My first hike in the mountains. Part Two

Hi friends! Today I continue the story of my first hike in the mountains. This hike turned out to be very difficult for me, but, paradoxically, it sounds, after that I fell in love with the mountains.

So, after an hour's halt (it was so long because the climb was difficult even for experienced travelers), we set off on the ridge in the direction of Mount Pip Ivan Chornohirsky. Going along the ridge was much easier than climbing uphill. I also noticed that there is much more snow here, almost under the clouds, than below. When we started the climb it was almost summer, everything was green and the weather was pretty hot. As we climbed higher, more and more snow began to appear. And there was a lot of snow on the mountain ridge, it was already a real winter. However, the spring indicated only with the dirty gray cellular snow and many snowdrops that bloomed in large quantities on snow-free lands.

When we approached Pip Ivan Mountain, it was difficult to go up again, because the ascent began again, and in addition I was well tired at the end of the day. Therefore, it was not too difficult for me to overcome, but I managed and came to the mountain not even the last.

Then I first saw the dilapidated Observatory on the top of Mount Pip Ivan, called the White Elephant. Now it has been partially restored and there is a meteorological station and a rescue post, but then, over ten years ago, it was a complete ruin. This observatory was built just before the outbreak of World War II, it's a reason with which it did not last long.

Build began in the summer of 1936. The observatory was built mainly with the use of local building material - sandstone, which made construction cheaper and easier. The workforce was also made up mainly of local villagers. The stone was brought up the mountain by horses or carried in their hands, on their backs. Other construction materials and equipment were also transported by rail to the nearest Vorokhta station (70 km from the construction site). It took a lot of effort to transport 33 chest of drawers with cupola elements and other details to the top of Mount Pip-Ivan. The largest of them weighed 950 kg.

The walls of the observatory, constructed in the style of constructivism, are made of sandstone and reach 1.5 m thick at the level of the basement floor and 1 m at the level of the upper floors. Its gable roof was covered with copper sheets. On the south side is a rotunda, where the telescope was placed. The grand opening of the observatory on July 29, 1938. After the outbreak of World War II, observatory workers evacuated the most valuable equipment to the Budapest Astronomical Observatory, then to Vienna, from where they returned to Poland after the war ended (then Western Ukraine was part of Poland). The buildimg itself was abandoned and locals stole everything of some value, including copper sheets from the dome and roof of the observatory. From them they made large vats in which they cook cheese on the surrounding meadows.

After a bit of rest and taking plenty of pictures, we went downstairs and camped for night on a mountainside. We did not stay overnight at the top of the mountain because there was no fuel or drinking water. However, I will tell you about the night and the next morning, my friends, in the next post.

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