"Mount Taygetos is a spectacular rock mountain comprising five peaks, the highest of which is an impressive pyramid, with an old stone chapel on top dedicated to the prophet Elija, hence the peaks name "Profitis Ilias". There is an annual pilgrimage on the 20th July to the top. It is very popular to sleep on the summit and to watch the sunrise with its magnificent pyramidal shadow. Perhaps the ancient greeks believed this was the chariot of Helios. When we climbed Mount Taygetos (Profitis Ilias peak) we had no intention of bivouacking on the top and opted for a light and fast day hike from Taygetos Mountain refuge(1550m) run by the local mountaineering club of Sparta. The refuge can be accessed by car on a rather rough and rocky dirt road. Some consider this cheating, and by doing this we missed by far the prettiest part of the route which climbs up steeply through beautiful pine forests from the Manganiari Springs 500m lower down. From the hut it took us just two and a half hours of steady walking to reach the top. The path is very rocky and it demands good footwork as well as study footwear! It is very well marked with red paint and even signposts. From the hut it climbs steadily..." — chrispatient • May 27, 2024

"Was a walking group trip to Pachnes via the standard path from Roussies after drop by pick up and then walked out cutting across Zaranokefla and following the mule track under the peak towards Agios Ioannis to be collected to pick up. " — WayneB • May 20, 2024

"What a great day. After foggy tuesday got rewarded with nice weather. Apparently I did not take any pictures on Mytikas which is a shame. This route up was much more fun than the normal route to Mytikas via Spilios Agapitos." — LadislavT • Jul 7, 2023

"At Skala I could not see this mountain as it was hidden in cloud. To be honest I was a little disorientated and didn't properly check my bearings. Rather I set off after checking the way with another climber and misinterpreting his directions, I ended up heading straight down the gully to the east rather than turning north almost immediately. I was about 100m down before I fully realised my mistake. It could have been more costly than the calories and pride spent, because the rock was very loose. After finally establishing the mistake I'd made, I made my way back up, and on to the right path which was well marked. What hadn't been well marked was the turn off from the gully, and the advice of "straight down" was taken too literally. The other mistake I had made was not really researching this top and its difficulties. I had planned to go up the next day but as the weather was turning, I did it earlier and didn't do any real preparation. It is described as a class 3 scramble and to be honest I'd have preferred to have been roped up, but as it stood I continued. The first part is a steep descent though on quite solid rock, and one with natural steps, a recurring feature on this clim..." — vygodski • Jul 4, 2023

"After a gruelling climb from the east up Platyvouna, was pleased to arrive at the bottom of this and have just 350m elevation to do, but it was pretty gruelling all the same. Saw some pretty yellow butterflies with back edges to the wings, forget-me-nots and several small violet and purple species of flowers, that when I could wipe the sweat from my eyes. The summit has a small shelter, and far-reaching views although that goes almost with out saying. The promised rain turned out to be a drop or two, but the occasional very cool breeze was enough to show what the weather could do in the blink of an eye. On the descent down a well-marked path (a mixture of older red splodges and newer orange ones, the latter an unfortunate choice given the orange colour of the lichen here) saw a chamois which seemed a little curious in us, though kept a fair distance. Descended northwards down a fairly gradual path, past an empty lake, a little down a gorge then keeping above it, until a 100 m zig-zag where we refound the dirt track. Left my companion to rest whilst I trekked back up it to the east to retrieve the car. " — vygodski • Jun 28, 2023