Babiš Climbs Lysá Hora and Celebrates at the Summit

ANO leader Andrej Babiš, together with a group of allies, scaled the 1,324-metre peak of Lysá Hora in the Moravian-Silesian Region. The hike began near the Sepetná hotel above Ostravice and covered roughly six kilometres.

Before setting off, the Prime Minister mentioned he was wearing the same boots he'd worn last year, when he first conquered this peak. He also expressed surprise that Labour and Social Affairs Minister Marián Juchelka hadn't brought along the boots Babiš himself had once given him. "They're winter boots, but I've got them in the car," the minister explained.

According to Babiš, the route was chosen by Aleš Juchelka, though Juchelka countered that it was actually suggested by MP and mayor of Albrechtice in the Bruntál district, Jana Murová. Before starting out, the group posed for a photo together — at which point several vulgar shouts aimed at the Prime Minister rang out from a nearby hotel. Babiš, his colleagues, security detail and the rest of the group simply smiled it off.

The Climb and a Musical Finish

The group made its way up via the blue, green and finally red-marked trails, pausing twice along the way. During one stop, Babiš drank water and posed for photos with fans; during the other, he sat down briefly with Juchelka not far from the summit.

They reached the top to the sound of Starship's hit "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," which the winded Prime Minister played on his phone, even singing along to the chorus.

"I have to say, I probably trained too hard on my holiday. But I made it," Babiš declared at the summit. Sitting down on a bench, he admitted that his heart rate had climbed to around 160 beats per minute during the ascent. "I didn't measure mine, but we got up here pretty fast," Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček remarked, while Juchelka praised the Prime Minister: "Well done!"

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz