Mountains

LIGHTNING NEVER STRIKES TWICE - it is said that lightning never strikes the same place twice. The US National Weather Service says the opposite: lightning often strikes the same place repeatedly, especially tall, pointed and isolated objects, and the Empire State Building is hit an average of 23 times a year. The same service also knocks down two pieces of hiking lore: crouching in the open does not protect you, and being under a tree is the second leading cause of lightning casualties.

1 Oct 2026

WATER FROM A MOUNTAIN STREAM - many hikers believe that clear, cold water from a mountain stream is clean and safe to drink straight from the source. The 2024 guidelines of the Wilderness Medical Society say that appearance, smell and taste are not reliable signs that water is safe, and the US CDC advises treating any surface water before drinking it. Boiling kills disease-causing organisms, and microfilters remove the cysts of the parasites Giardia and Cryptosporidium. Chlorine or iodine tablets kill Giardia, but at common doses they do not work against Cryptosporidium.

25 Sep 2026

EATING SNOW - on winter climbs it is tempting to reach for a handful of snow instead of a bottle. Graham Brant-Zawadzki, an emergency and wilderness medicine physician at the University of Utah, warns that a litre of water takes eight to ten litres of snow, because snow is mostly air. The body also has to melt it and warm it up: for a litre of water from snow at zero degrees that is at least about 490 kilojoules, or about 117 kilocalories of heat it is already losing in the cold (our calculation). So snow should be melted in a pot first, and only then drunk.

24 Sep 2026

RUBBER SOLES ON WALKING BOOTS - hikers often believe that a rubber sole insulates them from lightning. The American National Weather Service denies this outright and says there is no safe place outdoors while a storm is nearby. A car protects you because of its metal shell, which carries the current around the occupants, not because of its tyres. Lightning crosses several kilometres of air to reach the ground, and air is a far better insulator than rubber, so a few millimetres of sole means nothing to it. The same service warns that crouching and lying flat do not help either.

21 Sep 2026

HPS - since 28 September 2026 the Croatian Mountaineering Association's register of mountain trails can mark a trail as temporarily closed, for instance while fallen trees are cleared or the trail is repaired. Such a trail carries a note with the reason in the register, and on the interactive map it is shown in grey instead of red, with a no-entry sign. The markings are entered by the Commission for Mountain Trails, and all closed trails are listed in one place.

1 Oct 2026

KYRGYZSTAN - on Thursday 15 October 2026 at 7 pm, the atrium of the Croatian Natural History Museum in Zagreb, Demetrova 1, hosts a talk about a climbing expedition to the Ak-Su valley in Kyrgyzstan. The talk promises stories of kilometre-high granite walls, first ascents, bivouacking on the wall and encounters with other cultures. Admission is free.

25 Sep 2026

ZORANIĆ'S PLANINE - on 20 September 2026 the Croatian Mountaineering Association marked the day 490 years earlier when Petar Zoranić finished his Planine in the town of Nin. The association regards it as the oldest mountaineering book in the world, 19 years older than Gessner's work on Pilatus from 1555. Only one original copy survives, in the vault of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts library in Zagreb, and in 1973 the 1,712-metre Petar Zoranić peak on southern Velebit was named after the author.

24 Sep 2026

PLITVICE LAKES - the national park has published its autumn prices: in October an adult ticket costs 23 euros, and in November 10 euros. Students pay 14 and 6 euros respectively, children aged 7 to 18 pay 6 and 4 euros, and children under 7 and people with a disability above 50 percent enter free. Tickets are sold at entrances 1 and 2 from 7 am to 4 pm.

24 Sep 2026