One day in the life of..

Although I have recently bought an airplane ticket to Georgia (trekking next summer with the boys), I am not engaged in any spectacular adventures. At the same time I am happy to announce that Ana is expecting another baby in January! This means family is currently the main focus - which brings me to the topic of this post. Before I went to sleep on Sunday (1-Nov-2015), I thought to myself: "Today was a perfect day". My mother will charge me with bragging, but I would just like to document my perception of time well spent. I probably dont have to mention that most of the weekends have only a few of the elements presented below:

• 6:30 - I wake after 8 hours of quality sleep
• 6:35 - breakfast: it starts to dawn and finally there is no fog in Ljubljana
• 6:45 - running with Artač: we explore new terrain and watch the sunrise on top of Golovec
• 7:45 - breakfast with Ana
• 8:00 - Zoja is surprisingly still sleeping - we take advantage and practice Love
• 8:45 - Zoja wakes and after another breakfast all three of us are dancing to music (Maček Muri)
• 9:30 - we start assembling Ikea furniture for the kids room - Zoja is very "helpful"
• 11:00 - my neighbor assists to move / connect a few electric cables in the room
• 12:00 - Ana cooks one of her quick specialities: salmon in foil with mashed peas
• 13:00 - Zoja goes to sleep and we finalize the room
• 15:00 - Zoja wakes up, we relax on the couch
• 15:30 - we take a long walk next to Ljubljanica river - Zoja cycles like crazy
• 16:45 - back home and getting ready to hit the birthday party of Ana's cousin
• 17:30 - party: fabulous food, great atmosphere and interesting people
• 18:30 - Zoja is playing "Monkey" with her favourite buddy - grandfather Lojze
• 19:00 - I am having philosophical conversations after my forth glass of wine (Ana is pregnant and driving)
• 19:30 - going home - Zoja is surprisingly not resisting and waves the company goodbye
• 20:30 - after the standard routine, Zoja goes to sleep
• 21:00 - watching TV with Ana
• 21:30 - evening reading (A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson)
• 22:30 - sleep!

One day in the life of Janvit Bajt. Nothing special, yes... but happiness is a felicitous combination of simple moments.

Friends, Love and Mountains..

Late spring is the time when people start swimming and sunbathing, however, this is also the time for great ski-touring in Slovenian glacier valleys. Many people wonder what is the sense of skiing and alpinism.. and yet, I find far more sense in the mountains than in many things I do in my everyday life. Kebr has a very similar philosophy and on a hot Saturday afternoon, we left spring behind and cooled-off in the valley behind Cmir (2391m). We slept in a cozy winter room located at the beginning of the Triglav glacier, where we enjoyed a great evening with hot sup and icy beer. We woke into a cloudless morning and simply had to jump on Rž (2538m). There we gazed at his highness - Triglav, and we were back in Ljubljana before you could say: "Lunch time!"

 
The best part of ski-touring is that you spend long hours (sometimes even days) with people that are close to you.. and over time you develop very strong bonds. Romantics was the highlight of the next trip, as Ana and I went to spend a marvelous weekend in the Tamar Valley. The first day was reserved for a long picnic below a waterfall, where we laid for hours and enjoyed the simplicity of the moment. The next morning we left the blooming valley and attacked the highest slopes (2350m) above the Kotovo pass (2134m). It was a great weekend, full of summer, spring and winter.. but most of all, it was spent with Ana!

 

My fruit garden!

They say that every man has to do three things in life: 1. marry, 2. build a house and 3. plant a tree. Well, the first two are still in progress, but I can proudly say that the third one is more than completed:) I have a small nook in the back of the garden (most of it belongs to my mom's flower bushes), where I planted a pear, apple and a cherry tree two years ago. The cherry tree has beared a single cherry this year and believe me, it was one of the best I have ever tasted! The apple and pear tree are also working on a few fruits, but we will have to wait until fall. On the other side, my raspberry, blackberry and currant bushes are a lot quicker and way more ambitious...

 

My First Avalanche Transceiver!

