Slovenia 3: Prisank 2547m

23rd June – We set off on our first big climb, Prisank (A.K.A. Prisojnik) at 2547 metres. We had a 5am start before it got HOT! (Limestone turns into a bit of an oven in the sun). We drove up the 26 hairpins to the Vršič pass (no, I don’t know how you pronounce that) to find some happy sheep wandering around the empty parking area and set off. An hour or so of gradually steepening paths and scree crossings took us to the start of the Via Ferrata cables.

Pointing to Prisank from our campsite in Trenta (actually it’s a different mountain but never mind)

We weren’t too far off those times. Generally slower coming down.

Sally carefully watching her feet. “I’ll look at the view when I’m sitting down!”

It was Sally’s first go at via ferrata climbing but we’d done a bit of a practice the night before where I showed her how to clip lanyards into cables so that you were always attached by at least one point. She seemed to get the hang of it despite our “cables” being guy ropes, the washing line, and the hammock. Maybe she thought we’d find such things on the mountain.

Animal farm: “Four feet good, two feet bad”

Sally in big air above the window. She wasn’t aware of how dramatic this was until she saw this photo later.

We wobbled around gearing up on a small sloping ledge (yes, it would have made more sense to gear up lower) and Sally led the way up the cables. I’m not sure she was aware of how dramatic the situation was as she climbed through the airy cave window in the rock (see picture above), but I thought it best not to say anything as she made good progress concentrating on the next 6 feet at all times.

Finally we reached the summit! Sally said it was terrifying, and that she was only happy with four limbs in contact with the rock (an effecting scuttling approach) but we’d done it and she was really pleased. “So is the way down pretty easy then?”. Hmm

On the summit! Note the ammo box containing a stamp for your log book. Ink was dry.

The way down was scrambly with some exciting down-climbing. We crossed some snow patches but the glaciers had long gone. Global warming taking effect before your eyes.

This would have been glaciated only a few years ago

The descent was long an laborious. Always seems harder going down than up. Eventually we got back to the easier path we’d come up. Sally now taking the scree crossing in her stride. In fact I always struggle to keep up with her towards the end of a long walk.

Descending. Blank sections usually had big pegs to grab.

I cautiously said that she should wait until this evening to decide if she wanted to do more of this, specifically our planned ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia, was completely optional. No point doing it unless we were keen and confident.

Fifteen minutes later she told me that Triglav sounded even more terrifying, and that she definitely wanted to do it. What a woman!

Nearly down the big couloir leading to the easier path

We got back to the parking area at the col at about mid-day. There were now many hundreds of cars. The poor sheep were trying to get shade in amongst the cars, though it wasn’t obvious why they didn’t disappear into the trees. Maybe they were hoping to be fed.

Descending in the van for a few hairpins we found a very peaceful spot to have a late breakfast with views across the valley of the World War I fortifications.

Bobby Gilbert Adventures

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