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Show fage - THE HERALD, Provo, Utah, Thursday, November H2 22, 1990 Hikers experionce seairy night in Yugoslavia's Alps By MERCER CROSS National Geographic For AP Newsfeatures For a BOHINJ, Yugoslavia couple of seconds, I thought I'd lost my wife down a slippery precipice beside a thundering alpine waterin the dark. fall "Whoops!" Jean shouted as a large rock slipped from beneath her foot and crashed down the gorge. She clutched a tree to save herself. "I thought that was it," she said a few minutes later, after I'd helped her to solid ground. "My legs are trembling." That was the most frightening moment in what began as a vacation hike in the lovely Julian Alps of Slovenia, Yugoslavia's north westernmost republic. If everything had gone as planned, we would have been back in our snug apartment by suppertime. We didn't make it until midnight. I'd almost After jean's near-fai- l, decided to stop risking the precarious descent. The temperature was probably in the 60s; we could have huddled against a tree and waited for first light. We were clambering down a rocky path that zigzags through patches of heavy evergreen woods along the Komarea, a landmark limestone precipice near beautiful Lake Bohinj. The trail ran right into the base - of the falls, one of dozens of '.'slaps" that gush noisily from the limestone spine of the Julians. In the darkness, we assumed the trail resumed on the other side of ihe d over to stream, so we explore. Jean slipped as we sought the path. - As we shakily pondered what to do next, our eyes adjusted to the gloom and I noticed the end of a steel cable running parallel to the stream. Below the cable were steel rods embedded in the I rock to act as footholds. Many times before the night was ;over, we blessed the Slovenes for 'Installing such devices. They kept appearing when we needed them ' most, in the steepest, narrowest places. Our misadventure had begun late - that morning with a hike to Slap Savlca, which attracts thousands of - - six-ho- rock-hoppe- ' " -- visitors annually to watch its booming cataract tumble almost .200 feet into the Savica (little riv Sava) River. The er feeds into Lake Bohinj and emerges as me aava, Yugoslavia s largest river after the Danube. ' Our mistakes were threefold: a late, departure, a seri-- , in . ous miscalculation and, most important, failure to toss swift-flowin- g map-readin- g, a flashlight in our pack. Only a warm, clear night and a waxing moon kept us out of serious trouble. Topographic map in hand, we decided to climb beyond Slap Savica, following a trail that led steadily uphill through the beech and spruce forest of Triglav National Park, Yugoslavia's largest, to the Komni lodge, 5,000 feet above sea level and more than 2,800 feet higher than our starting point. It took us two hours. We returned by way of Crno Jezero (Black and the Komarea. It was a steeper but shorter route from the lake back to our starting point. By the time we took off from Black Lake for Savica, it was about 5:30 p.m. We thought we would be in the valley by dark, about 7. But the steep path was filled with loose rocks, making the going much slower than we had expected. Before we knew it, the sun had sunk behind the high gorge surrounding us. The painted blazes on the rocks, white bull's eyes, grew increasingly hard to see. Then the moon rose, lighting our way down much of the chasm but leaving us in darkness on the switchbacks. Clinging together, we groped our way. We knew we were going to make it when the reassuring roar of Slap Savica became louder and louder. Then the moon disappeared behind the oiiyon, bringing nearly total darkness and obliterating any traces of the trail. We must have fumbled off it a hundred times before it widened into the trail toward home. "You should always go up the Komarea, never down," our landlord, geography teacher Joze Sve-telectured the next day. "You are heroes to come down the Komarea at night." "Idiots, not heroes," I replied. Dusan Blazin, a mountain guide p and owner at Lake Bohinj, had seen plenty of such nonsense. "One wrong step either way," he shrugged, "and you could have fallen several hundred meters." At Triglav park headquarters on nearby liUc S!d, assistant director Mladen Beidnc said in an interview for Natk .id Geographic that 10 to 15 people die accidentally in these mountains every year. To discourage hiking and climbing in some areas, he would like to remove such aids as the blazes and cables that brought us home safely. We were glad he hadn't done it yet. mm CTrr . v I; a i. i mm i m w t lilt..: ait j. v . 4.. 4 "i L-.- -- mm m , . ! 