Gods smile on Olympus hiker
A British climber who had gone missing while scaling Mount Olympus in central Greece, prompting a large-scale rescue operation, turned up safe and sound yesterday after enduring a night on the mountain in freezing temperatures. Alexander McDonald, 24, from Liverpool, returned to his hotel in the village of Litohoro, at the foot of the mountain, yesterday afternoon. The hiker had left the hotel on Tuesday morning, taking a taxi to Prionia, at an altitude of 1,100 meters, to go on a 10-kilometer walk. After McDonald failed to return to the hotel the same evening, staff informed authorities and a rescue operation involving dozens of police officers, firefighters and volunteers swung into action. McDonald said he climbed to 2,600 meters but slipped on his way down and lost his mobile phone. He spent the night in a tent at 2,000 meters without the appropriate clothing and continued his descent yesterday morning, officers said. McDonald said that he saw his experience as «a challenge.»
