Last weekend I guided on Triglav. During the week the weather changed abruptly, Kredarica received 30 cm of snow and winter made an early appearance in the high mountains.
I’d never climbed with any of the guests before, so I chose the route from the Krma Valley. Slovenia was under the influence of a persistent cyclone coming from the Adriatic Sea, which made accurate weather predictions for the weekend pretty much impossible.
Despite the forecast calling for sunny weather on Saturday, low clouds accompanied us while we hiked up to Kredarica, which we reached at 13:00. There was still some snow around the hut. After resting for an hour we decided to climb to the summit. The clouds occasionally parted, allowing us glimpses of the top, but most of the time we were enveloped in fog. Snow depth started to increase on Little Triglav. It wasn’t too cold so I was able to wear only a thin pair of gloves. My guests climbed securely and quickly and after two hours we reached the snowy summit, which was surrounded by light clouds. We enjoyed a quick snack and took some photos.
There was a couple on the summit without any safety equipment or gloves, who followed us on the descent. The girl started to breathe more heavily when we reached the ridge, and it was clear that she was afraid. She was also cold because she didn’t have any gloves. Borut and I gave the pair our spare gloves and told them to follow us. The rock became slippery due to the low temperature, forcing us to be extra careful. After an hour and a half we were back at the Kredarica Hut, where we celebrated our successful ascent of Triglav.
The next day the fog finally cleared and we enjoyed wonderful views. It was colder than the previous day and the route to the summit was covered in icy patches. My guests and I were glad that we'd already been to the top the day before. We descended back to Krma, enjoying the last moments of our beautiful tour.
Danilo Tič
