We attempted to hike to Musala yesterday. We underestimated the time and effort for it and not only couldn’t reach the top but also got crushed and had bad sunburns.

The gondola to Yastrebets starts working at 8:30, which is when the journey should’ve started. Works until 18, which is when it should’ve ended. However, this is too much walking for a 6-year-old and his parents who are not in the best shape.

We set ourselves a time limit and turned around after 3h of walking, at around 2600 meters altitude, close to the Everest chalet. We needed another hour and some extra energy to reach the top. I think it’s doable with more stops and colder weather. We ended up doing 23000 steps on that day. Another 2 hours of walking would’ve made that 33000, way above anything we’ve done over the last 10 years.

It’s not that bad that we didn’t reach the summit because we only had one of the kids with us. Saved ourselves from the trouble of not having both of them. We may try again on a colder weekend, although with our current capabilities, the success is not guaranteed.