Bodenbauer - Vertatscha/Vrtača (via Karweg)

Access to the starting point:
From the motorway Ljubljana - Jesenice take the exit Ljubelj (Tržič) and then continue driving towards 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 slightly longer and technically more difficult, but well protected). When you reach the marked path, you first climb up it to a small spring, and from there to the nearby crossroads on 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 trail widens to cart track, a marked trail branches off to the right to Ovčji vrh (Kozjak) / Geissberg, and we continue on 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 Stol and Vajnež.
From the hut, turn left in the direction of Stol / Hochstuhl, Bielschitza / Bielschitz and Prešeren's hut and follow the gently sloping cart track, which turns into a mountain trail a little lower down, and this trail takes us through the lane of dwarf pines to the scree below Bielschitza. The way forward climbs crosswise over the first scree slope, then leads us to a short steep part where we are helped by a rope ladder when crossing. This short and not particularly technically demanding part of the route ends quickly and the route continues over scree, over which a wide and well-maintained path leads. With a view of the surrounding walls, we then climb without much difficulty to the Belščica saddle, where there is a marked crossroads.
From the Belščica saddle, where the path to Bielschitza branches off to the left, continue straight ahead and follow the path in the direction of Vertatscha, Prešernova hut and Zelenice. Cross the grassy slopes for a few minutes, then reach the point where the inscription on the rock for Vertatscha points to the left (straight down Stol). A few minutes of relatively easy walking follows, then you reach a short but steep grassy slope, across which you descend. When the descent ends, you reach extensive scree over which you start to climb in a semicircle. The path, which is less well beaten and exposed to falling rocks in several places, climbs steeply a few times higher up, then turns slightly more to the right and leads us to the south-western shoulder of Vertatscha, where we join the better beaten path from Ljubelj and Završnice. Here we continue to the left and start to climb steeply up very steep and slip-prone slopes. Higher up, the path leads us to the main ridge Karawanks, where it lays down. This is followed by about 20 minutes of walking on and along the ridge, which is slightly exposed in places and dangerous for slipping throughout. Follow this scenic route all the way to the top of Vrtača.

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

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