Bodenbauer - Bielschitza/Svačica (via Karweg)

Access to the starting point:
From the motorway Ljubljana - Jesenice, take the exit Ljubelj (Tržič) and then continue in the direction of Klagenfurt / Klagenfurt. After the Ljubelj tunnel, the road starts to descend and we follow it to a junction where the road to the Poden valley / Bodental branches off to the left. Take the road mentioned above, which then leads you through Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg and higher up to Žabnica / Bodental. Follow the road to the end of the tarmac by the Podnart / Bodenbauer guesthouse, where you can park at a suitable roadside parking place.

Path description:
From Podnart near which you park on the widened road, take the macadam forest road closed to public traffic in the direction of Mlake / Märchenwiese and Klagenfurter Hutte / Klagenfurter Hütte. The road, which begins to climb gently, soon leads us to the first crossroads, where a path branches off to the right towards the farm Vgriz / Ogrisbauer, and we continue straight on in the direction of Klagenfurter Hutte. The road goes a little further into the forest and splits into two parts. Take the marked road to the left, and after about 30 minutes' walk from the starting point, it leads to Mlaka (a flat, spacious and scenic meadow).
Here the road turns slightly to the right, and we continue straight ahead on a parallel, but slightly less visible, marked path that continues across the meadow. On the other side of the meadow, the path returns to the woods and gradually begins to climb moderately. After a short climb, we reach a small crossroads where a touring-skiing path branches off to the left, and we continue straight ahead along a small torrential gully. A few 10 steps higher, we leave the ravine, as the markings direct us to the right (straight along the ravine at first, but higher up, through vast scree fields, a fainter, partly pathless path leads towards the Belščica saddle) onto a path that joins the forest road only a few metres higher. Once on the road, follow it to the left, and we follow it only as far as the first right-hand bend. At the end of the bend, we leave the marked trail that initially follows the road and take a sharp left onto an unmarked but well-traced path. After a few metres, the track turns slightly to the right and first starts to climb cross-country through the forest. Higher up, the track starts to climb steeply through the forest, which thins out after a while. A little further on, the forest is gradually replaced by lane of dwarf pines and bushes, and the increasingly scenic path, which offers beautiful views of the Palec walls, Pautz, Vertatscha and the nearby Bielschitza, leads us to a place where we return to the marked path (the marked path is a little longer and technically more difficult, but it is well marked). When you reach the marked path, you first climb up it to a small spring, and from there to the nearby crossroads at the Vrata / Matschatcher Sattel pass. At the above-mentioned pass, a less well-trodden unmarked path branches off to the left, leading "directly" to the Belščica saddle, while we continue straight ahead and start descending towards the Celovška hut. At the part of the trail where the path widens to cart track, the marked trail to Ovčji vrh (Kozjak) / Geissberg branches off to the right, and we continue along the trail, which descends slightly. A little further on, cart track splits into two parts, and we take the right-hand one, which will take us in a few minutes to Klagenfurter Hutte, from which we will have a nice view towards Hochstuhl and Vajnež.
From the hut, turn left in the direction of Hochstuhla / Hochstuhl, Bielschitza / Bielschitz and Prešeren's hut and continue along the folded cart track, which turns into a mountain trail at a slightly lower level, and this trail takes us through the lane of dwarf pines to the scree below Svačica. The way forward climbs crosswise over the first scree slope, then leads us to a short steep part, where we are helped by the crossing of the steel cable. This short and technically not particularly difficult part of the trail ends quickly and the trail continues over scree, over which a wide and well-maintained trail leads us. With a view of the surrounding walls, we then climb without much difficulty to the Belščica saddle, where there is a marked crossroads.
From this crossroads, where there are Austrian mountain direction signs, continue left (straight ahead Hochstuhl, Vertatscha and Zelenica) in the direction of Bielschitza (on the Bielschitz sign). The way ahead first crosses the slopes to the left and then leads to the ridge of Svacica. Here, continue slightly left and continue along the initially still gently sloping ridge. Some 10 metres higher, the path, which continues along the ridge, starts to climb very steeply. We continue to climb steeply along a ridge which is slightly precipitous in places, but as we have lane of dwarf pines on the right-hand side at all times, the climb does not present us with any major problems. Higher up, the ridge narrows and a slightly less steep unmarked path joins from the right. This is followed by a shorter, folded climb along a ridge that is exposed in places, and the path leads us to a scenic and precipitous peak.

On the way: Vrata / Matschatcher Sattel (1714m), Celovška koča/Klagenfurter Hutte (1664m), Sedlo Belščica (1840m)

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