Tim Lewis' Expeditions: 2012

September 2012 saw ten highly enthusiastic Ubesters travel to Slovenia for 2 weeks of backpacking, scrambling, mountaineering... and Laško (Lashko)! The Julian Alps, located in the far north west of the country, contain arguably its most beautiful landscape ranging from the thick, tick infested pine valleys to the snow-capped limestone peaks. And with such a wide variety of weather, we didn’t have to search far to find a picture postcard view every day of the trip.

Be it by plane, bus, train or hot air balloon, we all met at Kranjska Gora, a valley town to the north of the national park. After checking in at our hostel to our bewilderment, the owner proceeded to drive us literally 100 yards up the road to our room. All was not lost though as after a meal and a relaxing pint, or two, we were ready for our first taste of Slovenian mountains the next day.

We spent the first week in the north-eastern area of Triglav national park and encountered some pretty hot weather for September. Taking advantage of this we conquered two peaks; Prisank (2547m) and Bovski Gamsovec (2392m).

Each of these days involved some strenuous walking/scrambling up scree, often the handrails and pegs proved vital, but on the summits we were rewarded with stunning views of what felt like the whole Alps, along with Mt Triglav (2864m) itself; which we were to climb later. The other days were spent doing the most beautiful walk in the Julian Alps (according to the guide book) and bimbling up and down valleys, encountering most notably a magnificent waterfall and a seemingly never ending line of Ljubljanan schoolchildren!

We stayed in mountain huts which provided the most basic of provisions: Beer and goulash! Showers were very few and far between, making the painful ‘dunking your head in a sink of extremely cold water’ sometimes the only option. The evenings were spent mostly planning the next few days hiking, and playing cards; we even resorted at one stage to having a Hearts tournament! The unusual game Yaniv (renamed Ellen, who promoted it) also proved popular. Tom and Sarah sadly had to leave after the first week, so we celebrated their departure with round of Blueberry shots (god only knows what’s in this wild but highly satisfying alcoholic beverage).

The second week brought a drastic weather change. After a day’s rest in a valley hostel (with showers!!) we discovered that there’d been a large dumping of snow on the peaks. This made our ascent of Triglav 2 days later all the more spectacular. We approached this sacred mountain, which dominates the entire

eastern area of the park, from the south, walking from Vodnikov Dom to it’s precarious ridge via Dom Planika. It was a challenging but rewarding day, not only for the fact that we managed to unknowingly lock Lucas in the summit hut!

The next two days saw us casually summiting Kanjavec (2569m), deciding that bum sliding down steep, snow covered slopes should become an Olympic sport, and getting slightly lost/into trouble on what was supposed to be a short bimble! We ended up trying in vain to contour round a steep, boulder and vegetation ridden mountain, with myself volunteering to scramble up a steep scree slope to investigate a potential route. The only positive that came from this was; the view I saw was amazing.

Before we knew it our trip had come to an end, and after a demanding hike back to civilization down a long winding valley, and two days day spent rowing, exploring, partying, home cooking, and generally being tourists in Bled and Ljubljana, it was time for us to part ways. Many thanks to Naomi for organising a super expedition.

Special mention goes to Eric, the Vodnikov Dom dog who couldn’t bear to see Lucas go, as well as his owner, aka “hut lady”, whose pancakes were especially memorable.