Triglav

We spend the whole day travelling north from Losinj via Trieste on 400 km of country roads. As the sun sets, the Soca steams down into the valley. We steam alongside it over the steep Vrsic Pass. The mountains glow on the north side. Our destination is the Aljazev hut at the end of the Vrata Valley in the Triglav National Park. The last light of day. Awe-inspiring views upwards, where the Triglav disappears into the clouds. We can only see its lower half, and even that looks impregnable.

Dinner at the hut is simple and hearty. We reduce our luggage to the bare essentials before tomorrow’s ascent. Ahead of us is a two-day climbing tour to the highest mountain in Slovenia at almost 2900 metres. I fall into bed and sleep like a rock.

We set off at around eight in the morning. The path first climbs gently through the Vrata valley to the foot of the north face of Triglav. In the bed of a dry torrent, the trail then climbs steeply over the first climbing passages. Above this, the path winds its way in tight bends through knee-high mountain pines at a 45-degree angle. The first rock faces are mostly secured with steel pins.

I’ve already been up a few mountains. But it soon becomes clear: none like Triglav yet. I’ve been mountain hiking. This is mountaineering. For the first time, my knees shake on foot-wide passages in the almost vertical rock face. Only a few metres long, but several dozen metres down. I somehow don’t trust the steel pins, some of which are wobbly and anchored in the rock.

After about 700 metres in altitude comes the first crux. A 7 metre high vertical wall blocks the way up. It is well secured with rope and steel pins. We have a climbing harness. No problem, says Sabine, she’s done this many times before and wants to climb the wall without a harness.

I look down the 50 metre freefall from the foot of the wall and start to hesitate. It’s different not to hold the door open for a woman than to be talked into wearing her climbing harness. I can’t manage the section without a climbing harness, it’s my first via ferrata and my legs are shaking with fear. I decide to carve Sabine’s last words on her gravestone with my fingernails in case something happens: “Take the climbing harness.”.

Sabine is already waiting at the top, grinning: “Easy, isn’t it?”. I shake the sweat from my face and try to reduce the trembling to individual parts of my body. The first of three edges of the old glacier has been overcome.

I continue steeply upwards through karstic scree and rock. In the last green patches, an ibex suddenly stands five metres from the path. We keep still, so does he. Then he digs for roots again. Thistles, devil’s claw, gentian and numerous other unknown colourful flowers bloom all around us.

Some steep walls on the way to the upper glacier quarry are again well secured with steel pins. The trembling comes again and again. Looking down is no good. It’s just too far. Sabine carries her rucksack with a quarter of her body weight for most of the way. She is still much faster than me.

Once we reach the edge, we walk over white rock polished bare by the glacier. After five hours, we arrive at the Valentina Stanica Dom hut at 2200 metres. Eating and drinking reduce the shivering. We sleep for half the afternoon, eat again in the evening sun and go to bed early while the Slovenians continue to party for a long time.

The next day begins with a 300 metre ascent to the Triglavski Dom hut. With a few short climbing sections, the path leads over bare white rock again. It’s getting cold, the air is thin at 2500 metres. We slow down. At the hut I reassure myself about the feasibility of a summit ascent without a climbing harness. The Slovenian tourist office said: no problem. The hut owner says: 90% do it without.

So we go with a climbing harness. The first wall. Steel pins almost vertically upwards. A harness doesn’t help here anyway. Then a tough climbing section in the wall up to the ridge. I clip into the rope several times. Sabine dances her way up, I shake it. At 2800 metres, the path leads over a long ridge. Ingenious free-fall opportunities several hundred metres high are mitigated by permanent via ferrata ropes.

The summit of Triglav is reached. Pride, sun and a radiant blue sky. You’ve made it. Triglav is a Slovenian national shrine. Every Slovenian should climb Triglav once in their life. Only a few hours later in the valley do I realise why.

Climbing is easier on the way down. The way the old grandpas and young children climb up here unsecured is still madness. They’re not people, they’re chamois. It’s all a matter of getting used to it, says Sabine.

From the Triglavski Dom hut, we head back down across the former glacier field. Steep climbing passages with ropes and steel pins. Pointed stones on bare rock. Exhaustion sets in. We both slip several times and the stones bite every time we fall. The path is very strenuous, I need more and more breaks, while Sabine is still going full throttle despite her rucksack.

The rest of the way becomes an ordeal. We need almost six hours in total to cover the 1800 metres in altitude back to the Aljazev Dom hut. My fingers and cheeks tingle for over three hours. Complete exhaustion. Water, magnesium and muesli bars don’t help any more. Trembling at every climbing point. Fear.

Further down: My knees buckle backwards with every step. Some climbers can see the exhaustion in my marionette gait. They give me glucose, which makes me waddle back to the Aljazev Hut with difficulty and flickering eyes. I would never have made it without Sabine.

I now understand why every Slovenian should climb Triglav once in their life. I can’t imagine anyone doing it twice. We did the tour in two days. The second day was the most frightening and exhausting of my life. There are Slovenians who do the same tour in a single day.

All over the world, I needed less time than indicated for every path on the mountain or in the plain. The Slovenian times are more than tight. On Triglav we manage one of four sections in the specified time. It’s as if the Slovenians are afraid that another war could break out at any second. Quickly, quickly up and down, tomorrow the mountain may no longer be ours!