For as long as I can remember, I’ve been saying that one day I wanted to climb Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia (2864m). After all, as they say here, you can only call yourself a true Slovene once you’ve stood on Triglav’s summit.

Unfortunately, I was never in good enough shape to tackle such a tough climb. But last year I decided it was time to lose weight and improve my fitness, because I didn’t want to look too heavy in our son’s wedding photos—he got engaged in May last year. And with that as my motivation, this weight loss attempt finally worked! Over the course of a year, I lost over 25 kilos and went on walks almost every day, which really boosted my fitness. I reached my goal and felt amazing in my new clothes at the wedding, which took place on June 14th.

A few months ago, the idea of Triglav started coming up more often, because I felt like it was “now or never” for me. Bine had wanted to go for years, but I insisted on coming along, so year after year went by without us going. Bine has climbed Triglav three times before: the first time, he was not even six years old. Later he went up again as a teenager and as a young man, but that was at least 35 years ago. So, we started making plans. Last week, everything came together. We definitely wanted to go on a weekday to avoid the crowds. Bine unexpectedly got a few days off work, and the weather in the Alps looked perfect for those days—not too hot, not too cold, dry and clear. We decided to go for it. A few days before departure, we bought good new hiking boots and a large 70-litre backpack, because we planned to take three days for the hike and spend two nights in a mountain hut. Even though I was in pretty good shape, I was still worried that it would be very tough and that I’d struggle with sore muscles and back pain. That’s why I wanted to go up in two days and descend on the third day. The day before we left, on Tuesday, it looked like the weather might turn worse on Friday afternoon. So Bine suggested we try to do it in two days instead: hike up to Planika, a mountain hut just below the summit at 2400m, spend the night there, then reach the top the next morning and descend all the way back to Pokljuka, where we would start. So that was the plan. I was mentally prepared for a serious challenge but I really wanted this, so we went for it. We booked a night at Planika, in a six-bed room because a double room was already fully booked. We also booked a night in Zgornje Gorje, from Tuesday to Wednesday. That’s about a 20-minute drive from our starting point, so we wouldn’t have to get up at 5 in the morning to drive the two hours from home to Pokljuka. We wanted to start hiking around 8 AM. So, that’s what we did. With a fully packed 70-litre backpack for Bine, a small backpack for me, new boots and hiking poles, some food and two liters of water, we set off. In the end, it was almost 9 AM when we started on Wednesday morning, but that didn’t matter.

Amazingly, it all went really well and nothing bothered me. The backpack was fine, and hiking uphill—usually really difficult for me—went surprisingly smoothly. We took it very slowly: a few meters up, a 30-second break to catch my breath, and then on again. Around 1:15 PM we arrived at the mountain hut “Vodnikov dom”, where we rested for about an hour and had something to eat.

Then the hike continued to Planika, our overnight stop. The views and wildflowers along the way were breathtaking. We even saw a few mountain goats walking by—so fun!

Here and there we had to do some actual climbing, using steel cables, brackets and pins. Luckily, I’m not afraid of heights! Everything went really well. The boots were fantastic, too. Even though they were brand new, we both had no issues at all.

I’d prepared myself for everything: sore muscles, back pain, exhaustion, heart palpitations—but not for knee pain… For years before losing weight, I’d had a lot of trouble with my knees, which turned out to be badly worn according to X-rays. But once I started losing weight and walking every day, those problems disappeared, and I hadn’t had any trouble for almost a year. Unfortunately, this hike proved too much, and my right knee decided it had had enough ☹. Overworked, of course. Luckily I had brought ibuprofen, so I took some, and we slowly kept going towards Planika. When we got there, I was so happy and proud of myself. I made it!

But a few minutes later, I got a bit of a shock. I wouldn’t call myself spoiled, but I do like a bit of comfort 😉. With all my focus on my physical condition, I hadn’t really thought through what it would be like to spend a night in such a hut. As I said, there was only space left in a six-bed room, which meant Bine and I had to sleep in bunk beds along with four strangers. There were four toilets outside—basically metal pots over a big hole, which of course smelled awful—and no running water. And I always have to get up two or three times a night to go to the bathroom.

I was so frustrated and really didn’t feel up for it anymore. I was close to tears. But I had no choice, so after eating some macaroni with goulash, I was in bed by 8 PM, shivering with cold. The tension caught up with me, but once Bine put a third blanket over me, I finally managed to doze off for a bit. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long because I had to pee. It was pitch dark, and I had to leave the room, go outside, down some stairs and to the toilets with a little flashlight. I ended up having to go two more times, so I hardly slept at all. The last time was around 3:30 AM; I fell asleep again soon after, but Bine woke me up at 6 AM. I was completely wrecked! But I got up anyway and tried to freshen up a bit with a damp cloth. We had breakfast in the hut—two slices of bread with a fried egg and some jam—and by 7 AM we were ready for the final climb to the summit.

To be continued in Part 2 😊.