Our home for a few days, tiny Greek mountain village of Samarina. In the winter less than 300 people live here — and that’s with a nearby mechanized ski area.
The plan: attend a three day Dynafit press event in Greece, then stay on for about a week more and explore ski touring possibilities with the help of the locals. We’ll begin our journey in the second largest Greek city, Thessaloniki, and finish in Athens.
You’ve been on passenger jets and layovers for 24 hours straight, then you finally see the sign. You’re in Greece!
Greece, a bunch of beaches and farms, with some rock climbing thrown in, right? Actually, the “birthplace of Western civilization” is chockablock full of mountains. Snow comes in winter, creating a cornucopia of uncroweded and nicely varied ski touring options. No crowds, affordable prices — beaching on the med is always an option if all else fails.
The Greek countryside is beautiful, and relatively uninhabited (especially by European standards). Our first day, we drove a few hours from the city of Thessaloniki into a mountain area that was sparsely vegetated and quite hilly, with small attractive villages visible from the road.
Greece (and all of Europe) has had a tough start to the season. However, we started to see some snow as we drove higher into the Greek mountains.
Our home for a few days. In the tiny Greek mountain town of Samarina. With two restaurants downstairs, It’s hard to beat.
A delicious Greek dinner of wild boar, potatoes, and feta cheese made into a sort of tomato paste fondu. I seem to remember we also had soup that translated to ‘big old female goat soup.’ Humor aside, if you enjoy farm and countryside to table dining, this place does not disappoint.
There’s a bit of snow, at least. We got this photo just before a 30 hour storm that dropped an impressive load of rain (lower elevations) and snow.
This medium sized mountain forms part of a funky cool ski resort just above town. Tree skiing all over the place, as well as an astounding amount of alpine terrain we’ll be exploring on nearby Somolikas Peak (2,637 meters).
Meat, meat, and more meat.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.
