Bodenbauer - Vertatscha/Vrtača

Access to the starting point:
We drive to the Ljubelj border crossing and on to the Austrian side. Shortly after, when you see a small church on the left side of the road, the road to the village of Žabnica / Bodental branches off to the left. At the crossroads after Slovenji Plajberk / Windisch Bleiberg turn left towards Žabnica / Bodental. In Žabnica / Bodental you will reach the mountain signs for Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte to the left and right. Turn left and follow the road to the end of the asphalt, where you will park in the parking lot near the pasture fences.

Path description:
From the parking lot, take the forest road closed to traffic and marked "Marchenwiese". The forest road leads you through the forest on a slight incline to a pleasant meadow, where you will have a nice view of the northern walls of Vertatscha and Palec. Continue across the meadow where the path is more difficult to follow and on the other side look for cart track which goes slightly upwards into the forest. After walking for a few minutes along cart track, the signs direct us to the right onto a footpath which soon crosses a torrent along which it then climbs. The path then follows the torrent slightly to the right and leads us to a small clearing where the waymarked path directs us slightly further to the right. The path continues to climb steeply and after a good 30 minutes' walk leads us to a crossroads where we continue to the left (right Ogrisalm 5 minutes).
The steepness eases here and the path passes out of the forest between dwarf pines. Cross a scree slope and then descend gently downhill with the help of a rope ladder. From here on the path is exposed to falling rocks. Further on, the well-protected path starts to climb up a steep rocky slope. At the top of this easier climbing section, you will come to a sign-in box where you can sign in. The difficulty of the route disappears after this and in a cross-climb you reach the Vrata saddle. The way forward starts to descend and in a few minutes leads us to a crossroads where we continue straight on (right Ovčji vrh) and in a few minutes of gentle descent we reach the Celovška hut.
At the hut, turn left in the direction of the Prešernova hut on Stolo. The way forward first crosses grassy slopes and then descends gently to an undistinguished saddle. The way ahead begins to climb steeply on scree to a slightly overgrown part of the path. A little further on, a steel cable helps us to cross a steeper slope, but this part of the path does not cause us any problems on land. Next, we climb up the scree again all the way to the border.
From the Belščica saddle, where the path to Bielschitza branches off to the left, continue straight ahead and continue 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 (1714m), Klagenfurter Hutte/Celovška koča (1664m), Sedlo Belščica (1840m)

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