Ljubelj - Hajnžev Praprotnik / Zeller Prapotnik (via Koča na Ljubelju)
Starting point: Ljubelj (1058 m)
| Lat/Lon: | 46,4329°N 14,2617°E |
| |
Name of path: via Koča na Ljubelju
Time of walking: 3 h 20 min
Difficulty: difficult marked way, easy unmarked way
Altitude difference: 669 m
Altitude difference po putu: 870 m
Map: Karavanke - osrednji del 1:50.000
Recommended equipment (summer):
Recommended equipment (winter): ice axe, crampons
Views: 1.150
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Access to the starting point:
Leave the Gorenjska Motorway at the Podtabor junction, then continue to Tržič and Klagenfurt. When you reach Ljubelj, turn right before the tunnel into a large asphalt parking lot, where you park.
Path description:
From the starting point, head in the direction of Koča na Ljubelju. After a short climb, you will reach a macadam road, along which you will continue your ascent. The ascent follows a fairly steep road, which leads us over a few torrents and past a chapel and a pleasant little well with a bench. Higher up, the road makes a few more serpentines, and at the last left serpentine we get a nice view of Loibler Baba and Veliki vrh, and then we arrive at the Ljubelju Cottage.
From the hut, walk along the road to the state border, cross it, and then descend on the Austrian side to a marked crossroads a few minutes away. From the crossroads, turn right towards the marked trail to Loibler Baba / Loibler Baba and continue along the worse road. The marked trail soon turns right off the road and climbs steeply at first. The path soon levels out and turns left. There is a cross-climb to the left, on a path that is usually quite slippery. After a few minutes of cross-climbing, the path leads to the border ridge, where it climbs gently to moderately at first, and then climbs quite steeply for a while higher up. During the steep climb, looking back, we get a nice view towards Stolo, Vertatscha, Palco. . . , and the steep path leads us to a metal ladder, where we climb steeply using fixed safety gear. Above the ladder, there are a few more ropes, then the path is laid and the difficult part via the Brown Ovens is behind us. A little further on, we cross a grazing fence, and then the path leads us along the grassy slopes of Grunt. With beautiful views of Lokovnikov Grintovec, Loibler Baba (Ljubeljska Baba), Veliki vrh in the ridge of Košuta and other surrounding mountains, we soon arrive at a marked crossroads, where we continue slightly left in the direction of Hajnžega grapen and Koschutahaus (straight Loibler Baba, right mountain pasture Korošica.
From the crossroads the path first descends slightly, then turns right and crosses the slopes of Loibler Baba to the left. Initially descending a little further, the path then begins to climb cross-country behind an interesting cliff. After a few minutes of cross-climbing, with fine views of the surrounding mountains, you quickly reach Dovjakovo sedlo, where you once again cross a pasture fence.
At the pasture fence, the path to Lokovnikov Grintovec branches off to the left, and we bear slightly left to find the continuation of the marked path, which descends crosswise to the other side of Lokovnik's Grintovec. After a few minutes of cross-country descent, the path leads us to an unmarked ridge, along which we continue our descent to an unmarked saddle between Lokovnik's Grintovec and Hajnž's Praprotnik.
At the saddle, a faint marked trail turns right downhill towards Hajnžev Grajn, and we continue left over a pasture fence, then descend gently to the north-east. At this point the path disappears completely, and we continue along the fold to cairn, after which a fainter path appears on the slope (if we continue left down here we reach Lokovnikova mountain pasture, but if we keep right, along the ridge, we are stopped by dwarf pines).
It is very good to stick to the worse path, as it takes you over the steep part without any major problems. Above the steep slope, the path passes between dwarf pines, but occasionally it still climbs steeply. Higher up, the ridge Hajnžev Praprotnik is reached, and the path continues for some time through the sometimes quite overgrown dwarf pines. Despite the occasional heavi overgrowth, the path through dwarf pines is quite easy to follow.
At the ridge, the trail flattens out, and there are a few more short ascents and descents to the main summit. Before reaching the summit, the dwarf pines ends, and we first climb steeply up to the ridge, which we then follow in a few 10 steps to reach the summit.
Ljubelj - Koča na Ljubelju 45 minutes, Koča na Ljubelju - Dovjakovo sedlo 1:40, Dovjakovo sedlo - Hajnžev Praprotnik 55 minutes.
The description refers to the situation in October 2017, the pictures are from December 2016, May 2017 and October 2017.
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Discussion about the trail Ljubelj - Hajnžev Praprotnik / Zeller Prapotnik (via Koča na Ljubelju)