Ljubelj - Srednja peč (lower path)

Access to the starting point:
Drive to Border crossing Ljubelj, where you turn left before the tunnel towards Zelenica. Drive over a small bridge, then park in a large parking lot.

Path description:
At the beginning of the parking lot, the mountain signs for Hochstuhl, Vertatscha and Dom na Zelenici direct us to the wide cart track, which begins to climb along the torrent. When the cart track turns left a little higher up, we continue straight on along the mountain path, which continues through the forest and soon returns to cart track. Cart track turns right a little higher up and leads us out of the forest onto the ski slope of the former Zelenica ski resort. There is a short, steeper climb up the ski slope, and then the path flattens out and leads us along the foot of the scree below Begunjščica.
A marked path soon branches off to the right along a service road, and we continue along the "road" to the nearby Hut Vertatscha.
At the hut, the road turns right and we continue straight ahead towards the mountain trail to Zelenica. We continue for a short time under the former single-seater Zelenica II, and then the path begins to climb steeply up the slope, which is partly overgrown by dwarf pines. After a few switchbacks, we return to the service road, which we continue along, overlooking the Šentanski avalanche.
The path ahead takes you along the slopes of Spodnji Plot (the summit of which a sport climbing route was built some years ago), then off the road turn right onto a footpath that cuts a longer curve. Once back on the road, we are at the top station of the former Zelenica II single-seat climb, with only a few steps of descent to the Home on Zelenica.
Go around Dom na Zelenici on the right, and after the lodge go left and start climbing along the ski slope. After a climb of 10 steps, the trail to Vertatscha and the upper trail to Hochstuhl branch off to the right, and we continue slightly to the left in the direction of the Home at the source of the Završnice River. There is a short climb and then we start descending on the cart track. After a short descent, you reach the end of the second, now former, ski slope, and then descend gently along a wide path, which mostly leads through pastures. With beautiful views of Begunjščica on the left and Vertatscha on the right, we then reach the source of Završnice. After the spring, the path descends steeply for a few 10 steps, then turns right and, with a view of Lake Bled, leads us to the Home at the source of the Završnice. Continue in the direction of Hochstuhla, initially following cart track, but when cart track turns slightly to the right, we continue straight on to the waymarked trail, which begins to climb more steeply. The path continues into the valley between Srednji vrh on the left and Vertatscha on the right, and we climb up the valley to the Šija saddle, where there is a marked crossroads.
Continue slightly left in the direction of the lower path to Hochstuhl (left Srednji vrh, right Vertatscha and the upper path to Hochstuhl). The way ahead first descends gently down the slopes of Srednji vrh, then turns right and descends more steeply past a small well and a ruined concrete building. After this, cross the torrent and then continue along the slopes of Vrtača without any major changes in elevation. When we arrive in the V Kožne valley, the path through Zagon joins us at the very beginning of the valley from the left, and we continue straight ahead along the path, which begins to climb again. A little further on, between the mighty boulders, we join the upper path to Stol. There is a slightly steeper climb, with fine views of the surroundings and the Srednja peč wall on the left. When the higher marked path is laid, and before the marked crossroads where the path to Celovška koča / Klagenfurter Hütte branches off to the right, at the small man located at the edge of dwarf pines, continue left onto the trackless path.
Continue along the edge of dwarf pines, following a well-transitioned dead-end, with individual cairns pointing in the right direction. After about 5 minutes, we arrive at a small pass to the west of Srednja peč, where we see a fainter track on the left across a scree slope. Climb up to this track and then cross the scree to the right. When the scree ends, the path leads through a narrow lane of dwarf pines, then the fainter path turns left along dwarf pines steeply uphill and ends after a few steps in relatively steep grass. The ascent continues along dwarf pines steeply upwards, and we continue in roughly the same direction until we reach the ridge, where the fainter path reappears. We continue right, a little further on also through a short lane of the burnt dwarf pines, and then climb along and along the ridge, which is occasionally precipitous to the left, to a little-visited and scenic summit. Ljubelj - Koča Vertatscha 40 minutes, Koča Vrtača - Dom na Zelenici 40 minutes, Dom na Zelenici - Dom pri izviru Završnice 20 minutes, Dom pri izviru Završnice - Šija 40 minutes, Šija - off the marked trail 1:20, off the marked trail - Srednja peč 25 minutes.

On the way: Koča Vrtača mountain hut (1288m), Dom na Zelenici mountain hut (1536m), Dom pri izviru Završnice (1425m), Šija (1693m)

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