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.