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Slovenia July 2009

I'm just back from two great days sampling the delights of the Julian Alps and would thoroughly recommend the area for a running holiday.

The first turned out to be an epic of nearly 11 hours racing back to beat nightfall and the ignominy of a Slovenian friend calling for rescue. I started at the road end beyond lake Bohinj and belted up the never ending zig-zags through the forest for 3000' taking about 1hr30 for the recommended 2hr30 stage. Another 1hr30 took me through a veritable garden of alpine flowers to the hut where I filled my water bottles (no streams at all up here in the limestone). The next section up past the seven lakes with big crags, snow patches and more flowers was superb. A stiff little climb up to the confusing plateaux of Hibarice and then a tiring scramble up snow patches (dicy in walshes) and awkward scree (stick to the decent rock where you can) led me to the summit of Kanjavec (2500m) in 6hours. It was much further back than I estimated (I discovered  two extra folds of the map!) with lots of stops to consult the map to avoid benightment.

After a few days to recover I teamed up with a Slovenian friend called Mario to climb Prisojnik (2500m) from the Vrsic pass (1600m). This was a much easier day up a much more serious mountain with no easy ways up. It all looks a bit improbable with huge crags seeming to guard every way up but the red paint leads you up little walls with rungs and cables, round narrow ledges and all you need is a head for heights and a lot of faith. I think we lost the Slovenian route on the way up and took in an extra bit of the ridge but the ridge down (similar to Aonach Eagach) past the spectacular window was superb.

Alan Graham