Mount Olympus · Where the Gods Live, No One Climbs

Mount Olympus is the highest peak in Greece, its summit under cloud for much of the year. The ancient Greeks believed the twelve chief gods lived on top, and that a mortal who walked in would be stopped.

So in antiquity almost no one reached the summit of this “mountain of the gods”. The first recorded ascent came only in the early twentieth century; paths and mountain refuges were built afterwards.

Climbers say what really halts you is not the height but the speed at which cloud rises out of the valley. Locals say: if you want to go up, you have to beat the cloud.

Folklore / Olympus · Greece / Time immemorial