Snowshoeing in Triglav National Park

A unique form of wandering in magical winter surroundings.

By LAJF INC.

December 16^th, 2015

a true winter

Can you imagine a natural setting, an unspoiled nature with a high snow blanket all around, when even pine trees are bending under the weight of the collected snowflakes? This is an image of a generous winter in February, right in the heart of the Triglav National Park. If winter in the Julian Alps is as it should be, there can be up to four meters of snow, which makes one true winter fairytale. This kind of winter covers most of the signposts in the mountains and also demands good preparation before the tour as well as knowledge of certain techniques of movement.

We had a pleasant day, a true winter, almost arctic cold day (-20 degrees Celsius) and an abundance of winter atmosphere. We began our tour with a morning transfer from Ljubljana to Bohinj, had our breakfast in a small gostilna called Strudl and later on continued up to Pokljuka: a vast plateau, which lies in the heart of the Triglav National Park. From there, we continued on foot - with snowshoes and backpacks on our shoulders, for a true walking tour, which you can easily call a winter expedition. We stepped on the deep snow, full of good will and energy. The walk was possible with the help of the snowshoes, which kept us above the snow, and a bit tiring but a true delight. After about an hour of walking in a world full of mighty pine trees, we arrived to a clearing, summer pasture area under the Debela pec. At the white clearing, full of snow, we set up an area for a short break and had some well-earned hot tea and delicious dry fruits.

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Blejska mountain Hut

We later on continued our walk and slowly began to climb towards the Blejska Koca Hut on Lipanca. After about an hour of walking, where we also helped ourselves with walking sticks and have now and then stepped deep into snow, we saw a clearing ahead. The path led us across the clearing and steeply up towards the hut. A marvelous view opened up of the forest and surrounding mountain range – the Karavanke and Kamnik Savinja Alps – and the vast valley of Gorenjska, which stretches all the way to Ljubljana. We reached Blejska Koca Hut a bit tired and shivering with cold, but satisfied with our achievement and full of good will. A kind caretaker of the hut served us delicious barley soup called richet, homemade bread and hot tea. The fire was crackling in the fireplace, full of freshly loaded logs. We felt really comfortable, like kings and happy at what felt like almost the end of the world.

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First snowshoeing experience

A good hour later, we set back to the heart of the Pokljuka forest. First we gently climbed towards Mt Visevnik and later on, surrounded by unspoiled nature and deep snow base towards Javornik. It was snowshoeing poetry, walking with snowshoes on the deep snow: when you descend on fresh and deep snow, the snowshoes serve as stable skis. We rested a bit on Javornik and then continued towards Rudno polje, where our tour concluded. We were proud of ourselves and of our first snowshoeing experience. Julian Alps are an excellent natural polygon for winter activities and snowshoeing is a clever choice for moving in the outdoors, when there is plenty of fresh fallen snow.