July-an Alps

The Julian Alps and July go together for more reasons than their shared root (named after Julius Caesar). This is a special time to see this area, with warmer weather to enjoy the lakes, rivers, snow-free summits.

However, summer in the Alps always carries a risk of thunderstorms, particularly in the afternoon. The forecast for the weekend wasn’t looking promising. I arrived in Italy late on a Thursday (around 11pm). If you ever use Trieste airport…be aware that there might not be any cabs, so it’s best to book a place within walking distance or arrange one in advance. The next morning, I began my 15-minute walk along the main road back to the airport to pick up my rental car. What happened next would kick off the start of my most unintentionally social solo trip so far (:

It was only 10am and already nearly 30 degrees (Celsius), so a friendly woman pulled over to give me a lift the rest of the way to the airport. At the airport, there was an equally friendly woman at the car rental counter. When I mentioned I’d be heading to Slovenia (for cross-border insurance), she lit up and talked about how in love she is with that country. I’d spent only a couple of days there before, mostly around the Soča River, but I can still confirm that it’s the sort of place that will keep drawing you back. We got on the topic of Triglav, and she said something I’d heard many times before: summiting this high point is a rite of passage for every Slovene. Slovenia is one of few countries that put their high point right on their flag (the only other that comes to mind is San Marino, but reaching Monte Titano isn’t exactly an alpine feat). They’re both triple summits, ironically, and Triglav actually translates to “three-headed one”.

She sent me on my way with the car and some toll-avoiding advice, which involved taking a scenic route through winding mountain roads. My first time in Slovenia was in a camper van, so those roads now felt luxuriously wide! I remember seeing Triglav for the first time that autumn, framed by my favorite warm hues, thinking that I’d probably never see the views from the top. My doctor had given me a 50/50 chance of my ankle cartilage healing, and that was my first real hiking trip since the injury, so I was building up slowly. Triglav with its 2,000+ meters of required ascent to the summit seemed unattainable. Here I was, 9 months later, with the Kredarica Hut booked for the next evening (to split up the ascent…but plans would ultimately change).

Lake Bled

My first stop on that Friday was a place I’d tried to visit the previous autumn, but the queue of traffic had been completely stopped a few kilometers outside the town. I bailed and decided to return to Bled another time. This was finally that time!

My first glimpse of the lake through my windshield was stunning, with the afternoon sun glinting off vibrant aqua, my favorite color (: However, that was short-lived. I don’t even have a photo. By the time I’d parked 10 minutes later, clouds had already rolled in. It was only 2pm, with no rain in the forecast for another few hours, so I headed out for a walk. Not long into that walk, I met some fellow Americans (also from NJ!) and chatted for a bit about different parts of Slovenia. Social weekend continued! (:

The plan was to take it easy that day, to save energy for the hike that would take up the next two days. I ended up walking toward Bled Castle, and since it had started to rain, I figured I’d just duck in there for some time indoors. I didn’t process how high the castle looked in the distance…it’s a bit of a hike up to it!

The entrance fee is a bit steep too, at 18 euros (at time of writing), but the views from up there really are nice. Bled Island is visible in the distance, and there was a beautiful wedding ceremony wrapping up as I arrived.

Bled Castle is the oldest in Slovenia, dating back to 1004. It was expanded over the years and stood until 1511, when it was damaged by an earthquake and needed to be mostly rebuilt. More restoration and renovations happened in the mid-1900s, and now, it includes a museum and hosts many cultural events. It’s changed a lot from its earlier medieval days, and more of its history is on their website!

The wind was really picking up as I climbed up to the museum area of the castle, partially housed within the towers. I tried to look out to where I should have been able to glimpse Triglav in the distance, but everything was covered in thick clouds. Flashes of lightning and claps of thunder made me grateful to not be going up that day.

It turned out that my future Albania/North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Poland hiking buddy, Sara, was somewhere in those clouds up there. We’d missed each other by a day! She took a different, longer route over multiple days, so go check out her Instagram posts about it on @sightsofsara!

I made a quick grocery run before heading to the RiverSide Chill Hostel (great spot!!) to check in. I was monitoring the next day’s forecast, and it was looking like I’d be setting a 4am alarm. I was in a shared dorm room, so I tried to prepare as much of my gear as possible, for a swift and quiet exit. I woke up naturally 10 minutes before my alarm and checked the forecast once again. There was still a 90%+ chance of storms at 2pm. Not ideal…but the whole hike is an out-and-back, which makes it a bit safer to attempt. There aren’t many exposed sections before the Kredarica hut from the Krma Valley side, so there would also be the option of stopping there if the weather wasn’t summit-friendly.

I had a quick breakfast, chatted a bit with one of the hostel owners (who seemed surprised to see anyone awake at that hour on a Saturday), then headed out as she started her morning yoga outside.

The Hike

Despite this bring one of the most straightforward and popular approaches to the summit of Triglav, I didn’t find much information about precisely where to park. I stopped at the first clear parking area in front of a cabin. The road continued, but it wasn’t clear if there was additional parking ahead. I saw no signs. A father with his two young sons was similarly confused. My AllTrails map suggested the trail start was further along, and that point turned out to be accurate, after another interim stop at another small area with cars. When in doubt…just keep driving until you can’t anymore. The main parking is where the road ends.

