Borovlje / Ferlach - Matzen

Access to the starting point:
Via Border crossing Ljubelj, drive into Austria, then follow the main road towards Klagenfurt, but only as far as Podljubelj / Unterloibl, where you turn right towards the Hofer store and the police. At a lower level we arrive in Borovlje / Ferlach, where we cross the railway line, and a little further on we go right towards Bajdiše / Waidisch. The road ahead takes us past the Eurospar shop, and we follow the main road to Dolje / Doliach (located in Borovlje), where we turn left towards the nearby cemetery, which we reach after a few 100 m of further driving, and where we park in a large parking lot.

Path description:
From the cemetery, follow the road back to the church in Dolje, where we see the first yellow mountain direction signs for Matzen, which direct us to a side road that continues eastwards. The road ends at the last houses, and we continue on the marked path, which descends gently to Bajdicka Borovnica / Waidischbach, and then continues parallel to the stream for a short distance. A little lower down, cross the stream over a long wooden bridge, and on the other side follow the markings to a dirt road, which you follow to the left. The road quickly leads to a small crossroads, where you take a sharp right, and a little beyond a nearby barrier, take the marked footpath to the left, which leads to another road. Go right again, and then the markings lead you onto a forest track, which climbs moderately at first, but steeply higher up, crossing a few cart tracks in between. After a small spring, we cross a fence, and then the path is laid and a little further on we reach the former farm Korenjak, located in the village of Rute / Rauth.

From the farm, where a well-maintained house dating from 1490 still stands, continue along the dirt road, which takes you a little higher to a partly abandoned cottage, after which the path goes off the road to the left. After a short climb, you quickly join another road, which you follow to the right, with a small lake just below you on the right.

Follow the road to a nearby crossroads, where you just cross a slightly wider dirt road, and then continue your ascent along the mountain path, which crosses the dirt road a few more times higher up. At a height of about 1120 m, we once again step onto the road, where there is a chapel and a cross, a few steps to the left, at a small hut, where an emergency bivouac is arranged, and from the lookout point a beautiful view opens up to the west, where we can see Karawanks, the Drava Valley, and in good visibility the view reaches all the way to the Julian and Zillian Alps.

At the chapel, we leave the road again, which we cross one last time a little further on. A little higher we reach a track, which we follow to the left, but it ends quickly and we continue to climb up the steep path that leads us through the forest. Higher up, we reach the north-eastern ridge of the Macna, from which the path soon veers slightly to the right. A few minutes higher, we reach the ridge again, and quickly pass a large chapel to reach the Church of St Anne, which also offers a fine view to the east.
After the Church of St Anne, continue slightly right (slightly left, bypassing the summit of the Macna) and climb through the forest to the crest of the Macna. The path continues along the partly vegetated ridge and climbs gently at first. There is a short steep climb from the right side of the ridge to the left side, and then a short scramble up the slopes, but soon you are back on the ridge, which you reach at a sort of notch. Here, a short, sheltered but not too difficult path branches off to the right to the side of the Macna headland, from which a fine view opens up. The marked trail that continues towards Macna does not, however, turn onto the aforementioned headland, but continues slightly to the left, where it is first ascended with the help of a rope ladder, and then the trail is laid and turns left onto steep slopes. The steep part is also helped by a steel cable, and at the end of the crossing the path turns right and starts to climb very steeply alongside the steel cable. The steep part is short, as the path quickly leads to a cross on the northern headland of the Macna. Here the path turns to the left and quickly leads through a slightly overgrown ridge to the highest and most unspoilt peak of the Macna.
Borovlje - Korenjak 1:20, Korenjak - bivouac 1:00, bivouac - St. Anne 1:10, St. Anne - Matzen 0:30.
Description and pictures refer to the situation in 2019 (May).

On the way: Rute / Rauth (Korenjak) (780m), Bivak (1120m), Sveta Ana (Macna) / St. Anna (Matzen) (1536m)

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