I would like to take you to a magical mountain place in Europe that unfortunately many people haven't visited yet. When you think about mountains and Europe most people think about Switzerland, Austria or France. But the Julian Alps, located in Slovenia are breathtaking. To show you I would like to share our climb of the mountain Mangart, on the border between Slovenia and Italy.
Even the route to the starting point of this climb is special as you drive over Slovenias highest road: Mangart road. You have to pay a small fee to drive on this road but you will not be disappointed as it offers beautiful views throughout. You can park your car at the end of the road and then continue into the beautiful mountains. We took what is know as the Slovenian route up mountain Mangart. This route is a via ferrata route, meaning you need a climbing harness and equipment in order to climb it, so come prepared!
Here you can see the route to my right. You see the saddle of the mountain behind me (a good stop for a snack) and then you head to the right and through the gap that you see between the rocks. Be careful to wait until July to climb this mountain, as you do not want to walk through the snow! From there it is a pretty steep climb up with the help of steel cables that you hook your climbing harness into. If you are behind other people there is little chance of passing them here. But taking it slow is not a bad thing, as the views are sublime!
After a long climb you will make it to the top, where you also meet people coming from the other side of the mountain to the top.
The top is a great moment to enjoy the views, on one side you will see the Slovenian side with the Julian Alps and their highest mountain Mt. Triglav, while the Italian side offers views of the Dolomites.
After a lot of water and some food we went down the other side of the mountain, there the descent is less steep so a bit easier on the knees. The descent also has steel cables but those are a lot less intense then the ones on the way up. I would really recommend bringing some walking sticks as it can be quite hard on the knees this downward path. It was here that I was starting to get tired as well, as you can see by my red head in this picture.
You end up back in the same place you started, though you went right at the beginning and you come back from the other side of the mountain. The route from the saddle to the parking is the same, so you make a loop. At the bottom before you get to the car there is a mountain hut and I would really recommend that you stop there for an ice cold beer, you have earned one!
My Garmin lost battery just before the end but as you can see it was a pretty long day on this climb, mostly because the via ferrata is quite slow, but also because we really took our time on the top to look at all the views!
I hope you enjoyed, hope you got inspired by the Julian Alps. All pictures are my own.
