Slovenia #4: Raduha Summit Climb
Roman tries to figure out which way we go
Our good luck with the weather continued. For our third hike we had another bright sunny morning. The day before we had hiked through the Longarska Valley before climbing up and out of it to a viewpoint. Today we would start high, driving to a trailhead well up the mountain and then hiking to the summit. That sounded good to me. I'm always happy if the weather is good and I'm going to the top of a mountain.
Our hike the day before had been tough. The hiking in Slovenia is excellent but it is not always easy. It's rare to have a nicely graded and maintained trail the entire time. Much of our hikes were on what in North America I would call a track, not a trail that was built but a path worn by lots of hikers (or in some cases animals) going the same way. It often involved rough footing, steep and loose sections, climbing over rocks or tree roots, and even scrambling. Sometimes a route can even change from a hike to a Via Ferrata (a climbing path with fixed protection, sometimes with significant exposure). Often we passed local hikers who were wearing or carrying helmets for difficult parts of the route.
The sheer west face of Raduha from the village of Solcava
Hiking in Slovenia is not for wimps.
Our hike the day before had been tough work. Sandy had hurt her achillies tendon before the trip and all the steep climbing on the Rinka Falls hike really aggravated it. Her heel was badly swollen afterwards so she decided to take a day off to give it a rest. I'm sure the fact that Hotel Plesnik had a spa attached where she could get a massage had nothing to do with it. Another person in our group, Sarah, had a sore hip and was going to take a rest day as well.
Our objective for the day was Raduha, a 6765 foot high mountain. It is separated from the Kamnik Alps by the deep valley of the Savinja River. We had hiked to the source of the river the day before above Rinka Falls. Today we would have a great view of the entire Kamnik massif from the top of a mountain across the valley made by the river. Hopefully.
Our first view of the Kamnik Alps from the ridgecrest
On the way to the trailhead we stopped in the village of Solcava (pronounced sol-CHA-va) to shop at the market. Roman and Jan were buying supplies for a picnic lunch. The lights were out in the market. Apparently there was a power failure. There was a lot of noise and diesel fumes coming from a generator running in the back to provide power for the refridgerators. Obviously power outages were a frequent occurence up here in the mountains if they had a backup generator to protect their perishable foods. I felt like I was back in Nepal where power failures are pretty much a daily occurence.
I didn't know it at the time but one of the mountains that was prominent from Solcava was the one that we were going to climb. In fact, we were in one of the best places to see it. Later when I could see the village clearly from the summit, I asked Roman if we could stop there on the way back to get a picture of the mountain. From Solcava the west face of Raduha does indeed look impressive.
A high point as we follow the crest of the ridge
Shortly after Solcava we turned off the main highway and took a dirt road that climbed high up the mountain. It was narrow and winding and dusty, not really a pleasant drive, but a lot easier and faster than walking up all that way. We parked near the Potocka Zijalka cave, a place that was inhabited by humans 35,000 years ago. That's a looooooong time ago. It's a major archaeological site but isn't open to tourists.
Since I had been in the second van with Jan, I kidded Roman that we had to follow some slow poke white van up the mountain, choking on the dust it kicked up all the way. I told him that we had all been cursing the white van that was ahead of us.
"Three hundred hairy bears?" Roman asked.
"Nope. No sissy Slovenian swear words. Just serious Serbian and Croatian curses."
We were parked where the road was gated and we couldn't drive any further. It was time to start walking. We followed the road to a mountain hut where the road ended and a number of trails led off. We were doing a loop so instead of taking the shortest, steepest route to the summit we started a long traverse to the south. Raduha is a long ridge rather than a single peak. It's a fault block mountain - rising gradually from the east but with a sheer escarpment on the west. It's similar to Mt. Rundle in the Canadian Rockies, or Mt. Whitney in the Sierras.
The summit is finally in view - not much further to go
Since it was a long ridge, we were able to traverse quite a way at a constant elevation, parallel to the ridgeline. Sometimes we were in forest but when we came out into meadows we were already high enough that we had a nice view. This part was easy but eventually it was time to turn uphill and get to work. Then we had a long slog climbing through the forest before we finally reached the ridgecrest, where the east face fell away in a sheer precipice.
