Almost Made It

To view the small panorama click here. (990K)

To view the huge panorama click here. (2mb)

This spectacular panorama is from the summit of one of the most famous mountains of World War One, Krn mountain. This 360 degree view is located in the extreme eastern/north eastern portion of Slovenia on the border of the Triglav National Park ( Triglav is the highest point in Slovenia and is viewable in my photo) and happened to be the front line in this region for most of WWI, but more on that later.

What Can I See?
From this vantage point you able to see the silver disk that measures all the points of interest and heights of the other peaks from Krn (this is also the highest point on the mountain itself). There is a detail of the disk here or click the image to the left, as you can see there are areas on the disk itself which seemed melted as this is from lighting striking the disk. The original marker was destroyed by lightening years ago and this has since replaced it. You can see the ground wire running over the rock and into the ground at the bottom of the panorama.

I won’t go into all the points that you can see from here as there are far too many for me to list all at once, however some of the more interesting things that you can view in my image are the Gulf of Trieste in Italy (part of the Adriatic sea), The Austrian Alps, the Dolomites in Italy and the highest point in Slovenia, Triglav at 2,864 meters.

About Krn Mountain
Krn mountain is a part of the Julian Alps which in turn are part of the Alps that stretch from north-eastern Italy to Slovenia, where they rise to 2,864 m (9,396 ft) at Mount Triglav and are named after Julius Caesar. Krn itself is 2244 m (7362 feet) and is the highest eastern peak in Slovenia.

Krn Mountain and Kobarid during WWI
Before I get into the facts about Krn and Kobarid, I want to just to try to put into words the other sights besides the view I was fortunate enough to witness. Although the view is nothing short of breath taking, there is another view that is even more impressive if not somewhat horrifying. Having been the front lines (the Isonzo front) in World War I for the Italian Allied forces and the Austrio-Hungarian Empire, there were over 1 million casualties here on the on the edge of a cold no mans land at what seems like the roof of the world.

Like today there are no sources of wood, food or water. It’s an incredible feat and a show of insurmountable determination to move the quanities of material that were needed to support such a vast war machine at this height and for so long (nearly 2 years). Remember there were no roads or mechanical devices to ease the journey up the steep sides of this mountain, just man and beast.

For two years both sides battled it out in short probing actions, neither accomplishing much besides slaughtering each other, in October 1917 the Axis finally made a swift and sudden push which was the first use of the now coined German term “blitzkrieg” and the front lines moved to the west into Italy where they remained until the end of the war. What was left behind was a broken and barren landscape and pieces of not only the war machines but also of the people who used them. Here and there are unexploded grenades, shell fragments, leather from shoes, roll after roll of barbed wire, man made entrenchments and pathways stretching for miles as well as human remains. As the years pass and the barbed wire gets rustier, there are bound to be new and frighting remains that are discovered high up here in a no-mans land that still bears the deep scars of war. I can honestly say that i would recommend this hike to everyone, although not easy, it is a satisfying and sobering experience that I will never forget.

For more facts about the area in WWI I would recommend reading the Isonzo front or Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, which was based on his experience when he was a medic in Kobarid and Krn battlefronts.

About the Panorama
The photo was shot with a aging Canon PowerShot S410 (4MP)
Resolution: 1704×2272
Number of Photos: 20
Settings: Automatic Outdoor
Date: September 19th 2006, 08:30
I took the best of the 20 photos and stitched them together using Photoshop CS3
Photoshop was used to color correct, trim and edit them, there are some unfortunate spots where the colors are off, i blame this on the early morning sun and my little aging and abused digital camera.

You can few my full climb here and the surrounding area hikes here.

-Thanks Wikipedia