An early start to the day

They say that to be a true Slovenian, you have to have been on Triglav at least once in your life. Judging by how full the hut was, many people seem to take this very seriously. Although I’m sure that the many non-Slovenians are perhaps hoping to be naturalized. For me, it was certainly a highlight to climb the highest mountain in Slovenia. I can’t say the same about my home country of Germany.

In the evening, I checked the weather at the reception for the next day. The hut was the first one where I had no reception at all – and somehow it felt good to be a bit offline before the big climb. The weather was forecast to be fine between 6 and 9 am. Nevertheless, I started very early: at 6:30 a.m. I was ready to climb the highest mountain in Slovenia, Triglav.

As many people had already gathered in the hut and as popular as the destination is, I was convinced that there would be crowds on the way to the 2800-metre summit. But far from it: I didn’t meet anyone. The silence, the emptiness on the paths, had something almost unreal about it. It wasn’t until I reached the summit that I met a couple of Dutchwomen and an American – we helped each other take photos.

They looked at me, being in swimming trunks, a little puzzled. For me, this is simply the most comfortable way to hike – but a bit of a challenge in the wind at 7 in the morning. The sun carefully peeked over the distant mountain peaks and its light made the Alps glow in bright pastel shades. Staggered shades of gray from the peaks, like cascading waves, and the clouds in the valley partially obscuring the green jungle below, created a landscape that felt like a scene from Jurassic Park.

Descent and breakfast

After I had had my fill – and was starting to get cold – I began the descent. As expected, it was just as straightforward as the ascent. I had imagined the via ferrata to be much more difficult. A climbing harness would have been of little use here – on the contrary, it would probably have been a hindrance.

The landlady at the hut had predicted that the ascent would take around two and a half hours. I was back after just under two hours, ready for breakfast: fried eggs with bread and butter. Simple, but just right to recharge my batteries.

Back on the route with Marc

Marc, who had also spent the night in the hut, decided to forgo the summit. He is hiking the Via Alpina from Trieste to Monaco, a 2000 km route that doesn’t actually include any summits, but still covers around 120,000 meters of altitude over the entire distance.

Freshly fortified, we made our way back to the main route. Marc is more interested in altitude meters than kilometers and doesn’t like to exceed 1600 meters of altitude per day. We initially stayed together downhill – at the same pace. I often heard him swearing about why we had to walk so far down first, only to scramble straight back up again. I tried to explain to him that this is simply part of the mountains. 🙂

Encounter with Joaquim and Margaux

We met Joaquim and Margaux on the ascent to the pass. Joaquim is Spanish and lives in Germany, Margaux in France. The two are old friends who were on a longer hike together for seven days – the first time for them on such a tour. They were surprised to see us, as they had set off much earlier. From then on, we continued together.

I kept shooting ahead, then waiting for the group. I am often called “machine”, “crazy” or “superhuman”. The two Americans I had met earlier even wanted to give me the trail name “Cheeto” – in reference to the cheetah, a swift predator. No one has ever been as fast as me – or was always ahead of me – who knows. Why do I have so much stamina? I have no idea. I don’t usually get tired until 4 pm. Everything before that is pure power.

Summits, snacks and views

I’m very happy about my body and the fact that all the talk from others that things start to go downhill at my age simply hasn’t been true. I’m almost 40 now and I feel like I’m getting fitter instead of the other way around.

During a break, Marc made coffee and we shared snacks. Joaquim had an almost too big bag of dried fruit with him – at least a kilo. Fine by me – I feasted on figs and other treats. My hike hunger had fully kicked in by now.

Another summit was waiting off the route. Marc was a little annoyed at first that I had lured him there, even though it wasn’t necessary to climb it. In the end, he was happy. We decided to have lunch right up there – with a breathtaking view of the Triglav, which I had been standing on just hours before.

At the top, we had some fun with an alpine chough. It let us feed it, but didn’t dare come close to us. It grabbed the morsels in a flash and flew away – rather like a raven. As I found out later, alpine choughs are actually ravens. So they are also as intelligent as they are said to be.

Evening in the hut and anniversary

When I arrived at the hut for the night, I treated myself to a piece of cake and coffee. The day had demanded everything – both physically and mentally.

As some had already remarked that my feet didn’t smell fresh, I washed them thoroughly twice. After that, my company was bearable again.

Later, I spoke to Sabrina on the phone – our anniversary. I had surprised her from afar with a video and a bunch of flowers that were already on her doorstep when she got home from work. She was so happy. This time we had only agreed on a check-in every three days, so I arrived safely. No constant flood of messages, but an extensive phone call after three days.

Some days just dribble by monotonously, one step in front of the other, without much spectacle. This day, on the other hand, was completely different. The ascent to the highest point, good company and good weather. Everything was just right and was rounded off by the sunset with a view of the valley.