We stopped for a break, enjoying our first view across the Savinja Valley to the big peaks of the Kamnik Alps where we had hiked the day before. We had to be careful as the trees went right to the edge of the cliff and there was only a small gap where we could look through to enjoy the distant view. A wrong step here and someone could find themselves falling two thousand feet to the bottom of the west face. Needless to say we were very careful.
An ice axe marked the summit of Raduha
As we continued on we moved parallel to the ridgecrest, still climbing steeply. For quite a while we were stayed in the woods which limited our views. Finally we came out into grassy meadows on the highest part of the ridge. From here we continued up and down along the ridge but trending upwards towards the higest point. This was my favorite kind of hiking, on a high open ridgeline with seemingly unlimited views in all directions. I always feel like I'm walking in the sky. Maybe because I am.
When the summit of the mountain came into view I could see that there were quite a few people there. They had all come up the shortest way from the mountain hut. Because we had taken the long way around we had the mountain to ourselves up to that point, which was nice. Still, the top of the mountain was so amazing that I didn't mind sharing it with lots of other people. Besides, there was plenty of room.
Lunch is served
The actual summit was marked by a large ice axe that was stuck into the rock. Attached to it was a metal box with the summit register inside, which of course I had to sign. I can't go all the way to the top of a mountain and not leave some mark that I was there. When I was done Katherine signed in too although I don't think anyone else in our group did. Then it was time for me to find a rock or a grassy spot where I could sit down, kick back, and enjoy the view while Roman and Jan had to work to get lunch ready.
They did a good job. Lunch was excellent, with salad, fresh fruit, salami and bread. After eating, while Roman and Jan cleaned up, we all went back to our spots to lie in the grass. Several people even got in quick naps. After a long rest though it was finally time to head down.
Sandy had skipped this trip because she heard that it was even harder than the day before. So far I thought it was easy. Sure there was a lot of uphill, but the trail wasn't bad at all. It started out easy on the way down too. Just as on the way up, the trail paralleled the ridge crest, going up and down but mostly down. Then it turned away from the crest and started to descend in earnest. Now it was steep. And loose. This stretch was tough and definitely would have been hard on Sandy's heel. She made the right choice to take a rest day.
After lunch most of the group took a nap in the sun
Even though this was a tough descent it was still a pretty hike. We were passing through large fields of wildflowers, mainly fireweed, that reminded me of Mt. Rainier National Park.
We did have a couple of stops. There was a group of women hikers ahead of us that didn't let us go past them on the narrow trail. Several times they made everyone stop because one of their party had to pee and didn't want to go off into the brush. It was kind of a nuisance but hey, a rest stop is a rest stop.
When we reached the mountain hut we had passed on the way up we took another break. I got a cold Diet Coke and it sure tasted good. While I was enjoying it I noticed two women sitting at a table just below me. One of them was older, wearing an old-fashioned jacket and an old-fashioned babushka. I definitely had a flashback. It looked just like my Polish gramma was sitting there.
Looking down the west face on the descent
After the break there was just the last easy stretch down the road to the vans. On the drive back we made a stop in Solcava so that we could all get pictures of the mountain that we had just climbed. Then it was back to Hotel Plesnik.
I found Sandy and it turned out that she had a good day as well. She slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, got a massage, and then spent the afternoon on the patio, sitting in the sun, reading a book and enjoying the view of the mountains.
That evening was our last night at Hotel Plesnik and we had dinner at the hotel again. During dinner there was a lively discussion. Flo mentioned that she was going to be visiting Berlin soon. I tuned in to the discussion late and wasn't sure if it was later on this trip or on a future trip. Jan used to live in Berlin so he was telling her that there was a night club in Berlin that she absolutely had to visit. He said people lined up a day ahead of time to get in. It was very difficult, as it was very exclusive, but people waited hours and hours to get inside. Once inside they would stay through the entire weekend.
Dieter and Verena hiking through fireweed on the descent
Jan promised that it would be worth all the effort to get in and Flo had to do it while she was in Berlin. Flo was skeptical and pushed back but Jan kept trying to convince her. Finally she asked "Is it really that great? Have you ever gone there?"
Jan answered "No, I would never wait in line that long." The whole table erupted in laughter at that one.
That was our last night at Hotel Plesnik. The next day would be for travel. We would be heading to Lake Bled and Triglav National Park, some of the most famous places in Slovenia.
