Vardousia - Pyramida

Pyramida (2348m), along with Plaka, make up a beautiful and continuous formation in West Vardousia, south of Gidovouni and east of Psilo, which is characterized by its sharp ridge and is usually referred to as Plaka - Pyramida. Pyramida was the first peak which was rock climbed by an entirely Greek party in 1936. Today, Pyramida remains popular, due in part to the adventurous feel and low difficulty of the normal route (“North ridge”), which requires rappelling during the descent.

Pyramida offers both rock and mixed climbing routes, on the east and west face as well as its ridges. The rock-climbing routes are of purely alpine character and include scrambling and rappelling, with difficulties from III up to V and a height between 100m and 200m. The few mixed climbing routes are of broad difficulty, 40° - 50° and M1 - M3+ with a length of 200m to 740m. The majority of the routes have an east orientation and are exposed to the snowy slopes of Plaka during the winter and the sun during the summer.

Access

To climb on Pyramida the most appropriate point of access is the village of Agios Athanasios, to the east, with the approach being made possible by the dirt road for the mountain huts (E4), continuing after the Stavros location towards Skasmeni Strougka.

The base of the routes of the east face is Skasmeni Strougka, above which rises the Plaka - Pyramida - Gidovouni cirque. This place is the best campsite, since it offers water springs.

For the routes of the west face, access is achieved from Koufolaka, which can be reached via the E4 trail or dirt road from Artotina. Koufolaka is the best campsite, since it offers a water spring.

Climbing history

Like many alpinists up until today, K. Natsis, K. Alexopoulos, G. Petrocheilos and A. Petrocheilou acquainted themselves with roped climbing on the beautiful ridge of Plaka - Pyramida, completing the first fully Greek climbing expedition and first ever traverse of the peaks in 1936. Pyramida returned to the forefront during the post-war period with numerous new routes by legends of that era. In 1963 M. Zerf, F. Galinos, A. Zanger and K. Toumpanakis completed the last natural line - from the east - of the time, the “South ridge” (III, 200m).

In 1970, G. Michalidis with the contribution of A. Demestichas, A. Sakalis and O. Paraskevas established two new routes on the until then unclimbed west headwall, of difficulties up to D and a height of 350m, significantly longer than anything on the east face. The following 15 years saw the development of new routes in both aspects without any new difficulties (up to III+). However, the completion of the variation “Feathers and down” (V, 100m) by D. Korres - M. Montesanto showcased that Pyramida could offer harder rock-climbing routes.

In 2017, A. Konstantinidis - F. Dimopoulos, climbed the first new route on the west face after nearly 40 years, with “Konstantinidi - Dimopoulou” (60° Μ3+, 740m) now being the longest route on Pyramida.