This week, five members of our gang, bought D3 Ortovox avalanche-transceivers and I can say it's quite a nice digital toy:) I am talking about a very simple - yet extremely reliable device, which transmits a strong signal and is used to search and pin-point victims burried under an avalanche. Of course, it's also quite crucial to have an avalanche probe and shovel that both assist you in effective rescue of the victim(s). I could talk for hours about avalanche transceivers and other equipment; but luckily my colleague blogger Edo did an extensive research and wrote almost everything there is to it! Check it out here (Slovenian).
  There is, however, an issue that I will touch briefly! Don't worry, I will not try to convince you to buy an avalanche transciever and I will not moralize how irresponsible (young) people are - visiting our "dangerous" mountains without the proper safety equipment (crampons, ice-axe, avalanche transceiver, probe, shovel, helmet, first-aid, radio station, etc). I have heard such moralizing from older alpinists way too many times - Bullshit! They criticize young people with new skiing jackets, freeride skies, shiny ski-boots and are shocked how irresponsible these youngsters are without helmets, transmitters, shovels and so on! Yes, principally they are right - but still, they are just typical hypocrites. I have talked to more honest older alpinists, who have admitted that only 20 years ago, nobody in Slovenia had any safety equipment at all. They joked that if you met someone with a helmet in the mountains, you could call him a BASTARTD - because he was a foreigner and thought you where saying "HELLO" to him. The safety culture in Slovenian mountains was simply very low, while equipment was expensive and hard to get! So nobody will tell me that the first piece of equipment that they bought was a helmet or an avalanche transmitter (in theory that would be the right thing to do!). Today the situation is a lot better, however we still live in reality, where it would take a millionaire to buy all the equipment at once. It takes thousands and thousands of Euros to have everything you need for ski-touring and extreme skiing (not to mention rock and ice climbing). I have been buying separate pieces of equipment each year. And if somebody wants to call me light-minded, buying avalanche equipement in my fifth year of winter mountaineering - go ahead. After what you read you might think differently, however, safety is my number 1 concern when I go to the mountains. I believe that instead of pointing fingers, we should educate our youngsters and try to upgrade the Slovenian mountaineering culture through clubs and associations. The goal is not to convince people how stupid they are, going to mountains without all the proper equipment, but instead to encourage them to become more responsible and think with their own head. I believe that some of the safety equipment should be subsidized by our mountain association and become more available. Maybe someday everybody has an avalanche transceiver.. Enjoy the mountains and ski with your head, even if you're not wearing a helmet! (Joke)

Freeride or freestyle?

"Off-piste" skiing is a relatively young sport, which has branched out into numerous subdivisions. In the recent years the terminology has become very specific and people are confusing different sports and styles of skiing. The problem is that these disciplines do not stand on their own, but are instead interconnected in many aspects. So let me explain!

Off-piste skiing: is a very broad term, which includes any kind of ski activity outside of ski resort boundaries. It is usually referred to skiing on unpacked snow, right besides alpine ski slopes.

Touring skiing: is becoming a very popular sport of winter mountaineering on skies. The emphasis is not on the descend but rather on exploring the mountains and nature on skies. The aim of this sport is not adrenaline and pushing the limits, however the result can many times become just that! Movement on skies is much easier and up to three times faster than on foot. The ski boots are a little softer than alpine boots and can be used for walking as well. The skies are much lighter and the bindings can be released on the heel (similar to bindings on running skies) to allow walking. Skins are usually put on the bottom of skies, to allow walking uphill. For downhill skiing the bindings can be locked; becoming normal alpine bindings for easier descend.



Freeride: In this sport it's all about the descend. Freeriders are constantly trying to push the limits and find harder and steeper slopes. They are also very concentrated on their skiing style. Powder is the preferred snow - of course. Jumping over smaller cliffs is considered - cool. There are many freeride competitions, where the judges evaluate how stylish and extreme the descent was. There are quite many professional freeriders, which are sponsored by big companies of skiing and mountaineering equipment. The skies are usually very wide and heavy. The boots are also much harder and heavier than touring boots. The freeride bindings are very similar to their touring brothers; they are just more resistant and more expensive!



Alpinistic skiing: This is the most extreme sport (actually an upgrade of freeride), with the steepest slopes of up to 65 degrees incline. Here, the boundaries are being pushed to the limit. Big mountains and glaciers are being skied as well as narrow mountains gorges. Mistakes in alpinistic skiing can many times result in death.



Heli-skiing: It is nothing different from freeride or extreme skiing, except for the fact that a helicopter is used to bring the skiers to the mountain. Heli-skiing has become very popular in Canada and America. It is forbiden in many European countries. France is the heli-ski queen in the Alps.



Freestyle: This sport is all about style. Freestylers spend their time in snow parks doing jumps and skiing rails. Half pipe is a must for a freestyler. The skies are wide and light and the bindings are suited for hard landings. There is also big emphasis on the graphics of skies.



And for the end.. some more bazaar variations of skiing! And don't forget to ski with your head and prey for the angel dust - snow;)

Ski kiting

Kamikazi ski

Vietnam on Slovenian Grounds

The past two weeks I spent at a scout camp in the mountains close to Tolmin - and each day is a story by itself. Don't worry; I will not bore you too much, instead I will only paint a very graphic situation that happened on the last day before we left. All the kids went home and only us - the older "animals" stayed. It wasn't long before we realized we were all experiencing the Vietnam syndrome. Outside it was unbearable - around 40 degrees Celsius and not a cloud in sight. Above, there were mountains covered with thick forests and next to us a sluggish brown river added to the scenery. We were laying there under military tents, in wheelbarrows full of cool water, with no specific purpose or goal - enjoying emptiness and the simplicity of the moment. We ate when we were hungry, we drank when we were thirsty (mostly beer). Talking about any kind of hygiene would be very optimistic as we ate with our hands, peed wherever we whished and were covered in dirt up to our necks. We were amusing ourselves with an air gun, by shooting and exterminating anything that seemed destroyable and fun. Our activities were also splashing people with water, fighting, talking about girls, etc. When it was the hottest, we ate watermelons with a 40cm machete. So there we were, enjoying long hours in the most unconventional way.. waiting for that attack - that final push - or in our case, for the hard core labor of loading the truck with all the equipment. And finally we were ready to leave home, each quite in his own thoughts - leaving back to another zoo and chaos we so call - civilization!