UKC

Has anybody been to either Slovenia or Slovakia ice climbing? Got a week booked in February and hoping to go somewhere new!

Any info and recommendations (in terms of approach, guidebooks, accommodation, etc.) will be very welcome! 

Never been to Slovakia but I have visited Slovenia a few times.

Sidarta used to publish an ice climbing guide for Slovenia.  I can't see it listed on their web site at the moment so it may be out of print.  A pity as I was thinking of getting myself a copy.

Slovene logistics are fairly easy.  The main mountain areas are about an hour away from Ljubljana airport by car, and there is lots of hostel & self catering accommodation around.  Bled, Mojstrana and Kranjska Gora would be reasonable places to start looking.

There is also the Kamnik group just to the north of the airport.  I'm not as familiar with the mountains there, but there is a reasonable amount of accommodation around.

[edit] Needlesports list the guidebook: https://www.needlesports.com/3580/products/zimski-vzponislovenia-ice.aspx

The best place in Slovakia is Vysoké Tatry - the highest mountains of the country.

Its easy to get there. There are direct trains from Bratislava to Poprad where you can change to the mountain railway which traverses the southern slopes of the mountains.

There are direct trains tfom Prague as well. In this case it´s better to get off the train in Štrba station ant take cog railway. The Regiojet trains are comfortable and cheap. You can go from Prague for less than 20 £ Book here https://www.regiojet.cz/

Bus and train timetables for Czechia and Slovakia are here https://jizdnirady.idnes.cz/vlakyautobusymhdvse/spojeni/

The climbing Guide for Vysoké Tatry is here www.tatry.nfo.sk/ (English version is not really in English ) You usually get some good advice at mountain hut if you choose one of those mentioned on the guide

For better orientation you can use those good maps https://en.mapy.cz/ You can switch to tourist or winter version as well

Slovakia is nice and cheap country and I am sure you will like it. There are strict rules for visitors in Vysoké Tatry. Ask for details once you are there.

The avalanche situation is here http://www.laviny.sk/

The mountain rescue service number is 18300 the web is here https://www.hzs.sk/

some info here:

http://www.tatry.nfo.sk/lady.php

I personally woudn't go to Tatras just for ice climbing trip, but definitely would go for mix climbing, which is similar to "Scotish" mix climbs...

for example:

http://www.tatry.nfo.sk/f.php?f=stity//0272//027203.jpg

and plenty more

Hey Joe, I've got the guidebook that d_b mentioned -- if you want to borrow it for your trip drop me a message and we can sort something out. Maybe a weekend in Scotland in a few months time!

Slovenia is a good ice climbing venue, I've been there twice and really enjoyed it. If your trip is short and you just want to do a few classics then maybe the Alpine Ice guide book by Mario Sertori would suit you? My copy is in Italian but I think there are some versions in English kicking around and you might be able to pick one up second hand. The ISBN is 978-88-87890-70-9. Remember that you will be climbing in the Julian Alps and the approaches can be very snowy, in January 2017 we had to use skis to get in to the routes in the Kranjska Gora area. Hope you enjoy it........Jeff