Climbing Triglav in Winter time

"Climbing Triglav in Winter time, a fantastic experience. Wim, Stijn, Kurt and myself got very lucky with the climbing conditions, only 30 cm snow, no wind and sunny skies on the first day (at one moment my thermometer read 26 Degrees C on the white slopes towards Kredarica). We wanted to do the Tominsek route, but this was not recommended by the local guides due to risk of avalanches. So we took the easy, read non-technical, way up via Krma valley. We left at 8 a.m. and got to Kredarica around 2 p.m. 1600 altimeters in 6 hours, not bad with the snow conditions and all the gear we carried. People urged us to climb to the top still the same day, because the wheather conditions were going to deteriorate overnight. The sign and topoguide said 1 hour to the top, so we went for it. Well, you can forget this during wintertime, when you have to cope with snow and ice. After two hours and 1800 altimeters since that morning, we decided to return and give it another shot the next day. It was dusk by the time we got back to the hut. We were the only four guys in the hut (another reason to do this in wintertime) and enjoyed a good meal. The night was long and well deserved. Although, the howling winds kept us awake every now and then. The next morning, we woke up in the middle of a blizzard. Based on the excellent feedback we got from the wheatherman (Kredarica is a weatherstation), we decided to go for it. Temperature, minus 10 and windspeed, 80 km/h. This time we put on our crampons from the start and roped up. This was definitely the way to go, since we were progressing a lot faster this time, also due to the fact that we knew the route now. Luckily, the wind direction was such that Mali Triglav was our protection against the wind. In two hours we were at the top, we had the entire mountain all to ourselves. The views were awesome. We had to climb on top of the Aljaz stolp to get that mandatory picture. The day ended at 5 a.m. after a great apres-ski in Kransjka Gora. All-in-all it was a wonderfull experience, also thanks to the great team we had. This is a perfect mountain to try your first winterclimb. Kurt, Stijn and Wim, when are we going for Jebl Toubkal in Morocco;-)?

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