THE FORGOTTEN MOUNTAINS

On the northwest border of Slovenia is a mountain range as dramatic as it is accessible, offering hut-to-hut hiking on multi-day adventures - with plenty of hearty food and local tales to sustain the journey

- DUNCAN CRAIG

A hiker follows the edge of a ridge to the summit of Mount Stol at sunrise;

THE CROWDS THAT FLOCK TO LAKE BLED LIKE PARCHED GAME TO AN AFRICAN WATERING HOLE DON'T BOTHER SIMON KOŠČAK IN THE SLIGHTEST. HE WATCHES THEM WITH PERPLEXED DETACHMENT FROM HIS LOFTY VANTAGE POINT, SIX MILES AWAY AND MORE THAN 5,000FT UP. THIS IS ROBLEKOV DOM SLOVENIA'S PRETTIEST AND MOST TOTEMIC MOUNTAIN HUT.

Attend any folk festival in these parts, and it won’t be long before the strains of Na Roblek bom odšel (‘I’m going to Roblek’) fill the clear mountain air. Most Slovenes know it by heart. It’s a song about romantic love, of a young man whisking his lover to this forest-fringed eyrie high up in the Karawanks range. But more than that, it’s a paean to the mountain culture that underpins so much of Slovenian life.

The building itself — dark-wood exterior, the gabled roof at least two sizes too big — is blessed with an imperious setting: a sun-splashed ridge on the southwest flanks of 6,759ft Mount Begunščica. It sleeps 30 and has a terrace that seats perhaps double that. As hut manager, Simon is here year-round. He gets some support at weekends, but mostly it’s just him and the incessant, all-consuming peace.

a meal of soup with beans, potatoes, cabbage and sausage at Roblekov Dom mountain hut

A chopper drops off supplies every 10 days. It lands out front on a makeshift grass helipad no bigger than an allotment plot. At other times, Simon might trek up the corkscrewing path from the valley with a backpack stuffed with all the ingredients — sausages, beans and sauerkraut — for jota, the traditional Slovenian stew that’s a staple of mountain menus.