In the winter of 2024, I participated in EOSTH's winter school. EOSTH is the Greek Mountaineering Association of Thessaloniki, and "winter school" is informal for the yearly mountaineering school. I took part at the beginner's level.

I've seen a lot of snow where I grew up and used to go on trips to ski resorts almost every year when I was younger. Also, I often hike in the mountains and have completed some physically moderate to difficult ascents. That being said, I had no previous experience with mountaineering when I joined and my technical knowledge was limited.

The school is structured into two-day weekend lessons. You attend five lessons, and on each one, you engage in some theory and training on the first day, followed by a small summit. Then, on the second day, you climb the peak of the mountain while applying what you've learned so far in practice.

For the first lesson, we visited Mount Askio, near my hometown of Ptolemaida. During this introductory lesson, we learned about equipment, basic safety techniques, how to hike in the snow, and how to fall properly while trying to stop before reaching the base of the mountain.

On Saturday, we only did a short hike, and the next day we hiked to the peak. The weather was great on the first day; however, on Sunday we experienced strong winds and temperatures around -10°C. The hike to the summit is typically straightforward when conditions are good, but given the weather we encountered and most of us being out of shape, it became a challenge. I almost gave up about two-thirds of the way, but the trainer gave me some bull about the peak being "just around the corner, less than an hour away", which I believed, so I went through with it. We stayed at the local refuge cabin for the night, where we enjoyed a collective cook out.

During this weekend, we learned about essential rope knots. How to tie ourselves together in groups and hike when being in a group and how to prevent a member from sliding down the mountain if they fall. We summited three peaks on this mountain: Avgo on the first day and Mati (the summit) while passing through Trikorfo (the second highest) on our way there.

The weather was excellent, and we had a lot of fun. We also enjoyed a great time during our stay; one of the guys brought a tzouras (a type of Greek string instrument), and we played music together. Another member had written lyrics inspired by our first weekend, which we sang to the melody of a famous rebetiko song!

For our third lesson, we went to Falakro near Drama. We learned about temporary safeties and a technique called "manitari" (mushroom). This was my favourite lesson so far; it is remarkable how mountaineers have developed various methods and hacks to create temporary safeties while still being able to retrieve all materials afterward.

On ascent day, we hiked to Profitis Ilias peak. This was by far my favourite summit. The weather was gorgeous that day. The highlight was definitely exploring a snow hole about 200m below the summit — a sudden vertical drop into the mountain. We rappelled into it! At the bottom, there is a shelf with another hole that leads into a cave! Unfortunately, we could not enter because the entrance was frozen.

I had been eagerly anticipating this lesson. Although I had climbed Olympus before, I had never done so in snowy winter conditions and was excited to see how different the landscape would be. This weekend focused on navigation skills; it was fascinating! We learned how to use a compass and map, find azimuths, and perform triangulation to estimate our location. The next day we climbed Skolio, Olympus' third-highest peak. After Askio's first summit, this was physically the toughest climb.

For our final lesson, we traveled to Vardusia. We had been promised picturesque alpine views, and the mountain did not dissapoint! It was also the most technical of all summits. During our theoretical lesson this weekend, we learned about avalanche safety — how to estimate avalanche probability and what precautions to take. The summit was enjoyable and not overly tiring to reach; a huge plus was demolishing local sheep dishes before heading home after our weekend!

This experience was excellent! I learned a great deal about technical aspects of mountaineering. I enjoyed every moment of the lessons and pushed myself beyond my limits. I will surely continue with this sport; I'm looking forward to my next adventures!