Vârful Omu

Vârful Omu is the highest point of the Bucegi Mountains, usually given as 2,505 m; the survey marker next to the weather station is at 2,504.9 m, and the highest natural point, the top of a boulder, reaches 2,514 m. The boundaries of Dâmbovița, Prahova and Brașov counties meet on the summit. It is the sixth highest peak in Romania and lies inside Bucegi Natural Park. Omu is the main orographic knot of the massif: the two horseshoe-shaped ridges that enclose the upper Ialomița basin start here, with the Prahova escarpment to the east and the Bran escarpment to the west. Quaternary glaciers formed around the summit and carved radiating valleys, including Ialomița, Cerbului, Morarului, Mălăiești and Gaura. The rocks known as Pietrele de la Omu are among the park's geomorphological natural monuments. Cabana Omu and the Vârful Omu weather station stand on the summit. The first climate observations were made from 1927 by the hut keeper Ion Stănilă, and in 1937 the Meteorological Institute set up an office with three observers at the hut. The mean annual temperature measured here is -2.5 °C, and frost can occur in any month of the year. No lift reaches the summit; it can only be reached on marked mountain trails. Visiting Bucegi Natural Park requires a ticket issued by the park administration.