Mountains keep calling me

I made plans last year on top of which mountains I want to stand this year, but achieving this seems to be far from easy. Either I work either the weather is bad, the other day I injured my foot, several days it was too hot. Besides I am not as fit as I planned to be. Dreaming a lot but achieving too little. Though, most of all I am really tired of the work I did during winter and spring. Days and days of study are taking their toll now, as all I want to do is rest just a little bit longer.

But, when I am finally up there, I am extremely happy. :) So, why wait, right?

Last year

I actually don't have a good reason for being quiet for so long in this space, as in fact many things happened during this year while “I was gone”. It’s true that I am a little bit tired of being unemployed for such a long time; this somehow takes a toll of the soul. I have never lived with less, but somehow life isn’t as bad as it could be. I can just keep my fingers crossed that it won’t get worse. To tell the truth, I have asked myself many times in the last months: "What is the meaning of my life?"

Triglav, our highest mountain, from the hill above the Ljubljana Marshes.

2015 was a year of many changes. I became a local tourist guide, although I will start guiding tourists in Ljubljana no sooner than in spring this year. But … I guided quite many school groups around the Ljubljana Marshes, met many new people, found some new friends, learned lots (and lots and lots) of new things, shared my knowledge with others. I could say that it was a year of communication and lots of new people in my life. I am turning my back to those who don’t need me and I am embracing those who do.

I know that 2016 will be a busy year. That’s why I am so grateful for the peaceful days at the moment and I try to spend them where I’m always happy – above the clouds with the view on the mountains. 

Vrh nad Peski

I was in that area before, last year, and that evening Ž called the rescuers because I hadn’t come home before evening. This year I told him that I would be home in the evening, for sure not before, and I also sent him a few messages during my walks on the paths where some of the fiercest battles during the I. World War took place.

Under the mountain called Vrh nad Peski (a rough translation of this name would be The Peak above the Sands) huts for the soldiers were built, and the remnants of the wood could still be seen although it is mostly buried under the sand and rocks. Pieces of shells lie everywhere as well as empty cans and other, sometimes not recognizable objects. On the path under the peak of my final destination were also a few bullets. Some still whole, some smashed.

On the other side of the mountain used to be a huge graveyard; most bodies were later exhumed and buried in the valley. On my path I could also see numerous human bones. People carry these things home, therefore I was lucky to find some bullets at all; I don’t dare to pick one stone and take it home, yet anything made by human. Let those things lie there; I believe that’s where they belong. After all, they are covered with human blood.

To me the whole area looked like a mockery of nature, because alpine flowers were growing everywhere. There was at least one for every soldier who had had to be there involuntarly and at least ten of them for every soldier who had died on those steep slopes.

I hope to return to those places. Although it is not very pleasant to see all those remnants of the war, it is very beautiful there. And the view is magnificent, too; I could see all the way to the sea. Or one would brag: I could see all the way to Venice. Well, perhaps that city was Venice which I could see through my binoculars; who knows?

Bogatin, a place where a treasure is hidden

Sometimes my legs feel like stones, and my hikes are far from pleasant because of this. I also don’t like strong winds and clouds that roll over the mountains while I am there. Indeed, I didn’t continue my last planned tour, I turned back. One more tick on my list, although there should have been two. It was a hard day, and I can’t really tell, why.

This was last year - a fox waiting to get some food when I was taking a break at the hut:

This year there was the same unpleasant keeper of the mountain hut but no fox. The remnants of the human stupidity, called the I. World War, were everywhere. So many young guys had to die because of one man who decided that there should be war. And he even didn’t live long enough so that he could see how many people had to die and suffer because of his signature on one single piece paper.

I’ve made plans for my next hikes, there are still so many places I have to go to. I just hope my legs will be lighter then, much lighter, and that weather will be nicer, much nicer.

Guardian of the mountain nature

One day in winter I found a call for applications for the guardians of the mountain nature. I have no idea why I found this good, but I applied for it. So I spent three weekends with 20 other pupils, each time in another mountain hut. It is true that I had known more than half of what I heard but it was good to hear other perspectives, too. Most of my schoolfriends were rather boring, maybe because all of them (except Ž who was my schoolfriend, too) were sent to the course by their mountaineering society.

I have no idea how I will be able to help to protect the mountain nature but I am sure that this chance will eventually come. If nothing else I can warn people not to bath in the Alpine lakes or pick the plants in the national park. It is tempting, I know, but it is forbidden. Do we really have to destroy everything just for our pleasure?

I still have an essay to write, and for this reason I will have to go to the mountains quite often. Which is, of course, a pleasure even when I think of it now.

