triGlav
Well, as the story goes you ain’t true Slovene until you climb Triglav. And to make sure that we really are true, Zala and Luka climbed it for the very first time in 2017, we came to live here for this past year, and we just climbed it again. Just to make sure. And there is no doubt, we are very Slovene. But since both kids were born in the US, we dragged some Americans along, just to prove the point that even Americans can be true Slovenes. So true.
The shortened version of Newhards was along on the climb in 2017, and the Espinozas joined us this year. Our special guest this past week was also none other than Špela Pretnar - who knew that this busy ex-ski champion and current workaholic and mama would join us for the summit… AWESOME is all I can say!
Since this was our second visit to the top, we got creative and mapped out a truly great round-about route to the summit. We really wanted to explore the Bohinj side of Triglav and do some hut-to-hut hopping anyway. Out came the map, books and internet descriptions. . And boy did we plan it right!
The night before our hike we learned that Komarča trail was closed and that changed our plans from the get go. We quickly adjusted and started on Planina Blato instead. Hiking through lush green forests into the green meadows is always exactly the thing we need to mellow out and get into the mountain rhythm.
Planina pri Jezeru and Dedno Polje are quickly behind us. Kids are charging and holding the pace just as the trail signs say. We try to stay with them. We are in the alpine environment before we know it. Rhododendrons and tiny forget-me-nots dot the valleys as far as eye can see. We eat salami, bread and apples on the Vrata saddle and we snack on plenty of sugar, trail mix and chocolate all along. The saddle into Triglav lakes valley offers a whole new perspective. We make it to our first hut, Koča na Doliču in the early afternoon. They send us up into a community bedroom, taking up a nice corner where we take a group nap till dinner time. Yay mountain living! After dinner we harness up and test our Via Ferrata (VF) kits (self-belay device) on the cable around the outdoor seating area at the hut. Špela makes new friends with the crazy and fun group of people from Savinja valley. The cloudy and foggy evening serves a spectacular sunset.
Summit day… Another early morning and we are full of anticipation and eagerness to get going. We hike in the beautiful first light to the Triglav’s SW ridge. George decided earlier to not join us this way up, it’s just not his thing. We’ll meet up with him at the next hut.
We gear up and hike the last bit to the wall. It’s go time and everybody is very excited and definitely a bit nervous. For our new comers it’s a rather intimidating start on this exposed wall, stepping on metal pegs and holding onto rocks and pegs only. Soon we get to clip into the cable and start using VF kits. Everybody feels a bit better and a lot more confident as soon as they are clipped in. We are on and off the cable till the very top. The climb is great and the views are spectacular. On our side there aren’t too many people which makes it a nice experience for sure. Soon Luka yells “Aljażev stolp!” - he can see the top of Triglav already.
We are on the top of highest Slovenian peak. Triglav, 2864m, is the symbol of Slovenia and our alpine culture. We join some other 50 happy climbers and celebrate in style, with borovničevec "(blueberry schnapps) and the traditional butt-whipping with a rope. You know, oči (my dad), did all that to me so I’m sharing it forward!
Even though hiking down is usually harder, everybody is so much more confident on the rock and the cable by now that we fly down all the way to Planika hut. We drink Radler, eat some salami and onward we go to Vodnikova koča na Velem polju, our hut for the night. We keep zig-zagging downward and young knees or old, we are slowly getting over this downhill walking thing…. We are very happy to see George again, coming up to meet us from the hut. We are close. The scenery turns from white walls and loose rock to green side hill doted with larch trees. Beauty all around us!
At the hut we eat appel-strudel and Nutella crepes and feel oh-so-happy! Špela has to get back down so she joins a couple who is going down to Krma valley. We are sad to see her go but happy she joined us! What a day it was and what accomplishments for this whole crew. The view from Vodnikova koča is amazing, we can see all the way back to the top of Triglav. We eat yummy dinner and get our own room for 10 in a separate little building. We sleep like Triglav rocks.
Normally people go the straightest way out of this hut and back to their cars and lives. But that’s not our plan. Of course not. We are going to explore some less-traveled trails and we want to stay at the coolest little hut one more night, Bregarjevo Zavetišče. We stumbled upon it on our exploration hikes last Fall and promised ourselves we’d go back there to spend a night. It’ll be worth another long day of hiking, I promised to everyone… We loved this section even though it was more up and down than I could tell from a map. But we are all alone, see no-one on the trails the whole day. We eat fresh made cheese on Planina v Lazu and we also try KISLO MLEKO (fermented milk) - it’a must in Bohinj region.
Despite the rain in the forecast, we almost made it out of the mountains dry. Almost. We are only an hour or two away from our last hut of the trip when we hear the rumbling of thunder. Soon the darkness is all around us, lightening visible through the trees. It starts raining, we put rain coats on and we huddle under a tree. The beginning of storm passes and it seems that it’s raining less. We go for the break, hike only for a little bit before we get caught in a total down-pour. By the time we find shelter only 5 minutes away, we are totally soaked from waist down and the sun is peeking from behind the clouds already. Classic!
We make it to Bregarjevo Zavetišče, our last hut with soggy feet and happy faces. We are the only guests there and get the full family experience with the hut keepers Valerija and Gabrijel. It is truly the best way to finish this awesome Triglav journey. We put everything out to dry, sun is shining a little bit again, our kids play cards with Jakob and Eva, two kids their ages, the grandkids of the hut keeper. We eat, we laugh, and we dance polka when Gabrijel pulls out the accordion, puts his mountain hat on and starts playing. Life is good.
