Slovenia

Leaving Grožnjan I didn’t realize we were crossing the border until we were already in Slovenia. Being within the EU the borders of the countries are more or less wide open, this one resembled more of an intersection on the edge of town. The remaining driving was not as smooth, traffic plagued us the whole way more than tripling our trip to Krajnska Gora.

As we reached town a storm was settling into the peaks surrounding town, the views would have to wait. What did not wait though was dinner at Lačni Kekec, meat, meat and more meat. We have cevapi, pljeskavica, pork cutlet, sausage, and the star of the show veal slow cooked in a metal vat over hot coals. Shortly into the meal Ana and my dad get into a spat which ruins both their appetites so I’m left to clear a third, if not more of the banquet. I do so valiantly leaving hardly a morsel behind.

The next day though and I’m suffering. My body isn’t use to the amount of fat I’ve just consumed after eating primarily carbs for the last month. Unsure id be able to join the hikes for the day I pop some Imodium and make way to the car. Thankfully the Imodium works, unfortunately I’d come to learn it worked maybe too well…

The first hike offers only a taste of what’s to come, a mountain stream, a misty waterfall that refreshes us in the summer heat, and just a glimmer of an alpine peak. The next one is like the glaringly obvious foreshadowing in an early reader. We stand in a valley already at 3200 feet of elevation and look at what is over a vertical mile of rock jutting out into the sky. That is Triglav the pride and joy of Slovenia it even adorns the country’s flag. It’s the tallest point in the whole country and would soon be our objective. Until then we needed rest so we head home and lounge the rest of the day.

Perhaps ill advised we start the next day with a bike ride. Not just any ride we bike all the way to Italy and back in a few hours. All the while stopping to pet goats and admire the headwaters of the Sava river along the way. We make it back in time to rent out a harness and helmet we will be needing in the coming days.

Thinking we had better ice our legs in preparation we go to the lake above town. The minute we touch the water it’s clear that hypothermia not relaxation would be the end result of a dip. So we soak in the views and try to spy climbers on the distant mountain. As a final night cap we all go back to Lačni Kekec this time trading in veal for octopus. It’s more agreeable but still I can feel the weight of all the food in my stomach.

Pack our bags, pack the car, we squeeze in 5 hours of sleep and off we go to start the climb. We’re hoping that by starting at dawn we can outrun the afternoon clouds that often carry storms. We arrive in the Krma Valley driving down a dirt road past scores of blown down trees. These had in fact fallen a year ago in a wind storm but in such numbers that the road was only just reopened 10 days prior. I guess the anticipation to hike this route had been building in many because what I expected to be an empty trail head was a parking lot full of cars. Thankfully many were of people who had started the climb a day prior so we started the hike in solitude.

I wish I could say we savored each moment but with lightning in the forecast and knowing we would be crossing an alpine pass at the end of our day we were hustling. Yet even with our hustled pace and early start, group after group passed us by. Thankfully I had foreseen this issue and the first night was to be at a lodge half way up rather than the summit lodge which was the objective of most.

After a few relatively easy hours we reached the pass. Unlike the wide saddles of eastern American mountain ranges this pass was a narrow slot cut between limestone cliffs and with scree fields on either side. We put on our helmets gaining a false sense of security and hoped that we wouldn’t be unlucky enough to be passing as a boulder the size of a car decided to join the smattering of such stones below. Kathleen lead the way, my logic being that if she slipped down the rock field I could catch her, but if I started down it were both goners. I’m not sure such was a reasonable hope but thankfully it was not tested. After an hour of toil we reached the summit of the pass and spied our shelter for the night below.

Descending to the hut was somewhat demoralizing, knowing that last thousand feet or so we had fought for would need to be reconquered the next morning. At least there was the promise of hot food and a warm bed. And such hopes were delivered on, we dug into a beef soup along side the tinned fish we had brought. At this point though no food has made its way through my body and I’m starting to get a sneaking suspicion that it might instead come back out the way it came in. I lay down for a nap outside and hope for the best.

Indeed when I wake up I’m feeling much better, the nausea is gone. I go about exploring some, we are in a mountain house dating back to the late 1800s set into the hillside of the Julian alps. Above is Triglav barren and gray, below is pasture, green and filled with cows whose moos echo up the slopes. It’s absolutely postcard perfect. The sun sets and cards come out, but not for long, we’re quickly swaddled in quilts recovering from a hard day.

