After many years, we decided to go for our vacation to the small alpine town of Bovec, probably our favorite place in Slovenia. I like to call it Chamonix of Slovenia, although it is not nearly as developed and popular as the French capital of mountaineering and the outdoor community. But what a vibe that place has for me – I can’t wait to be there and I’m never looking forward to going home. The beautiful valley of the Soča river in which it is located only adds to the attractiveness that is primarily related to the highest peaks of the western Julian Alps and Slovenian Alps in general. We were lucky enough to climb most of them in all seasons, from Kanin and Prestreljenik to the Italian neighbors Montaž and Viš and all the way to Mangart, Jalovec and many lower, but equally attractive mountains in the area.
Rombon
One of such mountains is Rombon (2208 m), which we have already climbed. Apart from the fact that this mountain gives a lot of character to its surroundings alongside with neighbouring peak Svinjak (1653 m), it also offers an incredible view from the summit in all directions that you simply cannot miss. The mountain is not technically demanding when hiking from the valley, but on its shady side it offers a wonderful rock face intended for those with the most demanding palate for alpine climbing.
We started from the Kluže fortress (532 m) on the road Bovec-Predel. A sunny and warm morning predicts a great day for us. Since we will spend about a third of the time in the shade of the forest, we were looking forward to not getting a sunshine headache right away on the first day 😊. Those who love history will certainly enjoy the remains of the Isonzo Front, tunnels, fortresses and bunkers almost the entire way – but as we are not very passionate about history, it is better not to waste words and show ignorance 😄.
There were no particular views through the forest, so we kept pace until the first lookout point on the peaks of Jerebica, Rabeljske Špice, Mangart, Vrh Krnice. The wind was increasing and we were immediately reminded of our first ascent to Rombon, sometime in mid-November years ago, when we were shaking like trees at the windy summit as we tried to enjoy the beautiful views that surrounded us.
The ascent was impossible to complete without stopping to enjoy the views and taking photos, especially on a sunny day like this. The valley and the views of Bovec and Soča are simply indescribable, and with each meter of height fantastic rows of mountains were revealed. We immediately started talking about where we already climbed, where we will climb again and which new peaks we will discover. We have often visited these mountains, which are abounded in marked and unmarked trails, via ferratas and endless wilderness. It was great to be here again. It may be pretentious to write it that way, but I think we fell completely in love with these mountains and Bovec – and that hasn’t changed to this day.
An anecdote that speaks a lot about it happened a few weekends ago, as we sat and drank beer with some friends by the sea and talked about this alpine location with so much enthusiasm. We immediately decided – it’s time for Bovec, we have to book accommodation!
I must point out that this is not a paid ad, but every time we come to Bovec we stay in one place only, and that is Apartments Skok. We are regularly satisfied with all our hosts, but these people are really special and the enthusiasm that Majda, Bojan and Jernej have for the work they do and the place where they live is contagious. In addition to apartments, they have an excellent outdoor equipment store and the Alpine School Bovec agency which organizes rafting on the Soča, skiing, zip line, canyoning and guided tours in the mountains – basically the dream of every outdoor enthusiast. Bojan, of course, was on all the surrounding peaks and knows every via ferrata and unmarked trail in the area. We were happy to open a map with him on the stairs in front of the store and discuss where we will go, how difficult it’s going to be and what we must not miss 😁!
We reached the top of Rombon in less than three and a half hours and, apart from two hikers and a small herd of sheeps at the top, we got what we came for – a turbo strong wind in the face 😂! The views were amazing, the day was perfect, and the fact that it was blowing into our faces and body as if there was no tomorrow didn’t prevent us from taking photos in all directions and breathing in these mountains and views, as much as we could. It is really nice when you wait for something for a long time and then when you accomplish it you can just enjoy that feeling of being alive and healthy and doing what you love.
The return was marked by very friendly sheep that revealed a calm spot without the wind in which we all had a snack and scanned the surrounding mountains for a while. I don’t even have to say that after such hot and long ascent and equally long descent, we went to river Soča for our first swim this year. Although we live by the sea, it was obviously destined that the first swim this year will be in Soča river. I don’t know what the temperature was, but our sore feet ached after five seconds of standing in the river and at the same time were healing from a hard day in the mountains. Two or three speedy dives in Soča brought us back to life and we could go for a well-deserved rest and some beer in the apartment.
Briceljk
I had planned something special for tomorrow, and that was the ascent to the Briceljk (2346 m). You’re probably wondering what’s so special about it (other than it’s relatively unknown peak). This was best illustrated by Bojan, with whom I came to seek some advice about the climb – “it’s an unmarked path without visible trail, you know that” he told me in a significant way, to which I said with a spark in my eye that I know! You have already realized that we are lovers of the wild so what could be better than an unmarked trail in the middle of countless peaks and complete solitude interrupted only by wild animals and the sound of our footsteps.
In fact, I was only worried about whether we’ll be able to find some kind of path – once upon a time it was a marked path, but for many years the path was left to nature and the nature has made it its own. We started from a small valley of Bavšica (698 m) along a marked path to the Bala pasture and after the hunting lodge we turned onto a barely visible path through the forest. This path became less and less visible as it reached the steep grassy slopes. A few clusters of stones (Slovenians calls it možic) would reveal our direction and, all in all, we did not progressed slowly (despite the very demanding orientation). In the lower parts of the mountain we were surprised every now and then by a roaming deer, while in the higher meadows we enjoyed running marmots and their endless whistling to warn each other of our presence.
Needless to say, I was in shorts in the grass up to my waist, but that’s probably one of the charms of taking unmarked paths too. The bonus was definitely my stinging legs made by countless nettles that, as a surprise to me, grows over 2000 meters above the sea level. I had never seen or felt that before 😁. But it was terribly hot that day and knowing all this, as a famous sweater, I would without hesitation take my shorts again (and clench my teeth a bit along the way) 😁.
Arriving in front of the big rock and gravel slope and the final ascent, we had a view of the Jalovec’s main ridge and the entire ridge of Bavški Grintavec which from this angle looked absolutely fantastic. We climbed them both earlier and Bavški Grintavec, although quite lower mountain than Jalovec, showed us much sharper teeth than it seemed – we will not forget that loose rock so soon! If you haven’t already, put this mountain in your bucket list because that via ferrata path from the direction of Flori-Zadnja Trenta, or whatever you want to call some iron in the otherwise unstable and loose rock, should definitely be climbed! To this day, she claims it has been her psychologically worst ascent ever, but also the best training of focus, patience and calmness 😅.
Rock and gravel slope under summit of Briceljk was covered with snow, which was easier for us to walk on, but also suggested a problem if there was snow in the final hundred meters of climb – because we left the winter gear at home without planning such climbs this time of season. Honestly, we were not sure how much it would benefit us in this situation even if we had it. Such wet and rotten snow with an unstable surface would be a challenge to pass in a much smaller slope than this one.
150 meters below the summit we had to make a decision and experience told us that, regardless of the bitterness, we had to turn around and go back. We sat, as much as that was possible, on this slope (although we were actually standing – it is so steep) and we looked in disbelief a little towards the summit, a little at each other and a little at the fantastic views around us. In this mixture of great ascent and giving up just below the summit we headed downhill.
The descent was really demanding on such terrain and with maximum caution we first descended the grassy slope, then overcame the rocky descent to the cliff and connected to the snowy areas where we were sliding to re-enter the grass, trying to forget that we had to give up. Too bad the pictures won’t show how tough the climb was (that slope, unfortunately, isn’t fully visible), but we’ll certainly remember it.
We ended the day in silence and with a new swim in Soča, retreated to our apartment-cave for a well-deserved vacation. Regardless of the absence of the peak we were quite exhausted in the end, especially considering those height differences made two days in a row.
The next day, I looked forward to seeing Bojan again and telling him what happened, and the reaction of an experienced mountain man could have only been – “You did well. That’s all you could and should have done. Slipping down the mountain is the most common cause of accidents. Although it doesn’t seem that way when there is no snow, it is a very demanding climb.”. I was not surprised by his reaction – sometimes you just have to do it and everyone who has ever been in that situation knows that there is actually no choice.
We said goodbye to our hosts, bought some gear in the store as a souvenir and promised to come again – let’s not lie, it’s the most beautiful place if you ask us, a place where we could live one day…