UKC

Hi
I have a week - long trip booked to the Fagaras Mountains via a flight to Sibiu in October and just wondered if anyone has been to the area before and could offer advice on a few points, namely:

What sort of temperatures will I be looking at for early October? Will they have had the first snows by then or will it be later in the year?

2 things I am concerned about - bears and thieves (from anecdotal evidence). I'm planning to wild camp most nights, how prevalent are the above?

Any recommendations for ascents/must-see's?

I'm not managing to dig up much online at present so any info would be greatly appreciated!

In reply to Philo22:

Not sure this will be much help but was in Sibiu Sept 2010 and traveled over the Trans... highway which cuts the Fagaras mountains + spent some time in the villages between there and Sibiu.

From memory at the top of the highway (highest we got) it wasn't particularly cold (think late autumn in Scotland) but there were some strong winds & the wind chill was marked. They also seemed to be taking the sheep off the higher ground so I'd guess that late sept & oct are the time of the first snows on the higher ground.

Never had any trouble with thieves despite going to some odd places and being sitting targets (with toddler + pregnant wife)

In reply to Philo22:

In my experience it always rains - but I was only there for a half day on a visit from Sibiu. What I saw between the clouds looked interesting, the only 'wild life' I saw was a wolfskin nailed to a café wall.

In reply to Philo22:

I spent 2 weeks in Romania by myself a couple of years ago. Im not sure what the weather will be like in October- in august it was hot. I did a backpacking trip in the fagaras mountains, in the moldevenau area. I had no encounters with bears though I scared myself thnking about Dracula while I was in my bivi tent and there was no one else around. as for the people- apart from 1 taxi driver who tried to charge me 150 euro for a short ride and when I refused he dumped me in the middle of nowhere- I found them to be really nice people. they speak good English and are really helpful and friendly. they would look out for me, making sure I got off trains at the right place, helping me buy tickets etc. Moldevenau is a great mountain so if you are in that area that's a good one to do. Wild camping you will be fine im sure. are you going by yourself? I was very nervous before I went because Romania and Romanians get bad press sometimes but I came home with very positive feelings about the people and the country. try to get the map before you go so you can plan your trip.

In reply to Philo22:

I spent 3 days in July in Fagaras. We drove from Bucharest airport to Balea Lake which is right in the middle of the mountains. From there we hiked to Podragu hut, and hiked up Moldoveanu the next day. The hut was very basic, and rather dirty. I didn't like the food there. It did rain quite a bit but not sure how relevant that is with regards to your planned trip in October. The rock looked chossy, so I'm not sure about rock climbing potential, but it's meant to be a great winter climbing destination. It wasn't crowded at all in the peak of the summer, and I'm sure in the winter the solitude is almost perfect.
Any more questions, shoot me an email please.

In reply to Doug:
Expect rain, wind, snow as worst, beatuful autumn sunshine as best. You can be sure in sub zero nights. Watch out forecast, Fagaras can be surprizingly cruel. Fog could be also dangerous, easy to lost. Go in five or six person group and talk aloud in the forest foothills against the bears. Against sheperd dogs form a hedgehog stance with walking poles and shout for the sheperds. Sheperds be happy if you can treat them with some cigarettes, bring some even if you do not smoke. Thiefs are occasinally a real problem. Keep everthing behind the same ziplock where you sleep, mostly your boots!
Best section is between Lake Avrig and Peak Moldoveanu. From Sibiu to reach the main ridge requets a whole day. Try to catch a taxi to the last villiges but will have a half day trek from there.
At the end, it is one of the best one week long ridge trek in Europe.

In reply to redsonja:

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Yes I will be going by myself - trying to do it on a very tight budget so cheap flights and walking everywhere else!
The main things that concern me are the bears and encounters with thieves or similar people but I'm hoping that I will be sufficiently remote to avoid at least the latter of these.

I have a map on order and will be making a basic tick list for the week but if anyone has any recomendations of decent or challenging peaks/things to do in the area then this would be very welcome as I'm not turning up much online and don't want to waste my week! (Thanks for the tip on Moldevenau).

In reply to Philo22:

hope you have a great time. Romania is quite cheap and, as I said, people are generally friendly and helpful. in the mountains I don't think you will have much bother. at one of my wild camps this huge white dog appeared from nowhere. I was quite scared but it just laid down next to my tent. it was still there in the morning! I gave it some porridge and when I started to pack up my tent it just trotted away. im sure it was guarding me! I started the 3 days hike up moldevenau from a place called Victoria, to the south. it was easy to get to by train, though its in the middle of nowhere. the train station is about 9km from the start of the mountain trail and I was just going to walk along the road but an old guy offered me a lift to the start. its a great country and the mountains are amazing

In reply to redsonja:

Thanks, really looking forward to it. A mate of mine has been and said that once you are out of the cities it is like going back in time! Heard some really good things about the place and people as well as well as about the amazing scenery.

In reply to redsonja:
Shepherd dogs know their task and have a right understanding when or not they are in service or in charge. They are friendly in general, but they will guard the flock in absent of the shepherds. Be sure if you approch a flock to know the situation.

In reply to redsonja:

Could anyone recommend a decent map to use? I can only find a very basic one on amazon at present and the reviews say it misses out the far east and west sections of the range.

In reply to Philo22:

I got the map from stanfords mail order and its called fagaras mountains

In reply to redsonja:

Ta, ordered from the same place