Julian Alps is one of Europe’s most picturesque mountain ranges. The diversity of mountain peaks, valleys, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and wildlife makes it rewarding for photography and I spend a decent amount of my time there. Mostly in Slovenian side, which is more or less part of Triglav national park. A smaller and lesser known part of “Alpi Giulie” is located on Italian side of the border and recently I climbed Cima del Cacciatore (Kamniti Lovec) with my friend Dan Briški and his dachshund Fina. Here is a short trip report with photos, so read on. Thank you!
Cima del Cacciatore / Kamniti Lovec
Cima del Cacciatore is a mountain in the Julian Alps, located in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. Its summit is at an altitude of 2,071 meters (6,794 feet) and offers a wide panoramic view of the Mangart massif, Mount Lussari, the Carnic Alps, and Lake Predil. In Slovenian, the peak is called Kamniti Lovec, which translates into “Stone hunter’s peak”. This part of Italy is bilingual as there is a populous Slovenian minority. Most of the places have two names, sometimes even three (including German).
The Trip
We started from Ljubljana at midnight in order to catch a sunrise from the top of the mountain. The 1.5 hour drive went by quickly and we parked our car at Tarvisio (Trbiž), a small mountain town underneath Monte Lussari (Svet Višarje).
The trail to Cima del Cacciatore supposedly takes 4 hours and 1250m of elevation gain. A medium effort climb (at least fo Julian Alps standard). We packed our camera gear, cameras, a couple of lenses, tripod and a drone and started walking. Since it was still night, we didn’t make any stops for views or rest. We reached the peak about an hour before sunrise. It was still dark enough that I was able to see a shooting star! Total, we needed 2h 45min to get to the top. We got our tripods ready and waited till the light got better for photography. Dan’s dog Fina got her treat and she rested in a warm blanket nearby.
It was a cloudless morning which meant that we will focus more on smaller details of mountains, photographing with longer lens. I also flew my drone to get shots of Cima del Cacciatore itself. Here are the photos, I am quite happy with them!
Photos from Cima del Cacciatore / Kamniti Lovec
On our way down, we skipped the Sanctuary at Monte Lussari (Svete Višarje) but we stopped to gorge on wild raspberries. Here are a few behind the scenes phone snaps.
I hope you enjoyed the photos and that I inspired you to visit this amazing viewpoint yourself!
