Ice climbing in Slovenia, Mount Triglav

Actually, due to the weather conditions, there are no ice for climbing. Mitja was very nice to offer us other options. We chose hiking in snow near Vogel instead. Mitja was very nice and professional. He provide sufficient gears and useful advice. Walking in snow was hard to balance, and the wind was very strong upside. But the view was magnificent and worthy. It was a very unique experience!

We signed up for a winter climb of Triglav and a half-day of ice-climbing for my family of 4 (including 15 & 16 year old children). We achieved neither objective. We had travelled from Australia. We had previously winter-climbed Morocco's Mt Toubkal and we are an adventurous family, but are not mountaineers. The Triglav description stated it was technical but appropriate for beginners. The equipment list stated 'Shoes (high hiking boots recommended)'. On booking, Mitja told me he was unavailable but that his colleague Luka would guide us. One week prior to the trip, I emailed expressing concerns with some of our footwear, as two of us did not have high hiking boots. We were willing to buy them and wanted to seek advice. The weather was looking stable, warm, and no snow had fallen for at least one week. Luka asked me to send photos of what footwear we had. I did that and he replied that none were suitable, and that we all needed 600 Euro mountaineering boots. I was surprised given the equipment list. Over the next few days he suggested the climb was quite technical and said things like 'Do you have any experience with this kind of mountaineering?' I began to get nervous especially for my wife and daughter. I sought clarity but never really received it. Correspondence became patchy. New Years Eve was upon us and we still had no clarity, and shops were closing. Then climbing pants with ventilation were mentioned. At this point we were looking at spending upwards of $4000 AUD on equipment for a climb that might be beyond us. So we pulled the pin. Luka took us instead on a two day alpine trek and we achieved two summits near 2000m. It was pleasant. However we carried ice picks the entire time but never once took them off our packs (except for a brief lesson). At one point we traversed a 40-50 degree slope on crunching snow with a long fall - but for some reason our ice picks stayed attached to our packs. It was kind of scary. When he proposed a second, similar, traverse we declined and took a safer downhill route instead. The hut we stayed in, Lipanca Hut, was pleasant, warm and uncrowded. On the third day we were meant to go ice climbing however the facility was closed due to warm weather. Luka instead took us rock climbing which was good fun. My two comments, however, is that we all had to wear helmets the entire time but Luka did not; in my mind this is a failure in leading by example. Also we started with the hardest climb and worked towards the easiest; that's because the easier climbs were in use when we arrived, which would have been fine if it was explained to us but it wasn't until the end of the day. I struggled on the first climb but made it, however it left me feeling initially bad that I had struggled so much on what I expected to be a more gentle start. Anyway despite all that it was a pleasant 3 days. It was just not what we had signed up for.

I have chosen Mitja three times as my guide in the Julian Alps and now I would not consider anyone else to lead me on my trips. Mitja is friendly, highly enthusiastic and is great at keeping you feeling at ease, even on the most exposed ground. He excels at reading his clients pace and ability, moving neither too quickly or slowly. Mitja obviously has an excellent knowledge of the routes in the Julian Alps (and beyond) as well an impressive level of technical knowledge. Mitja is excellent at English, never struggling to communicate what he requires from his guests. I would not hesitate to recommend him to guide you on any route, whether it be your first via ferrata or a bold north face climb.