Steep and freeride skiing in slovenian alps

A unique skiing experience in the breathtaking Alps.

By LAJF INC.

October 26^th, 2018

Slovenia is a true little paradise

The Julian Alps are hard to compare to the mountains above Chamonix when talking about steep and freeride skiing in the mountains. The mountains around Mont Blanc are simply more popular, more visited, more desirable... But our mountains, although lower, hide many excellent escarpments for skiing in the true sense of the word. Slovenians are proud of the Julian Alps, which are therefore quite sieged in a skiing sense in the winter. In the north-western part of Slovenia, we have the Karavanke mountain range with quite a number of escarpments suitable for long lines on the powdery snow and shorter lines along the steep slopes of the mountains. When adding the western Julian Alps with Sella Nevea and Kanin, Slovenia is a true little paradise for all eager ski adventurers in the open mountain world.

Steep and freeride skiing in slovenian alps

Today, everything is different

I remember my first serious downhill from Skuta (2,532m) on the south-eastern side of the mountain quite some years ago. Then on (RC Elan) skis and Dynafit ski bindings for competitive Alpine skiing and inadequate mountaineering equipment. But it went well thanks to the competition training, and a trained co-skier and alpinist. Today, everything is different: the equipment for steep and freeride skiing is excellent, weather forecasts are accurate, there are quite a lot of digital outlines of the mountains and the areas, and there is a lot of face-to-face communication and internet-social information. It is also possible to use a backpack with air bag for skiing today, which can save you in the worst case scenario. Also, the knowledge and techniques of searching for a person buried in the snow are refined today. Perhaps the only weakness—if it’s a weakness at all—in the mountains of Slovenia is that the mountain huts are mostly closed in winter, so it is necessary to plan tours carefully, using a modest offer of bivouacs for a several-day skiing.

Skiing poetry depends on the amount of snowfall

The best areas for steep skiing are definitely the Karavanke mountains, which are completely north-facing (mountain ridge of Košuta with Veliki vrh (2,088m), Begunjščica (2,060m), Stol (2,236m), Vrtača (2,180m), Palec (2,026m)...). There are also excellent mountains in the central area of the Julian Alps (Jalovec 2,645m), Razor (2,601m), Kanjavec (2,596m), Triglav (2,864m), Špik (2,472m), Mala Mojstrovka (2,332m), Mangart (2,679m)... and mountains of the western Julian Alps: Špik Hude police (2,420m), Špik above Nanos (2,531m), Prestreljenik (2,499m)... The best areas for serious and steep freeride skiing can be found in Karavanke, truly excellent in the area of Kanin and Sella Nevea, and freeride skiing also possible from the peaks around Vogel (1,923m), although with a bit more of a view of the cable railway.

Skiing poetry depends on the amount of snowfall, but somehow it is confirmed that the best downhills are some time from mid-January to April. April can also be excellent for steep downhill over the slopes, only the amounts of soft spring snow are bigger. However, the Slovenian Alps are too low to keep low temperatures and good snow conditions for skiing in late spring.

Every ski tour in the mountains of Slovenia is interesting

I enjoy skiing in the winter the most, when I feel the cold all the way to the bones, when the mountains are fully snowy and the mountains are lonely. Then, the skiing on the open terrain of the slopes or in steep ravines, cut deep into the mountains, is truly unique: yes, this is usually quite a serious and demanding act too. In a good and true winter, steep and freeride skiing in the mountains of Slovenia can be compared perfectly with skiing in more popular parts of the European Alps. It is probably even more genuine because there is less infrastructure in the mountains.

Every tour in the mountains of Slovenia is interesting in its own way; it is also something special, because the mountains are quite diverse, full of low valleys from which steep and erect rocks rise. The latter are shorter than in the true European high mountains, but they are as demanding in a skiing and mountaineering sense. I mostly ski in the Karavanke mountain range and in the Julian Alps, simply because I have mountains in front of my nose and they represent an excellent range for gathering experience for serious lines in the Alps.

What is important are the experience

In the mountains of my homeland, I find a lot of wonderful ski lines, such as in narrow ravines, steep passages and on open slopes. I'm not burdened with the ratings and difficulty of skiing, but above all I enjoy the freedom of movement and creativity. In the mountains of Slovenia, the assessments of steep ski lines don’t matter, but above all the aesthetics of skiing in the diverse mountain world. What is important are the experience and the feeling when you make some good turns, when the sleek snow takes you in and you are effortlessly drawing the line into the mountain. Nowadays, skiing happiness is primarily found in exploring the new, the unknown... so welcome to steep and freeride skiing in the wonderful mountain world of Slovenia!