Day two of Triglav is the summit push. We take off from the house and encounter our first Via Ferrata. Relatively uncommon in the US but ubiquitous in the alps these chain and post lined trails enable the relatively amateur hiker to take on true alpine ascents. This section however is fairly mild so we skip the harnesses and just hold on tight. Navigating past the cliffs we reach another pasture area with a herd of cows on the horizon. We also see here our first bit of snow on the climb. At the bottom of a cave that could swallow a bus lies a somewhat dirty but undeniably frozen pile of snow.

Onwards we climb, Triglav is in plain view now as we dodge cow patties and avoid trampling delicate alpine flowers. To me this is the hardest section, to be able to see the goal yet know you’re several hours away from it. The walking is hard it’s steep and rocky, and we’re starting to feel the effects of altitude. Still we’re inspired by climbers who have clearly started from the bottom and reached this point in the time it’s taken us to do half. Among them is a group of Slovenian senior citizens, apparently on their way to a church at the summit for an annual pilgrimage. Slovenian people are truly a different breed.

Finally we see it, the shelter for the night. We get in and drop our packs gorging on cabbage goulash and making the most of cell service on a mountain. Yes sadly there is cell service but this once I will not be upset because with it I could check the forecast. You see we may have reached the summit lodge but it’s not at the true summit. The true summit is another 3 hour climb onwards and not one to be taken lightly.

I look at the official mountain forecast site and it calls for lightning within the next 2 hours. Shit! Wanting to corroborate this grim report I check some other sites and come to find 3/4 predict only clouds. I deliberate for some time, this next stretch is not where you want to be in a storm. It’s sheer cliffs, climbing on hands and knees and if you’re lucky you’ll be strapped into metal by metal.

I decide though enough of being cautious I want to be dangerous. So I don my harness, clip on my helmet and make off as fast as I can.

The going is not to bad to start. Sure the cliff is vertical but the safety system will catch me if I fall. But near the top of the first cliff, it’s very crux where you have a few moves taking you up and over out of sight of the hut below, they have for inexplicable reasons determined there should be no chain. A simple set of metal poles to hold on to should suffice. I immediately envision myself losing grip and falling to the glaciated field below and feel sick. Which makes my hands start sweating. I’m now holding up a couple behind me so I let them pass while I decide if I’ll continue. A few moments later the man calls down in a thick Italian accent saying it’s not so had. I’m not sure why I trust this perfect stranger but I figure if they could do it so can I, so I stand up and 20 seconds later I’m on top.

Unknowingly I’ve conquered the worst part in my eyes. The ridge walk to the next summit climb would be a mix of chained and unchained. At least it was flat though, sure a simple trip could sending you tumbling to your death as several memorials along the way illustrate, but I think I got this. One more climb and I reach the summit, it’s fairly obscured with clouds and I share it with a few people but I’ve reached it. I also realize I didn’t slip once not even on the steep chained in sections.

The couple snaps a picture of me next to the shelter at the top. It looks like a stubby rocket chained down to the rock that fits at most 4 slender bodies. I start my way down. Bolstered by my new found confidence in my footing or maybe at having spied a number of people doing the climb with no protective gear I’m more cavalier on the descent. In many sections I use one clip rather than both, on some I don’t clip at all. My pace is hastened when I spy from the summit my blue angel. Kathleen sitting in her new blue fleece patiently waiting my return. Ultimately we had decided the summit push was not for her, it was too dangerous and the earlier crux section had confirmed that. Though on the way down it too seems more manageable.

I jog across the final path leading to the hut happy to be done with that nerve wracking experience and happy to be in Kathleen’s arms again. She’s so proud of me she buys me cottage cheese dumplings with a berry compote. Maybe I’m famished or ecstatic to be back but it’s one of the best deserts I’ve ever had.

A brief nap later and we report for dinner followed again by cards. We watch in amusement as a young blonde German girl hustles desperate male climbers. Stories of communing naked with nature on the trails has them inviting her back to their airbnbs when they return to society or offering to help carry some of her pack. Then she pounces on the next group who are all too eager to buy her a drink. We brush our teeth and get ready to reset, only our bodies can’t shut off. A mix of extreme aches and a cacophony of snoring from our 20+ bunk mates keeps us up to 4 AM.

