After finally getting out of Romania (magic climbing but I got stuck in the country for 4 days) I went straight to Bled in Slovenia to spend the night before climbing Triglav! This was in the end of my mountain tour and my time was running out. Two days later (october 9) I had to be in Milan and before that it would be great to be able to check off San Marino and The Vatican too.
I had spoken to my friend Klemen who is a guide from Slovenia and he told me that they had so much snow the last weeks and if I was thinking about climbing Triglav before the winter I would probably need a guide. So he signed me up on Mitja Sorns tour with Triglav Guides that had a group of people he was taking the next day. I was very happy to get a spot in the team with such short notice.
Bled was so beautiful. I wish I had more time here but I took this picture after breakfast one minute before I got picked up. I have to come back. What a fairytale place this was!
Instead of getting picked up I took my car and drove after the guide. I had just found out it was a 2 days climb and I felt like I didn´t have two days so my plan was to do it in one day if it was possible. It was around 2200 altitude meter to climb but I felt strong so I wanted to try. But at this point I had not told my guide about the plan…
The others in the team was some guys from Australia and New Zealand, very nice and I was so happy to meet some people again after a few weeks all alone on the road. In fact I was super happy even to be in Slovenia and it was so beautiful and I was so excited for this climb. We started hiking up a valley. Autum was coming so colors were changing.
It was a beautiful day. Cold in the air (about -1) but sunny and nice. It was perfect!
I could not take my eyes off the beautiful surroundings. This day was everything I love about climbing mountains.
After hiking for a few hours through the valley we started going up more steep parts. I was like “where is all the snow Klemen talked about?” It must have gone away again. I felt it was pretty unnecessary for me to have a guide on this mountain but I really liked the guide, he was awsome and I would love to climb with him again! And to have this group of new friends as company was worth so much. I felt so happy and had such a great time.
After a few more hours we got to a hut where we had lunch in the sun. Me and Jonathan went to take some pictures of us posing with the mountains in the background. He is a graphic designer so we both liked photography.
And after lunch we teamed up in two teams for the via ferrata part and roped up. Another guide came up so we could have two groups.
The via ferrata part was not too challenging at all and I tried to push myself by not even touch any of the steel wires on the way up to the summit (and I made it!).
If I did again myself I would not feel harness and ropes would be needed but I would use a helmet. But I can totally understand why someone who have not done via ferrata would use a guide. It is some exposure and if you are scared of heights it´s a great way to hopefully be able to do it anyway.
The view at the top was amazing! You could see four countries at the same time. The guides said the weather was the best of the season so we were lucky!
Jonathan taking a selfie!
We stayed for a while and just enjoyed the weather, the view, eating some snacks and taking some photos.
Look at the view! So beautiful!
Then I told my guide I wanted to go back down to the car again and not spend the night in the hut as the rest of the group. He said it was ok and I could walk with the other guide down because he was not staying either. I asked if it was ok that I walked before everyone else down to the hut and not roped in with the others on the way down. I understand you are not aloud to say yes to that as a guide so I told him I officially quit the tour just to have him safe. But I also know he knew I could do it so he was fine with it.
I climbed down quickly and went to the hut where I waited about one hour before the others started showing up. I wanted to join them for dinner and say goodbye. I felt kind of sad that I could not stay and have a nice night, hanging out but I had two more “mountains” waiting for me the next day.
It was almost dark when me and the second guide started walking down. We walked as fast as we could, sliding down in the scree. After a while it was totally dark. The other guide had forgotten his headlamp but I had mine (Petzl Nano) and that is very strong so I could light up for both of us. When we were down at the cars Mitja called us to see if everything was ok and the other guide said “I could not have gone down any faster by myself”. I felt kind of proud over myself. From being totally exhausted going down the last part of Elbrus to be able to keep the guides speed down a mountain we just climbed that was 2200 m altitude from start to summit. That was kind of cool! In just a little bit more then 2 months!
I have never been someone who loves training. I understand I need to do it but I only workout like 3 times a week. Nothing extreme at all. And then I push myself for my challenges.
I started driving to Italy and after a few hours I found a hotel along the way towards San Marino.
Triglav and Slovenia have been one of the best experiences so far on this project. I can really recommend it and I would love to come back again one day.
Mountain no 19
