Mountaineering

The Julian Alps have a long and rich history of mountaineering. In 1777 Balthasar Hacquet (1739–1815), the great explorer of the Julian Alps, made the first attempt at ascending Triglav. The spirit of Enlightenment expressed by the Count Žiga Zois (1747–1819), who brought Triglav to world fame, inspired four Bohinj men, L. Korošec, M. Kos, Š. Rožič, L. Willomitzer, to conquer the mountain in 1778.

Dr Julius Kugy and Dr Thomas Longstaff introduced Triglav, and the Julian Alps, to the international community where it is known as the last landmark on the south-eastern side of the Alps, boasting one of the mightiest rock faces. The first recorded climb of the Face dates back to 9 and 10 July 1906 (Dr F. König, H. Reinl in K. Domenigg), although several years before Ivan Berginc-Štrukelj, a native of Trenta, was the first to climb the Face alone along what is known today as the Slovene Route.

Roughly 250 years separate the first attempts at conquering the mountain summits, the beginnings of mountain guiding and the Triglav Friends of the curate Ivan Žan and the Mountaineering Association of Slovenia, which today manages several hundred kilometres of laid-out, marked and secured paths and a number of mountains huts and bivouacs, and roughly 250 years span the first ascents to Triglav and countless classic and modern climbing routes of varying difficulty, not only in Triglav but also in Jalovec, Špik, Travnik and other rock faces of the Julian Alps.