Mounts Krn and Batognica

I lost count of how many times I looked—and photographed—Mount Krn over the past decade. It’s impossible to miss, standing right there in the background of almost all my walks around the valleys, with its 2245 meters and its characteristic gently sloping side. And yet, I never hiked it. The reason why I never hiked it was that it’s a long hike and past me wasn’t a fan of long hikes. But past me is, well, in the past. Current me, on the other hand, loves long hikes. And to be fair, “long” is a relative term. How long does a hike need to be to be considered long anyway? The route for this hike has been sitting on my watch ready to go for weeks, waiting for the summer heat to come down a little bit. I’m a stupid hiker, but going up a mountain in 35°C is too stupid, even for me. And down it finally went. Randevouz with a friend was set for 7 am. The plan was straightforward: drive together about an hour, crossing the border with Slovenia, going through Kobarid, to then reach a parking…