triglav north face

TRIGLAV NORTH FACE I first saw the north face of Triglav in a book, 'The Big Walls' by Reinhold Messner, when I was about 19 years old. The mountain and the face has fascinated me ever since. In the book, it gave an account of the first ascent with a large colour photo of the mighty north face of Triglav. It quoted “Few climbs have left such a lasting impression on me as this one. Of the three biggest faces in the Eastern Alps, the Triglav Wall seems to me to be the most difficult.” - Ludwig Sinek. The grade given for this route however, is only IV+ (UK grade of around Hard Severe). So, with a rock wall as tall as El Cap in Yosemite but with a far more reasonable grade, it seemed like a very good idea to book some flights to go and check it out. The plane touched down into Slovenia's capital – Ljubljana. We hired a super cheap car and made the short drive to the picturesque town of Bled – where we were staying for a few days in order to attempt to climb Triglav via the north face. Bled is a tourist town, and rightly so – it's beautiful. The town is situated on a huge, crystal-clear lake, with steep limestone cliffs at its edges and castles rising from the rolling forests. It really is a fairy tale of a place. It's also cheaper than other European destinations. We were paying just 17 euros a night for our B and B; so it's a perfect base to start your adventure. On our first day, I drove with Robyn [...]