Ljubelj - Srednja peč (upper path)
Starting point: Ljubelj (1058 m)
| Lat/Lon: | 46,4324°N 14,2602°E |
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Name of path: upper path
Time of walking: 4 h 5 min
Difficulty: partly demanding marked way, difficult pathless terrain
Altitude difference: 862 m
Altitude difference po putu: 1010 m
Map: Karavanke - osrednji del 1:50.000
Recommended equipment (summer):
Recommended equipment (winter): ice axe, crampons
Views: 1.530
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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 trail flattens out and leads us along the foothills of the scree below Begunjščica.
The marked trail 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 in the direction of 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 the Lower Plot (the summit of which was covered by a sport climbing route a few years ago), then off the road turn right onto a footpath that cuts around a long bend. Once back on the road, we are at the top station of the former Zelenica II single-seater, and it is only a few steps downhill to the Zelenica Home.
After the mountain lodge, continue left and climb halfway up the children's ski lift, then notice the signs for Vertatscha and Hochstuhl on the right, which direct you right into the lane of a forest. A little further on, cross the connecting lane between the children's ski lift and the anchor, then cross the second ski slope.
Continue along the trail to a small boulder and then cross the slopes below the Na Možeh ridge. When the crossing ends, you reach an unmarked valley where the path to Suho dwarf pines branches off to the right (usually there is a cairn at the branch).
From the crossroads onwards, we climb briefly through the forest, and then the path leads us to the slopes of Vertatscha, where we cross some scree on a slight ascent, and occasionally a really short lane of forest. Further on, the path from Dom pri izviru Završnice joins us from the left, and a little further on the path splits. Continue along the slightly narrower lower path towards Stol (Vertatscha on the right), from which you can see the nearby dwarf pines vegetated Srednji vrh. At the next crossroads continue straight on towards Stol (left Šija saddle, Srednji vrh, Stol-bottom path. . . ), the path then crosses occasionally steeper grassy slopes interrupted by some less steep ravines. The crossing of the grassy slopes soon ends, and the path leads us to a steep gully, through which we begin to descend steeply on a path that is broken in places and in a few places dangerous for slipping. When the chute ends, the path passes onto a scree slope, over which it descends crosswise under the cliffs to cirque in Kožne. Here the path starts to climb again, and the lower path and the path from Završnice join us on the left.
Continuing straight ahead, the path continues past several large boulders. A slightly steeper climb follows, with beautiful views of the surroundings and the Srednja peč wall on the left. When the marked path is higher, 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, we 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 the scree. 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 - off the marked trail 2:20, off the marked trail - Srednja peč 25 minutes.
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Discussion about the trail Ljubelj - Srednja peč (upper path)