All is quickly forgotten with sunrise. We step to the windows and see a sky that looks like a white down comforter had been used to tuck the earth in last night. Only Triglav (the three-headed mountain) and its fingers of lesser peaks poke over the top into the clear blue sky. Known as a cloud inversion only the lucky few of us shared in the sun that morning while the villagers and tourists below shared in gray and gloomy skies.

Then came our decent into the clouds, unable to stay another night we had to make our way down to the valley floor. The start of the clouds was rather subtle, wisps of white and a faint haze around us.

Steadily it grew into a thick fog, only allowing us to see a few dozen feet in either direction. By this point we had reached the tree line which I was thankful for. It was easy to lose the high alpine path with visibility let alone the fog, but here the way was edged by pines and wildflowers. Nonetheless there was an aura of mystery you didn’t know what lay around the corner until the next moss laden behemoth of wood or stone came into view.

All of a sudden the silence around was broken by what sounded like cannon fire and gun shots. We stood in panic a second then realized what it was no less sinister, rockfall. With the dense fog and echoing sounds it was impossible to determine where it was coming from and where it was going. I picked a side and ushered us up. Moving higher out of the low valley seemed essential but guessing which cliff to approach and which to flee was a gamble, thankfully I guessed right. Shook but unharmed we finished our walk down. Sitting in the car was immaculate.

We return our via Feratta set to the shop in Krajnska Gora where we get a rude surprise, they tried to charge me over double what was agreed on. After some debate about a misunderstanding of return time I pay a day more than we agreed and tail it out of there. I’m feeling slighted but it’s hard to hold a grudge in a country so gorgeous as we cruise the main road with alpine vistas on either side.

Worried about our energy levels upon descending the mountain we had booked a hostel close to the trail head. When we arrived though, we were still riding the high of our achievement and had an added energy boost from some redbull we chugged. Rather than letting the moment slip we capitalized on it with a ride to Lake Bohinj. Another alpine lake but this one a much more tolerable temperature. We soaked and followed the sun as it dipped behind the pines.

The following day we hit the ground running. Pack our bags and off to Bled town where we found a long overdue laundromat. Brilliantly the owner had positioned his business on a street corner surrounded by 5 separate hostels. Location is everything. Unfortunately the popularity also hindered our ability to get our chores done so we stayed an hour longer than hoped. We skipped the folding for now and jumped in the car.

You see we had a bus to catch in 4 hours. So why the rush? Well the bus we were catching was in a whole other country. It was in fact back in Rovinj where we would be returning our rental and bussing to Ljubljana. We punch in the address and are told we are arriving with 5 minutes to spare. I punch the gas and off we go. True to estimates and accounting for a quick top off of gasoline I turn the rental in with a minute to spare. After which I run across the entirety of the town to reach the bus station where I’ve left Kathleen to attempt to stall the bus. I’m sweating bullets but I’ve made it.

Getting off the bus in Ljubljana feels like Deja vu. I had visited before and seen many of the sites but I couldn’t quite picture all I had seen, nor did I have photos to look back on. Each corner we rounded brought back a fragment of memory, revealing the prior story. It was cut short though by torrential downpour. Just as we reached the covered entry of our hostel it was as though a swimming pool had plopped onto the cobblestone street.

Unfortunately we were not out of the storm yet. What would be a gorgeous private room in the loft otherwise was now a sweltering leaky closet. The nice man and resident artist from downstairs applies some epoxy to the leaks and we fall asleep.

The beauty of Ljubljana, and why it’s one of the first European cities I would choose to live in is its quaintness. We begin a self guided walking tour from our hostel, and without leaving a ten minute radius we have seen 95% of the city’s major sites. The pink church of the central square, a lush river carving through the city, famous stone bridges straddling said river, and the castle on the hill with views of distant mountain peaks. Last but not least we visit a market with a machine that dispenses cows milk like beer from a tap. This is way better than your usual draft.   

Still though the prior day has tired us so we set off with more measured goals the next day. We lounge in the park until it’s time for dinner at the weekly food festival. We pack our bags and head to the train station to continue our journey.

If you ask me Slovenia is the polished gem sitting atop the Yugoslav crown. Soaring peaks, bubbling brooks, quaint villages and an outdoorsy and fit people.