“In January of 2014 I and two climber friends, Mihalis Styllas and Thoas Thomides set out to do the Kopsi tou Profiti Ilia route during the winter. It was a route that few had attempted and I happily accepted the invitation as it would be my first chance to be on such a remote and wild part of the mountain.

Everything was going as hoped until the second day when, shortly before nightfall, we realized that we had strayed from the route. Night found us at a location barely big enough for the small tent we had brought with us. The next morning we tried to keep going but that proved impossible from where we had wound up. Turning back was the only – and quite painful – option.

Many tiring hours later we ended up in a local taverna for a well-deserved hearty meal and the opportunity to warm ourselves. Listening to my two companions as they went over the events of the previous days, I realized that the wisdom to take the right decisions during difficult moments is one of the things the mountain teaches you. That and patience and respect. Even though our eyes were continually drawn upwards, turning back was the correct choice. In any event, the mountain would always be there waiting for us.”

Babis Giritziotis can talk about Mount Olympus for hours. A font of knowledge about Greece’s tallest mountain, he’ll enthusiastically propose routes depending on your skill level, whip up your excitement and puncture what he sees as the myths surrounding the fabled home of the Greek gods.

“It is a misunderstood mountain. It is much more accessible than most people think,” he says.

“Speaking as a photographer, my favorite seasons on Olympus are spring and winter, because that is when the images are the most intense. Winter is particularly attractive to me: the mountain changes and offers more variety in terms of images. You can play around with it in a very special way. I always go up the mountain when the bad weather subsides in order to have a clear sky although the conditions I will encounter are always unpredictable. Often, due to the microclimate, the humidity and heavy clouds cause problems for the project as the ideal is to have a clear view of the horizon. In those cases I either need to wait or just descend again to return another day.

Patience and respect are anyway the alpha and the omega at high altitudes. You don’t go to conquer the place, but to see beautiful things and have a nice time, feeling safe. In order to achieve that you need to know when to stop and turn back.”

At the project’s site, visitors can already take a digital tour of many of Olympus’s peaks and read more about Giriziotis’s experiences climbing and photographing the mountain. A key goal is to shine a light on Olympus’s lesser-known aspects and hopefully inspire others to discover the mountain of the gods.

“Just as a mountain is not just its peak, so too Olympus is not just Mytikas,” he says referring to Olympus’s tallest point. You will see everyone from amateur climbers walking with simple hiking boots to top-level rock climbers deftly climbing a cliff-face. At the Plateau of the Muses you will see 75-year-olds walking uphill with less difficulty than others much younger than them.”

“The main paths are very well marked, and now thanks to the mountain running competitions new routes have been signposted at lower altitudes. There are however spots that I don’t know at all, whether because they are very hard to get to, or just because I haven’t made it there yet. No matter how many years one spends climbing Olympus, there will always be new places to discover…”