Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8th, and with the help of the Gorenjska Museum, we are reviving stories and honoring the courageous, kind-hearted, inventive, hardworking, entrepreneurial, persistent, and even stubborn women of Bohinj, whose actions are sometimes difficult to imagine in the time they lived.
Let’s begin with the first one…
- In front of Hotel Bohinj stands a monument to the four brave men who were the first to conquer Triglav.
- But history knows another story.
- The first woman to reach the summit was also from Bohinj.
- Her monument does not exist.
- Not everyone knows her name.
- Let’s get to know her together.
ROZALIJA ŠKANTAR, THE HEARTY WOMAN WHO WAS THE FIRST TO CONQUER TRIGLAV
Rozalija Škantar from Srednja vas in Bohinj, following the example of her brothers and her father Jože Škantar – Šesta, who was a renowned mountain guide, became the first woman to conquer Triglav in August 1870. Together with her father, she accompanied the mountaineers from Ljubljana to the summit. She was supposed to climb again the very next year. Oral tradition passed through stories suggests that she may have even reached the summit earlier than is recorded in written sources. She spoke German well, which was very useful when she was the hostess at Vodnik’s Hut on Velo Polje and later at the Triglav Hut on Kredarica.
Information: Anja Poštrak, mag. Barbara Kalan / Gorenjski Museum
Photography: Planinski Vestnik, July 1960, Issue 7, Page 308 / Gorenjski Museum
