Petros and Hoverla

If you are traveling by train. Group gathering at the Ivano-Frankivsk railway station, meeting the instructor, moving to Lazeshchyna by regular bus or chartered minibus (depending on the size of the group). From Lazeshchyna to our shelter it is 8 kilometers along a dirt road. You can cover this distance on foot (3 hours) or hire an UAZ to get to your overnight stay faster.

If you are by car. You can meet the instructor in Ivano-Frankivsk or pick him up in Lazeshchyna (no later than 2 hours before sunset). The dirt road leading to the shelter is quite broken, but if you are careful you can try to overcome it even in an ordinary car. As a last resort, you can run to the village for a tow :) Or you can initially leave the car in the parking lot in Lazeshchyna and hire a truck to drop things off at the shelter.

Accommodation conditions. Kozmeschik Shelter is about a dozen buildings belonging to different owners and with different levels of comfort. Based on your wishes, the instructor will book one of the houses in advance. Prices range from 50 to 100 hryvnia per person per night. The basic option involves just wooden bunks in a large common room; to spend the night here you will need your own sleeping bag and rug, and a shower for an additional fee. In more advanced huts you will be offered 3-4 bed rooms, a bed with a bed and a shower included in the price, and a toilet on the floor. In any case, there is a kitchen with a gas stove, stove, and you can order a sauna (from 30 hryvnia per person). Electricity in Kozmeschik is turned on only in the evening, after sunset (diesel generator). Sometimes you can order food here in a small kolyba restaurant, but most often we cook ourselves (the process is led by an instructor).

From the shelter Kozmeschik to Petros is only 6 kilometers in a straight line. However, the journey to the top and back will take the whole day. Therefore, we start as early as possible. But first, of course, breakfast :) In the radial boat we take with us a raincoat, a flashlight, a lunch snack, a water bottle, a jacket and a hat in case it gets cold.

Most of the way we walk along a dirt road that smoothly climbs the mountain through a coniferous forest in the Loshchina and Greblya tracts. Then we will pass just below the Golovchesk meadow and eventually find ourselves on the so-called “crossing point” (height 1550 m). The jumper is a mountain range connecting Petros and Hoverla. Here we will rest a little and begin our assault on the summit. There is still about 500 meters of altitude left to gain, and this time it will not be a gentle climb along the road, but a steep mountain path. If the weather permits, we will have lunch on the top of Petros. We take pictures and try to post them online (the mobile Internet is unstable).

We descend to the Kozmeschik turpiut along the same route as we ascended. Your legs will hurt tomorrow :)

Again a long day and an early rise - in the morning in the mountains there is a better chance of catching good weather. But you don’t want to climb Hoverla and find yourself in the pitch darkness of a cloud covering the mountain?

Just like yesterday, at first we walk through a dense forest. Then, after the Gropa valley, more open spaces begin; we walk along the ridge - this is one of the spurs of Goverla. Moving along this ridge, we go around the Kotel tract and find ourselves at the opposite end of the already familiar jumper. Here, from a small shelter house (height 1828 m), the final stage of the climb begins. Along a steep rocky slope lined with hundreds of paths we climb to the top of Goverla. We arrange a photo shoot, have lunch, relax and watch less efficient tourists crawling from below :)

We return to Kozmeschik in our footsteps. In the evening, if we have the strength, we will celebrate the successful ascent.

After breakfast, we say goodbye to the hospitable shelter of Kozmeschik and return to Lazeshchyna. Like last time, we have a choice - to walk these 8 km or order transport to the highway. From Lazeshchyna we go to Ivano-Frankivsk (about 4 hours). The hike is over.

Route option for 3 days

If you are very limited in time, and there is little snow in the mountains, good weather and long daylight hours, then you can try to have time to visit both Petros and Hoverle in one day, running along the Jumper connecting them. This is as much as 27 kilometers horizontally and 1800 meters of elevation gain - a very difficult task that requires at least 15 hours to complete. Therefore, you will have to start very early (leave at 7) and return after dark. Usually we try to avoid such overloads and that is why the main route is scheduled for 4 days, and organizing an intensive option is possible only on request.