There is actually decent cell signal throughout this hike, but it’s best to download offline maps to be safe. I did have to hack together the route, as AllTrails only has it up to Kredarica (as of when I was there). This was it:

It’s a bit over 1,500 meters of ascent and 7.5 kilometers to the hut (Triglavski dom na Kredarici, or Triglav Lodge on Kredarica). From there, it’s another 350 meters to the summit, for a total of over 1,900m of ascent. The route is pretty much straight up, so there’s <50m of gain on the way back down. All-in, it’s about 2,000 meters!

I went into this hike unsure of whether the summit would happen. The phrase “off the summit by noon” would be essential, and it seemed like a same-day summit would be the only option. The forecast had a 90-100% chance of precipitation from 3pm that day (60% chance from 2pm) for 24 hours straight. My plan was to reach the hut by 10:30am and assess from there. With the parking confusion, I didn’t get started until 6:15am. Even at that hour, it was so hot and humid! I didn’t take many photos or videos on the way up…I had to keep a quick pace, and there wasn’t much to see anyway. I was in a cloud, feeling increasingly pessimistic about a summit. The weather was meant to worsen throughout the day, not improve. However, Maglić in BiH gave me a bit of hope. Sure enough, with under 300 meters of ascent remaining to the hut, the clouds began to thin out.

I managed to stick to the planned pacing, arriving a few minutes after 10:30am. I was shocked to see a completely clear sky around the summit.

As I took a short snack break, I saw several other climbers gearing up. I also saw thicker fog roll in and disperse a few times, but no scary weather systems really building. Still, I didn’t want to hang around until one did. By 11am, I rushed off to start the climb.

In both of the above shots, the hut I’d just come from is visible! Can you spot it? Admittedly, I was using an action camera mount on my backpack strap, and my aiming skills were not great. Some of the video footage is in the Instagram highlights, but there weren’t many usable photos / screen captures.

Quick gear aside: While a helmet is always a great idea on a route like this, the via ferrata set is more optional. I’d really recommend bringing one, although I didn’t clip in at all on the way up (and only twice on the way down, once to let someone pass and another time just for extra security on a steep, awkward section). It’s important to remember that the set is for emergencies only, since the shock absorbers only deploy once. From there, it likely means a rescue, and if storms are in the forecast…you don’t want to be in that position. The route I did is an out-and-back, so keep the descent in mind as you head up. I found that it felt pretty exposed in parts, but no exposure was too sustained, and none of the climbing was too difficult. It was one of the most fun scrambles I’ve done!

I summited around 12:30pm to clear, blue skies. For a Saturday, it wasn’t too crowded, and I didn’t run into any major queues on the way up. I did run into a fellow American (living in Hungary) on the summit, Alex!

When I started this challenge, I joined Couchsurfing to connect with people around Europe (and the world). Long story short, after talking about what we were doing up there, Alex recognized me from Couchsurfing when he’d been looking for a place to crash in London (but I was away). The world is small, even if you’re spending your time on the taller parts of it!

We joined up for the rest of the hike. This is how I have this golden photo of the queues we’d thus far avoided.

Heavier clouds had rolled in, so it was time to book it back down. Many people were still heading up, which turned out fine…the forecasted thunderstorms never arrived. None that day, none the next (until late afternoon). This is one time I was grateful the forecast was wrong! Still, I was glad I’d rushed up – I wouldn’t have wanted to be climbing up through that fog, not knowing whether or when the (pretty typical) afternoon thunderstorms would hit.

I normally would recommend going on a weekday. I suspect that it wasn’t as crowded on this particular day because of the forecast. This photo captures the only real bottleneck on the route, but it’s common on summer weekends. There are many guided groups religiously clipping through each section, making passing a bit more complicated if people in both directions are trying to stay attached.

Speaking of guiding, I’ll say that it would be pretty tough to get lost on this. A guide would be helpful if you’re not comfortable with the gear, want to deviate from this straightforward out-and-back, or just feel more comfortable with someone else calling the shots around weather, etc. Guides can generally put you on a more secure belay if you happen to freeze up. I’ve spoken with people who have gone with and without a guide, and everyone enjoyed this mountain, without exception. Slovenia’s obsession with it is very warranted.

With those queues, the descent to the hut took almost as long as the ascent. I happily plunked down from the final climbing section onto flatter gravel. I’d apparently expended all of my focus on not falling off the mountain, so within seconds, my feet were in the air and butt was on the ground. There wasn’t even anything to trip on. I popped back up, walked a bit further, then saw everyone looking back toward where I’d fallen. Had someone else done the same? Nope, there was a pair of goats – a mom and her baby!! This is in the Instagram highlights.

Back at the hut, we had dinner with more Americans (a couple living in Germany). There was starting to be a trend here that would continue for the trip. We all headed to bed fairly early, tired from a long day. The couple had come up an even more strenuous route, while Alex had taken the same one as me. There are several possible routes and many variations of those routes, since Triglav sits within a national park covering 880 square kilometers (Triglav National Park).

