What, another snow hill?

Veliki Sneznik

19-09-12

Sneznik signpost

So far on this trip I have been up Snohetta (No), Snezka (Cz/Pl) and Snieznik (Cz/Pl) all of which
translate, more or less, as snow hill - although only the first one had any snow on it. When I realised that Slovenia also had a snow hill, Sneznik 1797m with a fine prominence of P1124 I could not resist. It was not that much of a detour from going back to the Julian Alps from Trieste and it gave me a chance to see more of the Gulf of Trieste and of Slovenia.



I did not have a map. However my Dorling Kindersley guide mentions that it is 'not a difficult climb for seasoned climbers' from the Sviscaki hut near the town of Ilirska Bistrica. My satnav got me to I.B. and thankfully there was a signpost to Sviscaki, 19km away. My satnav wanted to take me a completely different way that was considerably longer than that. As it happens, it was possible to drive further than the hut, ignoring the private road sign, although the picture sign seemed to be only banning buses. And I came to small a car park in the woods at N45 34 31.9, E014 25 06.7
Covering myself in pepper, to become a 'seasoned climber' I set off along a track through the woods and came to a junction with the road I had been driving on earlier. So I suspect it is possible to drive even further than I did.
From there, it was a rough and steeper track out of the woods and into dwarf pines up to a ridge that leads to the summit. And, there was no-one else there. This was my first hill since leaving Sweden where I had the whole hill to myself.
The logbook showed that there had been at least a dozen people up there the previous sunny day, but nobody else had ventured out on this cloudy day (shortly after I got back to my van it started to rain torrentially for several hours).
There was no snow. No view of the Julian alps and no view of the Adriatic . And the refuge was closed.
But whose complaining - it is another Major and another snow hill.

Sneznik summit

Sneznik logbook