Planinarski dom Kalnik - Vranilac (Kalnik) (via 7 zubi)

Access to the starting point:
From the Zagreb - Varaždin motorway, take the Sveta Helena exit and follow the road towards Vrbovec. The motorway (only half-way in 2012, as it is still under construction) leads to Gradac, where you turn right towards Sveti Ivan Žabno, from where you continue towards Križevci. From Križevci onwards, orientation is easy, as the mountain lodge and the Old Castle of Veliki Kalnik can be seen from a distance. The mountain home can be reached without any major problems by car, which is left in a large parking lot near the home.

Path description:
7 zubi (7 teeth) is the name of the path along the rocky ridge of Kalnik between Stari grad and the summit. The route is made in the Alpine style, i. e. with a lot of rock climbing and very few guardrails (there is only one peg and one crampon).
From home, follow the road down to the entrance to the forest by the information board. From here you can still see the first tooth, which you will reach through the forest.
The first tooth can be reached by an easier and very interesting path on the right, which leads through a natural window. The left path is a bit more difficult and is exposed in a few places.
From the first tooth, continue westwards and descend on a very difficult route to the south side of the tooth, where there are some free climbing routes. After descending from the first tooth, you reach the second tooth, which you can climb without much difficulty, as well as descend to the place between the second and third tooth. Here the route splits again into two parts, the left easier and the right harder (the left easier route can be quickly overlooked). If you continue on the right harder route you will quickly reach a steep and exposed part. Higher up, the path changes from rocks to steep grassy slopes, over which you climb to the third tooth. From the third tooth a nice view opens up, and we continue on the path, which starts to descend steeply (the descent from the third tooth is quite difficult).
Once the descent is complete, the path takes us home to a narrow passage, at the top of which we arrive from the northern slope, on the southern slopes. Here we have a view of the fourth tooth, and we climb it by a very interesting route which leads us steeply up the chimney (the climb up the chimney is very difficult, but can be avoided if we continue left on the steep slope before the chimney). Once you have climbed chimney, the route lays down and leads you to the fourth tooth.
From the fourth to the fifth tooth there is a ridge route, which is very exposed in one place (the exposed part of the ridge can be moved to the right), but technically not too difficult.
As you continue from the fifth to the sixth tooth, you arrive at a crossroads where a path branches off to the right, which later joins path 2 (the path from Ljubelj to Vranilac), and an unmarked path branches off to the left, leading towards the TV tower, or the nearby asphalt road. From the crossroads, continue straight ahead and, after a few rocky jumps, climb up to the sixth tooth (the climb up to the sixth tooth is not particularly difficult). The Seven Tooth is very interesting not only for mountaineers, but also for climbers. The approach from the sixth tooth to the seventh tooth is relatively easy, but all the others are technically very demanding. For the descent I recommend the easier southern route, because it is the most suitable for the descent (the harder southern route is more suitable for the ascent (both southern descents have been redone, because the one descending from the tooth to the north is even harder)).
Regardless of where you descended from the seventh tooth, head west and within two minutes of further walking you will reach the summit of Vranilac.
The route can also be walked in reverse, by ascending Vranilac by the normal route and descending by the 7 tooth route.

We recommend: similar trips