Exposed on the Mangart via ferrata

Mangart Pass is an iconic place in Slovenia. Located in the Julian Alps on the border of Italy and Slovenia, the summit of Mangart is 2679 meters and is the third highest mountain in Slovenia. Many people go to Mangart Saddle to just drive the road and check out the views from the saddle, but we went to play on the challenging and scenic Italian via ferrata.

The road to Mangart Saddle climbs 980 meters in less than 12 km and winds its way through five tunnels carved out of rock. It is the highest lying road in Slovenia and takes nerves of steel to drive it. There are tons of hairpin turns on a road the width of only one car. Once the parking at the top fills, they don't allow any more cars to drive up the road, so we got an early start to ensure passage. It worked because we were the second car to arrive, but the first car spent the night.

Driving towards Mangart - it's definitely in the clouds 

One of 5 Rock tunnels along the road to the pass

Some concrete barriers to hopefully protect you from the death cliffs

Some serious serpentine turns

We began our hike at the highest parking area available, which required a 2 km walk to the top of the saddle. Unfortunately, it was driving rain and high winds so we were skeptical about being able to do the via ferrata. There are a lot of mountain rescues that happen here and we did not want to become one of the statistics. Right at the beginning of the start of the Italian via ferrata, there is a helicopter landing spot and a bivouac in the event of emergencies. At baseline, I am usually nervous about these adventures, but add in some terrible weather and panic mode starts to kick in. Thankfully, the weather cleared up for our adventure.

Starting our hike to the saddle with Mangart in the clouds in background

Sign for the Italian via ferrata at the top of the saddle

At the top of the saddle, we could see Italy

Dan "busting" into Italy over the fence

Hiking down from the saddle to the start of the via ferrata

Dan hiking down to the Italian via ferrata with views of Italy in the background

The start of the via ferrata with a snow field

You can see the emergency bivouac and giant "H" for mountain rescues

A super cool cave along the via ferrata

Enjoying the cave along the route

Dan had a little trouble squeezing through the caves portal with his backpack on

We had to navigate a few snow fields along the via ferrata

This was such a fun section, but it would have been no fun in bad weather

Feeling a little exposed, but at least the weather was cooperating

Midway along the route there was a cowbell that you could ring - I loved this!

Nothing but a lot of air below my piggies

Alpine flowers grow everywhere, even in small cracks along the via ferrata

After completing the C/D part of the via ferrata route, we decided to continue on to the summit along the A/B (much easier) route. It meant that there would be lots more elevation gain to go but the weather was holding off so why not try. It didn't take long before some other hikers were climbing back down with reports of some snow fields that would be too difficult to cross without mountaineering equipment (ours was in the car several kilometers away 🙄). We could have decided to do the Slovenian via Ferrara route but we opted to head back down after having had a full adventure already and knowing that the summit would be socked in with clouds.

Thwarted by steep snow fields on the way to the summit

A perfect lunch spot after finishing the Italian via ferrata

On Mangart Saddle pointing to the via ferrata that we had just climbed 

We ate some sandwiches at a beautiful lunch spot (sweet views of Slovenia and Italy and right next to a snow field). Before we headed back down to the car, we soaked in a little more beauty while in the saddle and took some photos.

So cycling in Slovenia is BIG. There are cyclists EVERYWHERE. It's no wonder that the top cyclist in the world (Pogacar) is from Slovenia. It seems that they are drawn to the most ridiculous climb - Mangart Pass was no exception. There were a few people on e-bikes, but you could tell immediately by the smiles on their faces or lack thereof if they were on an e-bike or not. One cyclist asked if I would take his picture at the top of the saddle. He had just bagged up both Vrsic Pass and Mangart that morning - holy cow! I took a picture of him and his bike computer to see how much he had done. He told me that he was looking forward to getting some food when he was done.

This guy rode up both Vrsic and Mangart Passes this morning (8507 ft in 44 miles!) 💪💪💪

His bike computer

The Mangart mountain hut 

Inside the Mangart Hut

The alpine wildflowers are every color of the rainbow 

They have very rectangular cows in Slovenia 😉

One of the tunnels along the road

Cyclists going through the dark one lane tunnels

This was on the main road - it's a tight squeeze

Our favorite beer here - especially the grapefruit

Bovec

Bovec - surrounded by mountains

Dinner was at a place that the owner of the apartment we were renting suggested. It was good, but the plate of grilled meats was just okay. We were hoping that it would fuel us up for our hike up Mount Krn tomorrow. Overall it was a super fun day - we loved the Mangart Italian via ferrata - definitely a highlight of the trip.

Everyday should end the gelato!