Triglav 2026: through the snow to Slovenia's highest mountain in April

Wednesday 22 April 2026, through Austria to Bohinj

• There were three of us: Patrik, Honzík and me. In the afternoon we drove through Styria and Carinthia to Slovenia.
• In the evening a short stop at Lake Bled, then on to Stara Fužina by Lake Bohinj, where we had our accommodation.

Bled
A glacial lake with a little island and the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and a castle on a cliff above it. The best-known tourist spot in Slovenia, about 25 km from Bohinj.

Thursday 23 April 2026, Pokljuka, Studorski preval and Vodnikov dom

• A morning walk through Stara Fužina: wooden hay racks, wayside shrines and snow-covered mountains above the village.
• By car up to Pokljuka, setting off around half past ten from Rudno Polje (about 1,390 m). Hepaticas and hellebores in the grass.
• Through the forest and across the slopes up to Studorski preval (1,892 m). A snack on the rocks at the pass, Honzík in his down jacket, Patrik with the map. Alpine choughs flocked in straight away, taking food out of our hands and landing on our forearms.
• Across the Tosc plateau, where crocuses were pushing out of the ground, to Velo Polje. From 1,800 m there was continuous snow and our boots kept sinking in.
• At three o'clock at Vodnikov dom (1,817 m). An apple and a drink on the terrace with a view of Triglav, a helicopter circling above the ridges and a chough posing on a railing post.
• Back the same way over Tosc and Studorski preval, at the car after seven in the evening, the last light behind the clouds on the way.
• Dinner in Ribčev Laz by the lake, with wine and tiramisu in a glass. Stars over Stara Fužina at night.

Pokljuka
A forested plateau above Bohinj at around 1,300 m. At Rudno Polje there is a biathlon centre that hosts the World Cup, and trails lead from there to Viševnik and to Vodnikov dom.

Studorski preval
A pass (1,892 m) between Pokljuka and the Velo Polje valley. Alpine choughs live here, black crow-family birds with a yellow bill that aren't afraid of people.

Vodnikov dom na Velem polju
A mountain hut at 1,817 m below the south face of Triglav, named after the poet Valentin Vodnik. From here you head for Triglav via Konjsko sedlo and Dom Planika.

Friday 24 April 2026, from Uskovnica to Vodnikov dom

• Packing up in Stara Fužina in the morning, a stop at Lake Bohinj, the water like a mirror.
• By car to Uskovnica and on foot from there with full packs. I carried the rope over my shoulder and the ice axe in my hand.
• Pastures with a wooden chapel and a view of the whole ridge above Bohinj, gentians in the meadows.
• A break on a log in the forest, then steeply uphill. With heavy packs we climbed a rock step on the tree roots.
• Above Spodnji Tosc (about 1,550 m) a traverse across a steep snowfield with a gully below us. Step by step, the ice axe driven into the slope.
• Rests on the rocks, the sun was scorching even at 1,600 m and we walked in T-shirts.
• At Vodnikov dom around six. In the evening the moon in a blue sky, sunset behind the mountains, pasta in broth out of a mess tin for dinner and feet up on the railing.
• We slept in the hut's winter room. It was properly cold in there and in the end there were about seven of us.

Lake Bohinj
The largest natural lake in Slovenia, about 4 km long, lying in Triglav National Park at an altitude of 525 m. At its eastern end are the villages of Ribčev Laz and Stara Fužina.

Uskovnica
A mountain pasture on the edge of Pokljuka at around 1,150 m with shepherds' huts and the chapel of Mary Queen of Peace. One of the starting points for the route to Vodnikov dom.

Saturday 25 April 2026, Triglav (2,864 m)

• After midnight the moon above the snowy peaks. At six the sun on the summits, we left Vodnikov dom at half past seven.
• Around the rocks and across the snow to Konjsko sedlo (2,020 m), at half past nine a break on the rocks with a view all the way down into the Bohinj valley.
• At ten at Dom Planika (2,401 m), beyond that nothing but snow and rock.
• Above Planika a steep snow gully. Crampons, ice axe, stepping into the tracks of the person ahead and the drop below us getting ever deeper. In a narrow spot between rock walls the snow was hard, up the slope almost on all fours.
• Then rock with steel cables, in places buried in snow. Just after noon we were up on Mali Triglav (2,738 m).
• From Mali Triglav a sharp snowy ridge, hundreds of metres down on both sides. The cables were partly under the snow, so we went roped up, one behind the other.
• At 13:27 all three of us on the summit by the Aljaž Tower, not a cloud in sight and a view across the whole Julian Alps.
• Down along the same ridge, and that was worse than going up, because you're looking into the depths the whole time. Below the ridge we packed up the ropes on the rocks and caught our breath for a while.
• Down the gully to Planika around four, at Vodnikov dom at half past six.
• Then still more, in the dark with headlamps, down to the car at Uskovnica, the same way over Tosc we had come up the day before.
• We looked for an open pub for dinner and only found a dive serving beer. So dinner was beer and whatever food we had left.

Triglav
The highest mountain in Slovenia and the Julian Alps (2,864 m) and a national symbol, it's on the Slovenian coat of arms and flag. On the summit stands the Aljaž Tower, a metal shelter put up in 1895 by the priest Jakob Aljaž, who bought the summit from the municipality for one florin.

Dom Planika pod Triglavom
A mountain hut at 2,401 m on the south side of Triglav. From here you head for the summit over Mali Triglav along a via ferrata.

Triglav National Park
The only national park in Slovenia, declared a national park in 1981. It covers almost the entire Slovenian part of the Julian Alps, including Lake Bohinj and Pokljuka.

Sunday 26 April 2026, Bohinj, Bled and the journey home

• Morning in Stara Fužina, a cobweb in the grass, firewood stacked by the house.
• Saying goodbye to Lake Bohinj at the boat landing in Ribčev Laz.
• A stop at Lake Bled, then home through Austria.