Climbing the Triglav (2,864 m) from Krma valley with kids in 1 day │Julian Alps - Slovenia

“Can we climb the Triglav in one day (up and down) from Krma Valley with our kids?”, that’s the question we have often asked ourselves. After thorough preparation (defining the best route, many video analyses of the more challenging sections, preparing a time schedule), it proved doable!

The Triglav is the highest mountain in Slovenia, located in the Julian Alps. On 19 July 2022, after waking up at 3:10 and driving to the parking lot (Krma valley - Pri Lesi at 950 m), we kicked off the hike to the summit of the Triglav in the dark at 4:40 a.m. with our headlamps on! We followed the path through Krma valley to Polje (1,550 m), planina Zgornja Krma (1,700 m) and Konjsko sedlo (2,020 m). Then we took the trail to Triglavski dom na Kredarici (2,515 m). According to our schedule, we had to be there at 10:00 a.m. … and we arrived at 9:58 a.m. … perfect on time! The peak and the via ferrata trail still looked very impressive and challenging from the mountain hut. From here, we secured our youngest daughter with a climbing rope (*) on top of the standard via ferrata set and we started the final climb at 10:45 a.m. After two hours, at 12:45 p.m., we successfully reached the summit of the Triglav (2,864 m). From here we had a spectacular view of the entire Julian Alps (Julijske Alpe), and the Triglav National Park (Triglavski Narodni Park) in particular, and the Karawanks (Karavanke). After lunch and enjoying the view for 40 minutes, we started our descent. At 19:20, after 14h40min, we arrived again at the parking lot in the Krma valley.

(*) For this particular climb, we used our 10,5 m semi-static rope instead of a dynamic climbing rope for the simultaneous progression of our youngest daughter. This was decided based on capacity reasons, but is not the best choice to absorb the impact of a falling climber. Based on a risk analysis of the trail carried out in advance, we assessed the climb as moderately difficult, so we considered our short semi-static rope sufficient for simultaneous progression for this specific trail (mainly on the ridge, no high-risk vertical sections). Later during our holiday, in view of some more difficult trails (via ferrata sections), we still decided to have a dynamic rope cut to size (15 m – less weight) to secure our youngest daughter for future climbs.