or dislocate a leg in them with a heavy backpack on your shoulders as it is to lose your bearings in this realm of mossy stones.
Be especially careful during prolonged rains. Such periods are typical for the entire summer and autumn period. Creeks and streams swell so that having crossed an inconspicuous mountain stream on the route before the rain, you will meet a mountain raging stream with roaring stones and dirty, unpleasant brown water mass when returning back during or after the rain. It is not always possible to cross it.
To make your hiking trip a pleasure, remember these 16 rules of behavior in the mountains:
- Do not go to the mountains alone. It is very dangerous. Sometimes the chance of surviving alone in the mountains is 50-50. This is the most important rule, the violation of which annually ends the lives of young people in the Carpathians.
- Before you go to the mountains with your friends, make sure that none of your companions have problems with blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes. In any case, have a first aid kit with the most necessary medicines.
- If you have never been to the mountains and cannot join experienced tourists, book a professional guide who will not only safely guide you along the most interesting trails, but also tell you about everything you encounter on your way.
- If you take children, especially strangers, to the mountains, remember your responsibility to their parents, to your conscience, and to God.
- Do not combine picnics, barbecues, or drinking alcohol with the mountainous area. It is better to do it in the open air in a picturesque area not far from civilization. The peaks are accessible only to sober people.
- When going to the Carpathians, plan a route that is less saturated with highlands at first. Choose it according to your level of experience and your hiking equipment. Don't try to go around and see everything at once. You have your whole life ahead of you.
- Don't spare a few tens of hryvnias to buy a compass and topographic maps at a scale of 1:50,000.
- Find out what the weather forecast is for a particular area before you start your hike.
- Walk along tourist trails, do not look for a meeting with a bear in the wilds, especially when she is with cubs, and avoid meeting a wild boar. It is almost impossible to meet a wolf or lynx in the mountains in summer. Do not try to go where tourists rarely set foot. There is a risk of getting caught in a trap or snares forgotten by poachers.
- Never try to walk through the thickets of gorse without a clear path and do not go more than 5-10 meters deep into them.
- On mountain trails, look carefully at your feet, especially after rain, so as not to step on the tail of a viper, which is abundant in the Carpathians, even in the highlands. Remember that the most dangerous species is the so-called red snake (esculapus), while black and gray snakes are less venomous.
- If the weather is bad, go down, not up. If you feel a thunderstorm approaching, run as fast as you can to a valley away from metal objects, which are numerous in the mountains.
- Do not be tempted by the opportunity to ride on snowballs, which often remain in Montenegro until the end of summer, take pictures on snow cornices and walk on snow bridges that form below waterfalls.
- Do not climb rocks and boulders without a safety net (Spikes, Pysanyi Kamin, Smotrych, Vuhaty Kamin, Dovbush Rocks, etc.).
- Do not spend the night high in the mountains (on the peaks, in the upper circuses), where it is difficult to get down in case of emergency.
- Make a note of the contact numbers of mountain search and rescue units in the area where you are going to travel. Feel free to write down the home phone numbers of their commanders as well. In case of an emergency, even a night call to the commander of the mountain rescue unit will not be inconvenient.
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