Climbing Golyama Straza Peak in Pirin

Golyama Straza Peak is 2799 m high and is the eighth highest peak in Pirin. It is part of the Ushitsite (Straza) ridge, located between the peaks of Polezhan and Kaymakchal. It is one of the most difficult peaks to climb in Pirin.

Our plan was to first climb Desilitsa Peak (2,713 m), then Kaymakchal Peak (2,754 m), and then tackle Golyama Straza. After that, we planned to take the Ushitsite ridge to Polezhan Peak (2,852 m).

No sooner said than done! On September 8, Lyubo Buchinski, Zhoro Nemchev, and I drove Lyubo's Subaru directly to the Bezbog hut. From there, we took the trail to the cirque, which is surrounded by the peaks of Bezbog, Polezhan, Strazhite, and Desilitsa. The trail to the cirque itself is cleared in the thicket and has sparse blue markings, but there is nowhere to stray in this thicket.

Once you reach the cirque, there are red arrows spray-painted on the trail to Desilitsa Peak. You can't get lost; the peak is above you, and you slowly and gloriously climb towards it. We reached Desilitsa Peak exactly two hours after the start of our hike.

After a short rest and a few photos, we set off for the next destination on our plan – Kaymakchal Peak. It is very close to Desilitsa, less than 30 minutes away, and the elevation gain is very small. There we took another short break to take some photos. I almost dropped my phone, it fell on the rocks and landed on its screen, and it almost fell into a deep hole between the rocks. It's a good thing it didn't fall in there, because I wouldn't have been able to get it out. In the end, it wasn't damaged by the fall, Motorola phones are sturdy.

After Kaymakchal, we continued to the meadow before tackling the ridge and the gully that would take us right under Golyama Straza. We couldn't pass right along the ridge, so we had to descend slightly on the western side. There was something like a formed path and stacked stone pyramids for orientation.

Having already reached the gully below the peak, we quickly advanced upward and came out on a ridge between Golyama and Malkata Straza. We debated a little whether to climb straight up. There used to be a rope in that section, but now it was gone and it was a little risky to climb from there. So we descended about 50 meters down the gully on the other side to a place that was good for rappelling.

So we did that, climbed up, there was a 3-4 meter easy climb, and then we came out on the eastern slope of the peak. Some people climb directly up this eastern slope from the cirque because it is easier and safer. From there to the peak, we had very little climbing left. We took a longer break at the big guard post to eat, and it was lunchtime anyway.

We descended from the same place. Descending is generally more difficult than climbing, but with increased attention and watching where we stepped, we descended without any problems. After that, only Lyubo went to Malka Straza, as Zhoro and I were feeling lazy.

We took the Ushitsa peak in one go, at a fast pace and without breaks, because the weather was looking like it was going to turn bad and rain. Below Polezhan, Lyube left us again and headed quickly towards Malak Polezhan, while we took a leisurely pace to Polezhan. There was no way we could not take a photo lying down there.

The last part of the route was painfully familiar and unpleasant – the descent from Polezhan and then along one of the most traveled paths in the area to the Bezbog hut. We arrived at Bai Slave's tavern, located right next to the lake, at around 3 p.m., the entire trip taking us about 7 hours. And the weather really turned bad, with thunder and rain. But we were drinking beer in the dry.

Then we loaded up the car and stopped at the restaurant at the fish farm below the Goce Delchev hut, where they make a unique fish soup. We had another beer there before heading back to Blagoevgrad.