I’d forgotten that I booked early enough to secure a private room. After completing the longest single-day ascent of my life, I was really grateful for this. A good night’s rest would be important before a long descent the next day, and this room (with dinner and breakfast included) was only 60 euros…much cheaper than your average hotel room in peak season. I did use my AAC UK discount for that.

Speaking of AAC UK, it’s a good idea to have some sort of alpine club membership that includes rescue coverage. Triglav was the location of an 18-person rescue mission in July 2022, when hikers still on the cables were caught in a sudden thunderstorm. Miraculously, everyone survived. Rescue coverage or not, this isn’t a mountain to mess with.

The next morning, we headed out a little after 8am, after some breakfast. It was a beautiful morning, and apparently, I missed an amazing sunrise! The morning light was still nice, though. There’s climbing inspiration everywhere, with impressive peaks rising in all directions. @daniela_celigoj is frequently up on Triglav and many of these peaks, including some shown in the above photo, if you’d like to see more angles of this beautiful park across seasons! (:

The views of Triglav don’t last long before the route drops down into the valley. Make sure to keep looking back while you can!

For most of the way down, there was some aerial entertainment in the form of a helicopter doing (presumably) practice drills. Many take-offs, landings, high-tailing it from above Kredarica to the mountains opposite it, and whatever else it was they were doing (Alex was more familiar with that, as a helicopter pilot). The sky did start to look increasingly unstable, but still clear enough for views that were completely absent on the way up. It was like a brand new route down!

It was early afternoon when we arrived back to the cars, and I resisted the urge to down an entire bag of paprika chips. We grabbed lunch at a spot with great views and gluten-free options, before Alex began his long journey back to Hungary, and I headed to Hostel Vrba in Ljubljana to check in.

The Capital

At the check-in desk, I was given some helpful directions and a map of things to see in the city.

We got on the topic of Triglav, and another guest (an American named Thomas) at check-in mentioned he was planning to head up there the next day. I didn’t want to hang around the lobby too long before destinkifying myself post-hike, so I went to leave my things in the dorm. Another American named Elan was already inside. She leaving early the next day to start a multi-day trek in Italy, so we had a long chat about hiking before I finally made it to the shower. It was only around 6pm, so we decided to see the castle for a bit before grabbing dinner.

On the way out, we passed Thomas, who hadn’t finalized his Triglav plans yet (the weather forecast was looking even more damning than mine had, with crazy windspeeds and 100% chance of thunderstorms most of the day), in the stairwell. He agreed to join the evening plans, then grabbed a Swiss guy named Sven from his dorm room, and the four of us set out for a strenuous uphill trek to balance out my strenuous descent earlier that day.

I joke. It was maybe 10 minutes of uphill strolling, but still a big effort after a 2,000-meter ascent the previous day and another long morning on the legs downhill. There is a funicular, but if you have usable legs, it’s just easier (and cheaper) to walk. A man up there asked me to take his photo, which turned into a several-minute ordeal. Retaking at different angles, fixing his poses, etc. The hostel crew was entertained. He then returned the favor (result above), and we continued inside.

The castle has a varied history dating back to the 11th century. It’s been a fortress, residence, prison, military warehouse, mint, religious site, and cultural center, but not all at the same time. There’s more information about it on their website and in the museum exhibits.

The castle grounds and courtyard are free, and payment is only required for entry to specific towers and exhibits. We were happy with the views around the courtyard and ready for some food.

We found a nice spot to sit outside for dinner along a main road. The city itself is pretty small, so it’s easy to see most of it quickly. Then it becomes more about just enjoying the atmosphere and views – it’s one of the nicest cities I’ve seen!

From there, we headed to Ljubljana’s “skyscraper”, Nebotičnik. It has a rooftop bar with views over the illuminated castle. It closes pretty early, at 10pm, so we headed to a gelato spot next.

On the way, we passed through a very unique alley called Ključavničarska ulica (Locksmith Street), to see a sculpture called “Faces of Locksmith Street”. Jakov Brdar sculpted this and other works around Ljubljana, and while he normally sticks to Greek mythology, this was an interpretation of a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke. “To think, for instance, that I have never been aware before how many faces there are. There are quantities of human beings, but there are many more faces, for each person has several,” wrote Rilke. There are 700 bronze faces, with a variety of emotions across them, filling a gully right through the middle of the street.

We continued back to the hostel, where we found a table outside for Elan to teach the group a card game called the Mind. It was interesting, to say the least. The thunderstorm finally hit that evening, and the rain would continue for the rest of my short time there. We grabbed brunch in the morning before heading our separate ways. Thomas and Sven headed to Bled, while I headed back to Trieste to fill in the car rental person on the successful Triglav summit – she was maybe as excited as I was! (:

THANK YOU ❤

Thanks for reading my fourteenth Crown of Cureope blog post! At the time I stood on the top of Slovenia, we had raised $1,595 for the American Association for Cancer Research to fund lifesaving discoveries. As of publishing this post, we are at $1,685 raised of our $2,500 2025 target. There’s still a bit further to go to hit this year’s goal – any donations are appreciated!!