Farewell, dear mountains

There’s no use in having a new camera if you forget to press the right button. I took these photos with ISO 400 which of course shows in their quality.

It is hard to sit at home when larches get their yellow color, and I was not the only one admiring the beauty of the autumn in the mountains. It was an easy hike; after a bad “mountain year” for me, I am not in a condition to walk the whole day. So I rested quite a lot, saying farwell to my beloved places for another winter and spring. I dearly hope to return next year.

Austrian mountains

I caught a terrible cold after this trip to the source of the river Mura in the Austrian Alps. It was beautiful, so different from our Alps, but also too cold for me to fully enjoy the trip.

We (a group of eight people) slept in a cozy hut with hot tap water and prices just a little bit higher than in our mountain huts. The wheat beer was excellent (so the guys claimed), as well as tea, beds were cozy but I hardly slept during the night because I couldn’t warm myself. The next day we walked up to the source of the Mura and later decided to go further up to the mountain pass from where we could see two lakes. It must be beautiful here during the summer when mountains are not covered by snow. But this time also inside of a bivouac was only 1 degree C.

On our way down we picked blueberries and cranberries, enjoyed in the scenery, spotted some Golden Eagles, a rare sight for most of us. The landscape was getting the colors of the autumn, in three weeks larches will get their yellow color, too.

It was also great to see the places that I haven’t seen for more than ten years and it was amazing to sing Slovenian songs with Austrians (I believe that not all like us very much; after all, Slovenians fought for centuries to get rid of their supremacy and German language in our institutions). And I still don’t know what happened with Slovenian taste for beauty after the II. WW because it is so obvious where the border line stands – just by looking at the houses which are in Austria so neat and cozy while Slovenian are nothing but a huge mess of all possible styles. I wonder if we really don’t have any city planning in this country?!

Driving back home we were listening to this music which seemed as an appropriate ending of our excursion.

Before the snow fell

Promises were made but they were not kept; and foolish me, I kept waiting. Then came the extreme heat and after that my knee started to hurt.

This was the last hike in the mountains I made before the snow fell. Whole country was sunny except that place where I was. I asked for sunshine at the top and I got it; also the wind calmed down about an hour later. My knee doesn’t hurt anymore; I hope it stays this way. And I do hope that next year I will tick off all those mountains I had on my list for this year.

Skuta, 2532 m

When the weather is fine I can see it from my bathroom window. In Slovenian skuta means curd. I had made a deal with Ž that we go up together, so I had to wait several years that this came true. Last year snow fell too early to climb (literally!) it. This year I was not prepared for any compromises. One day I said to Ž: “I will climb Skuta the day after tomorrow - with or without you.”

So… a couple of days later we took the path up to the hut where we spent the night. It is one of the most pleasant huts I have ever visited. Obviously the oldest part is built completely from the wood because we could not sleep until the Belgian tourists went to bed quite late in the evening; we could hear every word they said.

We woke up early and after the breakfast started our hike. I stopped many times – alpine plants were blooming all around us. After some time we came to a bivouac where three Czech tourists and a father with two sons spent the night. Very interesting building; I guess it must be pleasant to sleep in there.

The hardest part of our path was in front of us – not the steep rock wall but the scree before it. I was glad that Ž was with me. A pleasant walk up to the top waited for us after that. For a moment we could see an ibex and stopped to watch three Ptarmigans.

That day we were the first people on top of Skuta.

It was quite cold, so we searched for a shelter, had a lunch and then slowly descended the mountain. We stopped on top of Štruca (štruca literally means loaf in Slovenian) on our way back, lingered on a meadow near the bivouac and had a meal at the hut. I was so, so happy. …Three days later my knee started to hurt…

All I can say is that I really admire the local people who first climbed those mountains. It is hard to believe that they were able to climb all those steep rocks in wooden clogs or sometimes only in their wollen socks. And I am so happy that I was able to walk on one of their (easiest) paths.

Kompotela, 1989 m

If someone thought that I would have stayed at home when my back was aching, he/she was very wrong. In spite of the backache (I just woke up one day with it) I put my backpack on and went on a hike. This time my final destination was below 2000 m above sea level. Even so the view was magnificent and my path full of wonders. Well, correctly said - full of alpine flowers. I was just so desperate over the camera I have! How difficult can it be to take an average macro photo of a plant? Very difficult with my borrowed camera!

Nigritella lithopolitanica

Soldanella minima

On my path

Androsace villosa

On top with a wonderful view on Planjava and Ojstrica

Closed

Primula wulfeniana

However, this was, believe me, another beautiful day.