Ill-prepared, without the necessary equipment, and alone, a 25-year-old Spanish national arrived at the “Spilios Agapitos” mountain refuge, located at an altitude of 2,100 meters on Mount Olympus. He has been missing since last Tuesday, and search operations for his whereabouts are actively ongoing.
The young man arrived at the refuge on Monday, where he spent the night, and the following morning set off on the route toward the Mytikas summit.
“The young man didn’t speak English well. Our communication was essentially done through gestures and Google Translate. When I saw him, I told him not to go up, because he was completely unsuitably dressed and didn’t even have the necessary equipment. Imagine, he wasn’t even wearing snow hiking boots, and instead of trekking poles, he had wooden sticks,” Maria Zolota, the owner of the refuge, told tanea.gr.
“A Couple Saw Him for the Last Time”
According to Ms. Zolota, after checking out and collecting his belongings, the young Spaniard reached the Skala summit and unfortunately continued toward the Mytikas peak. “It’s a demanding route. A couple coming back from Mytikas, experienced mountaineers, also pointed out to him that he shouldn’t continue given the specialized equipment he lacked. He didn’t listen to any of us. That couple was the last to see him, at around 11:00 in the morning on Tuesday.”
As the refuge owner explains, up to the Skala summit the route is a standard hiking trail. From there onward toward Mytikas, the path involves technical passages and light scrambling, which requires experience, appropriate knowledge, and definitely specialized gear.
“There is snow near the Mytikas summit, so the level of difficulty increases. There was no reason to continue, the mountain will still be there. But unfortunately he didn’t listen to us.”
Search Enters Its Third Day
The search operation to locate the young man is in full force, aided by improving weather conditions. Aerial assets may also be deployed to re-examine inaccessible areas from the air.
Today, teams are focusing on the northern and northwestern faces of the mountain, in the area between Kazania and Xerolaki, a particularly rugged zone with near-vertical terrain. Volunteer rescue workers are also taking part in the operation, with three drones playing a key role, systematically scanning the ridgelines and steep slopes of Olympus for any trace of the missing hiker.
It is worth noting that the young man’s parents alerted Greek authorities on Wednesday afternoon after losing all contact with him. They stated that their son had told them he intended to attempt the ascent to Mytikas, but from that point on there had been no sign of life.
