The Ice Cave

Today was the 25 km loop to the Ice Cave and around the valley that sits beneath Bobotov Kuk, which we'd conquered a couple of days earlier. I woke up sore once again, but by this point, I was used to it and ready for the challenge. During our induction, Alex once again provided some information that probably would have been useful to know a little earlier. The elevation gain on this hike was actually greater than Bobotov Kuk - around 1 km total gain compared to the 600 m we'd climbed to the summit. The reason was that, unlike Bobotov Kuk, we were starting directly from Žabljak rather than being driven closer to the mountain.

Alex assured us that the climb was much more gradual because we were covering a significantly greater horizontal distance. I had no choice but to believe him. So, we set off. This time, we had a crew of eleven, nine of whom were Aussies. It was great to have such a big group. The previous two hikes had either been on my own or with just Zara, so having a large group meant there was plenty of conversation to distract us from the pain ahead. We headed towards the start of the loop, and it didn't take long before we were all taking some deep breaths. Because we were such a large group, we took regular breaks to make sure nobody was left behind. Our first major stop was the Shepherd's Den. Getting there had already been fairly difficult, but we knew the next section was going to be the most intense climb we'd faced since Bobotov Kuk.

We grabbed a quick snack and started the steep ascent. The sixth photo gives a pretty good idea of what the trail looked like. It was brutal for a solid hour, with a steep climb that seemed to go on forever. Eventually, it eased off slightly, although we were still climbing pretty much all the way to the Ice Cave. When we finally arrived, the cave itself was pretty daunting. You look down into a very steep drop, where the first patches of ice are visible. The ice continues all the way to the bottom of the cave. Getting down required us to use a rope, shimmying between the ice and the walls to make our way deeper into the cave. Eventually, the rope ran out, leaving us to crawl the rest of the way down. In reality, the crawling quickly turned into an uncontrolled slide.

We'd been walking for hours and were absolutely roasting, so the freezing temperature of the cave was a welcome change. Our hands, however, were not so impressed. They were completely numb by the time we reached the bottom. We stayed down there for a while, enjoying the bizarre environment we'd found ourselves in. It was such a strange contrast to the heat we'd been hiking through all day. Getting back out was probably the hardest part. We had to crawl back up the slippery ice until we could reach the rope again. None of us had any equipment remotely designed for climbing ice, so getting a grip was incredibly difficult. With freezing, numb hands, we once again had to pull ourselves between the ice and the cave walls until we finally escaped. It was a genuinely cool place to explore and a pretty fitting halfway point for the hike.

Although, when I say halfway, that's only true in terms of distance. The second half was mostly a steady downhill, which meant we covered it significantly faster and with much less effort. And, more importantly, there was no more uphill. After three consecutive days of climbing mountains, I was completely done with going upwards. Eventually, we made it back to Black Lake, where we could finally cool off. The water was absolutely lifesaving and was the perfect way to finish such a long hike. By this point, there was no chance any of us were putting our shoes and socks back on. They were disgusting. So, in classic Aussie fashion, all 11 of us walked the final 3 km back to the hostel barefoot.

After four days of hiking, we'd finally finished the big stretch of adventures in Žabljak. We stopped for some drinks to celebrate, although our hostel wasn't exactly a party hostel. The owners were usually pretty keen for everyone to be asleep by 11 p.m., especially because plenty of people still had hikes planned for the following day. Still, we managed to enjoy a few drinks together and celebrate what had been an incredible few days. After all the mountains, exhaustion, ice, ropes and questionable footwear, it felt pretty good to finally sit down and relax.Read more