The isogloss in summer
By late June the snow is off all but the highest peaks, and you can walk on them. Prestreljenik is a nice hike to start the summer season off because it’s both easy and hard. Easy because a cable car from the valley floor takes you nine-tenths of the way up, above tree-line and into the interesting views without breaking a sweat. Hard because that last tenth is a vertiginous bit over loose scree, so you get the feeling of having earned the summit views without actually having done most of the work. The cable car exists to serve Slovenia’s highest ski area, Kanin, but also ferries hikers up and down in summer.
I personally wouldn’t do this walk with a six-month old baby even if he can roll over, as the sun is too intense; these pictures are from a hike I took on a pre-Adam June 23rd. But this is supposed to be a photo essay, so I’ll shut up and let the pictures do their job.
The summit cairn, Prestreljenik (2,499 m), looking south. The ridge snaking off from left to right and back again in the middle distance is the border between Slovenia (left-facing slopes) and Italy (right-facing). If you drop your sandwich here, there’s no telling what country it will end up in.
Looking down into Italy.
View down in the other direction: the Kanin ski station with the braided Soča river in deep background.
Riding the Kanin cable car, or žičnica.
Above treeline things are extremely dry once the snow melts. Still, there are little bits of greenery and lots of tiny wildflowers. Going out on a limb here, I think we’re looking at dwarf snapdragons (left) and moss campion.
The summit pyramid of Prestreljenik seen from the upper cable car station.
Closer looks at the summit cairn. The weather and views can change from moment to moment.
The trail below the summit, with a good drop into Italy, looking toward the southwest. The brittle white limestone (or pearlspar, my geologist uncle tells me), gives the trail, the whole mountain chain, the appearance of being constructed from millions and millions of smashed toilets.
There aren’t a lot of books in English about these mountains. One good little guide is “Walking in the Julian Alps,” put out by Cicerone Press (U.K.); another, entertaining for its outdated information with prices in Yugoslav dinars but otherwise up-to-date enough, is titled simply, “Julian Alps.”
