This is a hiking trip report from Mount Xerovouni on Evia Island. If you are looking for inspiration and information for planning your hiking adventures throughout Greece, check out this resources page.
Mount Xerovouni is known as the second-highest mountain on the island of Evia: the second largest of the Greek islands. Its highest peak is called Portaris and reaches 1,453 meters of elevation. It is part of the Dirfys Mountain Range which spans the central part of the island and is located right opposite the main Dirfys summit. To the south, it neighbors Mount Olympus of Evia.
Mount Xerovouni is a particularly impressive mountain, owing to its northern dramatic, nearly vertical cliff face. Its southern side is fairly smooth and there is a number of easy hiking routes ascending the mountain from there. However, it still then is pretty hard to reach the mountain’s northern, most impressive side over the especially-rough plateau.
The mountain is usually climbed from its northern side. There are several routes but most of them, including the one to Portaris Peak, require a certain degree of climbing skills.
For this trip, after I was asked by my Russian friend Oksana to plan a trip for her there, we chose one of the easiest routes. That one ascends to the plateau by the western edge of the cliff.
We drove out from Athens at around dawn, and about two hours later, early mellow sunlight diffusing the forests of central Evia, we’d reached the trailhead. That is located along the road from Steni to Chiliadou Beach, right on the col between the two mountains, some 100 meters after the road to Dirfys refuge, at 38.5987/23.8693.
The entire route is fairly well signed. The first part of it runs through a fir and chestnut forest, complemented by the pleasant scents of various Mediterranean herbs. The impressive cliff of Xerovouni soon appears ahead, as the trail exits the forest and drifts along a grassy plateau. A big, tooth-reminding rock hints at the point the ascent over the cliff begins. We go up a meandering trail over steep scree and we soon stand below the cliff face.
Red signs lead the way to the easiest approach towards the top. Ropes are in no way required to complete the ascent. Although hands need to be used at a couple of tricky parts and ample care should be taken. Nothing extremely dangerous overall, however.
We soon enough completed the ascent and found ourselves standing at the rim of the dramatic precipice, marveling at the epical views towards the two seas defining the island and the surrounding mountaintops. The quiet was profound and satisfying and offered an ideal environment for an enjoyable brunch…
We once again carefully got to descent the cliff and took the same way back for the car. I have concluded there must be some connection between me going to the mountains and the weather acting unpredictably. I had checked the forecast on the very morning to only be led to expect a normal Greek summer day. Nevertheless, upon reaching back to the foot of the cliff, a violent (to the point of pain caused by the whipping shower being more of a concern than getting wet) storm broke out and accompanied us all the way to the car.
It was a strictly local rain. Even the neighboring Dirfys summit was adorned by sunlight, we found out as we drove away. By the time we made it back to the coast, we were dry and about to get wet again, having a dip in the sea this time.
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