Page 34 - AMA Summer 2023

MISCARTICLE
of adventure and romance that can be hard to come by in everyday life. Mount Triglav proved to be no different.
Standing at 2863m, Mt Triglav is the highest peak in the small Balkan nation of Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps. It is a symbol of this tiny nation and even features on their flag. Don’t allow this fact to fool you into believing that the Slovenes are a nation of mountaineers. With the exception of our guide, we failed to meet a single local who had ever made the ascent, “its just a mountain” the locals in near perfect English would say to us. We hoped this would mean we would have the mountain to ourselves. We were right.
It is worth noting that climbing Triglav in early April is a winter ascent. This meant the mountain was quiet, and walking
poles, ice axes and crampons were used throughout the whole climb. We flew into Ljubljiana Airport and caught a 45-minute taxi to Lake Bled, which would serve as our base for the next few days. We were picked up in the early hours by our local guide Uros Grilj, the man we would put our faith in to get us to the top. Uros speaks perfect English and Is IFMGA certified with a wealth of experience climbing in the Alps and Japan. If you are looking to climb in Slovenia or a surrounding country, then he can be found through his website www. gripguides.org.
We began hiking at 0630hrs from the Krma Valley which, although one of the longest routes to the peak, is generally considered the easiest. Despite this claim we were still in for a very challenging day. The hiking trail starts from a parking spot which can be reached on a 2km tree-laden road from Kovinarska Koča Hut (870m), situated down in the Krma Valley. At the beginning, the path goes gently up through a peaceful forest. Once it climbs out of the trees, you’ll find magnificent views of the Draški Vrh walls on the left. The route passes a shepherd hut in a pasture at the end of the valley (1580m), then reaches the foot of Rž Mount. After engaging the valley along the wall of Rž, it turns right on a rounded ridge leading to the Krederica Hut (2515m). Although we were hiking out of season, Uros organised for us to have refreshments at the hut, which doubles as a weather station and I found myself being served by the resident meteorologists.
From here we donned our crampons and climbing harnesses and took on the Via Ferrata section of the climb. This was new to both of us, and we both thoroughly enjoyed this section of the day. We were glad to be doing this out of season as on the few occasions we were faced with climbers coming down, there was very little room to manoeuvre and a solid head for heights is required. After a further hour of Via Ferrata, we reached the peak. The small shelter on top of Triglav was largely lost under snow, however the views of the surrounding Alps were stunning. Whilst we were on the peak, we heard the ominous sound of an avalanche and could later see the aftermath down in the valley below. This was another first for us and a chilling reminder of the power of nature.
Our descent back down to the Krederica Hut was slow, mainly due to my inability to deal with the many vertical drops which on the way up I had given very little thought to but, on the way down seemed to be a new beast altogether. After eventually reaching the safety of the hut we made the decision to push on and complete the hike back down to the Krma Valley. By the time we made it back to our vehicle we had been going for around 13 hours and were completely exhausted.
Our winter climb of Mt Triglav was for me, a trial by fire. If you are looking for an adventurous introduction to hiking in the Slovenian Julian Alps, then Mt Triglav is not to be overlooked.
34 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER