Two weeks passed since we climbed Mt. Razor and it was the peak of summer and our physical strength too. Since we didn’t travel anywhere in particular this year, we decided to do a couple of great climbs in the local mountains. We are not Slovenians of course😊, but we did spend most of the time in the Julian Alps, in terms of our mountaineering experience. We feel at home here, so it was time again for the biggest classic – Mt. Triglav.
We are not fans of big crowds and long ascents caused by waiting in lines along the path, but Triglav is simply like that in summer. You have to accept these circumstances, if you want to climb it. Although it is the highest peak of the Julian Alps and has a special significance among Slovenians, it is still absolutely amazing to me what kind of crowds this mountain attracts! Thousands of people climb Triglav every year. It would be better not to write about what kind of population you can meet on the way up – it is clear that many of them are for the first, and perhaps for the last, time in the mountains and this will be just a checked item in their summer journey.
However, Triglav has not lost its charm because of all this – it is just a different type of climb. Fortunately, we are one of those who need one day, or rather 9-10 hours, for the entire trip (both ascent and descent). This actually means that we do not have to “enjoy” the crowds and smells of the toilets of the Triglav mountain hut on Kredarica (2,515 m) for two days, which are, of course, closely connected. It is clear to you by now that we do not like crowds and prefer solitude in the mountains 😊.
As per usual, we arrived the night before to get a good night’s sleep, as much as it was possible considering that we were sleeping in the car. We started from Krma valley (930 m) because it is usually less crowded than Vrata valley (1015 m). Vrata valley is the most common starting point for majority of hikers and climbers. Unfortunately, I can’t understand that still a lot of visitors who come here don’t even care about the nature – the meaning of leave no trace concept is foreign to them or they are just inconsiderate and lazy – they leave behind garbage and residues of toiletries, food and other stuff as if tomorrow does not exist. For this reason, Triglav National Park is diligently scattering everybody who tries to spend the night in parking lots, so even though it applies to us, we still think it’s a good thing. It is good because of the broader interest in preserving this beautiful wilderness, which is increasingly taken over by human influence.
I mentioned at the beginning that we were in good shape, but there are some days when, despite that, you just feel like an inflated balloon. Unfortunately, it was that kind of day for me. That doesn’t mean anything changed in terms of our plans and we started our ascent slowly. As the day rised, we took more and more photos and enjoyed nature as much as we could. No matter how many times I’ve been here, it always overwhelms me and reminds me why I love the mountains. That summer we managed to keep up the pace of visiting the Alps every ten days or so and, no matter how often this actually is, we always wanted to do more. In about 3-3.5 hours we reached Triglav mountain hut, often called Kredarica, like the peak where it is placed. We took a short break here and saw how big of a crowd actually awaited us. As we ate, we observed traffic jam shaped like a human snake that formed at the beginning of the ascent to Mali Triglav (2725 m). We briefly waited for those who were trying to descend and those who have just started the final part of the ascent to pass. We put on our helmets, watched the human snake gradually disappear and moved on. I don’t even have to stress how necessary helmets are in an environment and crowds like this – falling rocks are almost common here, given the amount of people that are constantly above your head.
The low clouds were constantly toying with the view towards the summit and we questioned whether we would have any view from above. If nothing else, they made our photos more dramatic and we got a couple of really cool landscapes that are always attractive from ridges like this.
At the summit, the usual crowd was awaiting us. We took a short break here and decided to return via Planika mountain hut, on the south side of the Triglav face. An alternative was a descent through the Triglav gorge, but given the number of people and the rule that the descent should always go by the easier way, we returned along the main ridge until the turn for Planika hut. We were surprised by a small number of people here and we reached Planika hut relatively quickly.
Along the way we were greeted by a completely uninterested female ibex – judging by her persistent licking of rocks she probably came across water or salt. It is great that, despite so many people, these beautiful goats rarely care about human presence here and regularly allow to be photographed. We decided not to take a full advantage of the kindness of the locals😄, so we left her alone and continued towards the valley. Although we were already quite tired, we were full of impressions as if it was our first time – that is probably the reason why we go back to the mountains, again and again…