Every year in November, and again in February, something special happens above Vršič Pass in Slovenia’s Julian Alps. For a few minutes, the sun shines through a giant hole in the mountain. The mountain is Prisojnik, which locals also call Prisank. The hole is its famous natural rock window.
For Slovenian landscape photographers, this is a fixed date in the calendar.
What Is the Prisojnik Window?
Near the top of Prisojnik’s north wall there is a huge natural opening called Prednje okno, the Front Window. It’s about 80 metres high and 40 metres wide. The local tourist board says you could fit the Ljubljana Skyscraper inside it. It’s one of the largest natural rock openings in Slovenia.
From the north, the mountain normally blocks the low winter sun. But on a few days a year, the sun lines up with the window and shines straight through it.
Even the name fits. Prisojnik comes from an old Slavic word that means something like “the one near the sun.” That’s because people on the north side see the sun travel along the mountain during the day.
Climbing Through the Window
The window isn’t only something to look at from the road. You can walk through it. In my opinion, the most beautiful trail to the top of Prisojnik is the Kopiščar Trail (Kopiščarjeva pot), and it goes right through the window. It’s a via ferrata with iron pegs and ropes. You climb about 1,000 metres, and some sections are exposed, so you need to be comfortable with heights. A helmet is strongly recommended. Climbing through the window is the highlight of the route. Above it, the trail follows the ridge to the summit at 2,547 m, with views across the Julian Alps. I wrote about my climb in Sunset Photography from Mt Prisojnik (2547m).
When Does It Happen?
The sun shines through the window twice a year: in November and in late January or early February. In November it’s usually around the 10th, for only a few days, and it lasts just minutes each day. Clouds in the wrong part of the sky can easily ruin the show.
The most popular viewpoint is the parking area below Tonkina koča (mountain hut) on the road up to Vršič Pass.
Photographing It With Friends
These photos are from five years ago. It’s this time of year again, so I’m finally sharing them.
The best part of photographing this event isn’t only the photos. It’s sharing the time and place with like-minded people. Photographers come with tripods, find their spot, and wait together. Then the sun appears in the window and everybody starts shooting at once. It’s a fun event and a real nature spectacle.
In the wide-angle photo, you can see what it looks like: a snowy meadow full of photographers, golden larches all around, and the sun bursting through the rock wall above us.
My Gear
I photographed with Nikon Z prime lenses: 20 mm, 35 mm, 50 mm and 85 mm, all f/1.8. Using different focal lengths let me tell the story in different ways. With the 85 mm I could get a tight shot of just the rock wall and the sunstar. With the 20 mm I could show the whole scene with the crowd of photographers.
A Little Extra Trivia
- On Prisojnik’s north face you can also see the Ajdovska deklica, the Heathen Maiden. It’s a rock formation that looks like a woman’s face. In local folk belief she’s a fairy who lives in the mountain.
- Between the two World Wars, the border between Italy and Yugoslavia ran along the top of Prisojnik’s ridge.
