The Făgăraș mountains are the highest mountains of the Southern Carpathians, in Romania. You'll find more than a dozen peaks over 2500 m. Although I went trekking there just three times, I must have spent about one month in these gorgeous mountains. Never ventured to visit them in winter yet since they are quite avalanche prone but I might consider going in the future if I catch a nice weather window.
This set is from my first visit to the Făgăraș mountains, Romania's smaller, but wilder version of the Alps. I went there with a couple of friends and went up from Avrig where the train dropped us off, to Cabana Bărcaciu (hut) at 1550 m. It was a long 5 hour-ish hike on a steep forest trail during the first night from Poiana Neamțului where our rented ride from Avrig dropped us off. We camped outside the hut and got something to eat there. It is a really lovely place and the old guy that kept it was quite a character too. I hope he's still around doing his thing.
We went up to Avrig Lake at 2011 m the second day to acclimatize. Actually the top image is from when we reached the ridge and headed towards the lake which was covered in fog at that time. We returned to the hut, ate something and left for Cabana Negoiu which was about a 3 hour hike away. After spending the night camped outside the hut on their camping spots we headed up towards Negoiu peak. It took us quite a few hours to get up the 2535 m peak and the terrain was challenging. Often climbing on wet rocks holding on to metal chains with potential long drops. We then spent the night camped outside in one of the tent spots next to the emergency shelter next to the glacial Lake Călțun, below the peak.
The final day of that trip lead us to another glacial lake, just a few hours hiking away, called Bâlea Lake at 2,034 m at the top of the rather famous Transfăgărășan alpine highway that crosses the Făgărăș mountains. Here, we treated ourselves and our blistered feet by spending the night at the very nice Cabana Bâlea Lac by the side of the lake. We then hitched a ride down to Cârţa to catch a train to Brașov the next morning. I do regret not taking more and better pictures at that time but I also plan on correcting this mistake the next time I get to revisit these mountains.
These images (including the top one) were taken with a Canon PowerShot A510 compact I was using at the time.
The view back towards Cabana Negoiu as we were going up towards Negoiu peak.
Lake Călțun, next to where we camped for our third night.
This was on the way from Lake Călțun to Bâlea Lake.
Bâlea Lake with the Transfăgărășan alpine highway.
The shadow of a cloud to wrap it all up.