"Where to spend New Year's Eve?" is a standard question during November and December. We never travel around this time of the year, simply because the prices are too high. So, Slovenia it is. But where in Slovenia? Already last year Rok had the idea to go hiking and spend a night in the mountains. But we couldn't realize it due to my injury. Also this year my health wasn't at its best, we went anyway - I didn't want to be blamed for not carrying out his ideas for another year :) So we hiked all the way to the hut, bivouac under Skuta at the elevation of 2070m.

Bivouac and Skuta crest in the morning sun

Bivouac under Skuta mountain in Kamnik-Savinja Alps, 2070m

Let's start with some explanations: bivouac is a hut in high mountains. It's a room, where hikers can spend a night in case of bad weather. There is no running water, no toilets, no electricity and no heating ... just a few beds and shelter ... and usually stunning views that come along with the location. No reservations are possible, it works on a first comes, first served base.
This bivouac under Skuta mountain is rather new (2015) and architecturally very interesting. It consists of three modules. First one is a "kitchen" with dining space, second one is sleeping space/living room and the third one is strictly for sleeping. There are also two panoramic windows; one is showing us Ljubljana basin and the one on the north is oriented towards the south face of Skuta, Rinke and other neighboring mountains.

The inside of the bivouac is very basic, everything is furnished in wood, the main focus of this interior design is functionality. That is the very reason that in this small space we can only find sleeping spaces, a fixed table and one foldable table. The last one was already broken when we got there but Rok managed to fix it.

Inside of the bivouac with the view towards Ljubljana basin

We left Ljubljana, our hometown at around 7:30 in the morning ... after an hour drive we parked in Kamniška Bistrica and started our ascend into steep slopes beneath the bivouac. 3 and a half hours later, around midday we reached the hut. Although we weren't the first people in the bivouac, there was still enough space for us. Till the evening, the bivouac was full: 11 people squeezed inside and it was just right: not too crowded, we all had nice company and we managed to keep the hut warm.

A view behind us as we ascended towards the bivouac

Last par of the ascend: very steep scree

View of the bivouac from above

During the day we enjoyed the views from the front glass wall of the bivouac. I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure, that I'm not dreaming, since the views were so spectacular.

And THE view:m endless hills with a bit of fog between them.

In the evening, we all got in the hut, random people from different parts of Slovenia and Austria gathered together, chatted, played some games, shared food and drinks ... at midnight we observed the fireworks in the valley, but I have to admit, from this elevation, fireworks look very doom, all we saw were flashes of explosions, no colors, no shapes ... But hey, we had clear sky full of stars above us, what's better than that?

Midnight in the mountains: myriad of stars above us and fireworks and city lights beneath us

First morning in the new year we started with a sunrise over a mountain (Turska gora) and this was another gorgeous view: first the sun colored the sky red, orange, yellow ... the first sun beams reached us and warmed up, soon after that the mountain behind us, Skuta, was in nice morning light. There is no better way of starting a day, let alone year than in beautiful and peaceful nature and with people we love 💖

Beginning of a new day ...