1 71 . - Pi V innpT !! in lilt 1 i 114 t t , P. Blair National Geographic SocietyJames St Sitting on a tiny island in the middle o! Yugoslavia's Lake Bled is the 11th century church of FRESH k, r CUf Maria and Bred Castle is above. ' Qaiii6 ski-sho- Trim . I ft IMIIMMMUBMMMMMMMMMMMMr Uf HUNDREDS of 5ft. V to 7ft. VARIETY iic pj&ipuneuj tuning our trees unill just before Thanksaivlna and we're stin rut. I until Dec. to ensure the freshest 1 ting, 10th, K trees for nur riictnmorcl 8 V TREES IN THIS SELECTION SB?"-- ? T Czechoslovakia faces switch to capitalism PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia (AP) As a child, Josef Dundr would stroll with his father past the snug Three Ostriches Inn, a , building that had be- - longed to the family until the com munists came. "My father would say, 'This used to be ours; maybe it will be again vSome day'," said Dundr, who was ; born there 44 years ago. "I didn't see that day coming, I was so downtrodden by that time." The communists no longer run Czechoslovakia and the day may come after all. ' On Dec. 1, the government will , start selling or giving back to private owners 100,000 restaurants, small shops and other businesses. The return of many factories and ' other large enterprises will begin next year. In the new, capitalism of Czechoslovkla, however, individuals may lore out to economic expedience. They risk losing their jobs, " as well as the chance of ownershiD. but the winners can get rich. Officials cite the Soviet Union's many false starts in their argument against moving slowly. All East European countries have lost time since their communist regimes fell last year, but Czechoslovakia now may be poised to outpace the others. For people with money, the switch to private enterprise "is a golden opportunity not to be repeated in this century," said Miros-la- v Zamecnik, spokesman for Finance Minister Vaclav Klaus. Dundr may not get the Three Ostriches back. Alena Kubistova is not sure she will have a job when a private owner takes over the meat market she manages just off Square. 'Down the street, Ctirad Fuchs, 30, looks for a compromise between his wish to own the music and book store he manages and the interests of the building's new owner. President Vaclav Havel has warned that failure to protect such people as Fuchs and the others could lead to unrest, but apix-arto have yielded to Klaus's desire for quick reform. When Parliament approved the privatization law uci. zo, me finance minister acknowledged it would not "satisfy all completely." Dundr, now assistant manager of the Palace Hotel, considers the Three Ostriches a sure moneymaker. It nestles at the foot of the Charles Bridge on the royal route to Prague Castle, and a good reputation even under state ownership. iic esmuaieu lis worm u million to 70 million crowns, or fiom 1 million to nearly $3 mil- buff-color- 17th-centu- ry no-fril- ls lion. Emotion is deeply involved in the desire to get the inn back. Dundr said his father, now 81, "wants to feel that he can pass this on to his children and grandchildren." His likely rival for the Three Ostriches is the man who runs the restaurant and the hotel the state made from the family apartments above it. Dundr fears the manager's connections in the bureaucracy give him an edge. "In a case like this, millions are involved," he said. "Stamps can be issued, documents can be signed." If he gets the inn back, Dundr said, he will fire the manager and staff of about 20 for inefficiency and rudeness. Zamecnik, the Finance Ministry spokesman, sees nothing wrong with such action. "The sooner they kick these people out, the better," he said. Under the privatization law, property must be returned to former owners or their heirs, or be auctioned. Local governments will set bid prices, and any small business can be bought for a minimum of half the asking price. Even before the law was approved, managers of state-ru- n stores held brief strikes to express concern that Czechoslovaks who got rich on tiie- black market or Prices do not include tree stands; but stands are available through Allied tree lots at special discount prices. WE GUARANTEE ALL OUR TREES THRU CHRISTMAS! m a Plantation-grow- n iMODie TIES urana flu These are fine trees esneclallv adaot- able to small spaces apartments, , ir, i4 ' Norway Pine, Scotch Pine, ana Douglas Fir. All 1 t-- ir i t. T5 A premium, top-oe trees! f- the-lin- lasting. 3 Wl. 4 ULTRA V FRESH to ... WJiA fA."&, FLOCKED Til STAMPS A SQ DO THIS 6 to 8 foot trees skillfully flocked in holiday hues, drilled and ready for water stand. These are lovely through past Communist Party connections would have an advantage. ci B&FSfKKUKCL k l (with tree purchase) TOMCQtPOWWUTt r.MJectonof CHECK OUR LARGE i & wreaths STARTING - re CHS y Wen-cesl- joint-ventu- PLANTATION GROWN TREES 2 TO 4 FT. 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